1

RU L E S OF PL AY

2ND EDITION

TA B L E OF CONT E NT S
1. Background.......................................................... 2 Advanced Rules............................................................ 10
2. Components......................................................... 2 11. Retreating from Battle.......................................... 10
3. Sequence of Play.................................................. 3 12. Fighters................................................................ 10
4. The Impulse Display and Initiative...................... 4 13. Missiles................................................................ 11
5. Ships..................................................................... 4 14. Bases.................................................................... 12
6. Power................................................................... 6 15. The Big Guns....................................................... 12
7. Movement and Turning........................................ 7 16. Docking and Landing........................................... 13
8. Firing.................................................................... 8 17. Terrain.................................................................. 13
9. The Power Phase.................................................. 9 18. Black Holes.......................................................... 15
10. Batteries and Afterburners................................... 10 19. Worm Holes......................................................... 15
Designer Notes.............................................................. 15

© 2015 and 2017 GMT Games, LLC • P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308 • www.GMTGames.com
© 2015, 2017 GMT Games, LLC
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1. BACKGROUND 2. COMPONENTS
Long hampered by cost and beset by international problems, real 2.1 Component List
space exploration did not seem possible for humanity. Amazing
A complete game of Talon includes the following:
technological breakthroughs would change all of that in the year
2112. The invention of the Near Faster Than Light (NFTL) drive • 1 and a half mounted mapboards
would make it possible for large ships to move easily in and out of • 3 sheets of ship and planet counters
a planet’s gravity well, and to travel quickly within the confines of • 1 half-sheet of information markers
a solar system. Ten years later, the perfecting of Faster Than Light • 1 Impulse/Round Display
(FTL) drive would turn the galaxy into an open canvas. United by • 1 Empire War Map Display
a common purpose, the newly formed Terran Confederation began • 2 identical Player Aid Cards
to paint their picture. • 1 pad of Fleet Logsheets
• 2 dry erase markers
Expansion led to colonies, research stations, and even more techno- • This rule booklet
logical discoveries, but it also led to the realization that they were • 1 Play Book
not alone. Although no sentient alien species had been encountered, • Two 6-sided dice
long range scanners had picked up the distinctive signatures of FTL
drives. Sentient races must exist… and they must be space faring. 2.2 Board
Terran expansion stopped. The game includes a single mounted board and a smaller extension
board that is used to expand the board as necessary.
Not knowing what to expect, a period of consolidation followed
which emphasized defensive technologies and fleet building. First
contact was made by the people of Earth with this unknown race in 2.3 Ship Counters
2227. Over time, they would eventually call these other-worlders The ships in the game are represented by large hexagonal counters.
the Talon. It was a shortening of the alien sounds that made up their The ships with a blue background belong to the Terran Confedera-
name but it was also oddly prophetic—the Talon Empire swooped tion; the ships with a red background belong to the Talon Empire.
in very much like a raptor upon the fledgling Terran Confederation.
2.4 The Impulse Track
Keep track of the current round and Impulse with the Impulse Track.
This display is explained in full in section 4.
Abbreviations and acronyms­—The following abbreviations
and acronyms are used in these rules: 2.5 The Empire War Map Display
AP = Available Power Used in Empire War mode, see Play Book (section 15).
FTL = Faster Than Light
2.6 The Player Aid Cards
NFTL = Near Faster Than Light
Two identical player aid cards are provided that contain important
BB, CA, FTR, etc. = see Hull Designations (5.2) ship information and firing tables.

Forward Shields (5.3.2) Fire Arc of Weapons Group (5.3.1)

Ship Class (5.2) and Name Individual Weapons in a Group (2.10)

Charge Bar (4 yellow and 1 red, 8.1) Right-side Shields (5.3.2)

Write ship’s Power here (5.4.2) Write ship’s Turn Radius here (5.4.2)

Write ship’s Speed here (5.4.2) Afterburner (10.2)

Hull Box (8.4.1) Power Modifier (8.4.2)

Rear Shields Critical Hull Box (8.4.3)

The Talon BC has 3 Weapon Groups. It has a Missile weapon group Disruptor Weapon Group on the left has 1 Red box and 4 Yellow
with 3 Missile launchers and 2 Red boxes in the charge bar, a single boxes in its Charge Bar. The Disruptor Weapon Group on the right
Disruptor Weapon group that only has a forward firing arc, and a has 1 Red box and 2 Yellow boxes in its Charge Bar. This Talon
double Disruptor Weapon Group that may fire forward, left or right, ship has 2 Afterburners and 2 Critical Hull Boxes.
as indicated by the white arrows around the Weapon icons. The

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2.7 Fleet Log Sheets 3. SEQUENCE OF PLAY
A pad of log sheets are included, however, these are not required to
play the game. This game is best played writing information directly 3.1 Rounds, Impulses, and Turns
on the ship counters. Talon is played in a series of Rounds. A Round is composed of six
Impulses (A through F) plus the Power Phase. An Impulse is com-
2.8 Dry Erase posed of two Turns—the Initiative Player’s Turn and the Second
A dry erase marker is included in the game box to mark things on the Player’s Turn. All this is tracked on the Impulse Display (4.0) with
large, laminated ship counters. Do not use a non-dry erase marker the Initiative and Round markers (4.1).
on the counters. For erasing use a cotton swab.
3.2 Sequence of Play Outline
2.9 Informational Markers Impulse A
Initiative Player Turn
1 1 • Remove any of his Shield Reinforcement markers that expire this
Impulse.
• Use any/all AP for each of his ships that receive AP this Impulse,
Turn Side Slip Shield Missile Damaged in any order.
Radius (7.3.2) Reinf. (13.0) Missile
• Move all of his ships that must move this Impulse, in any order.
(7.2.2) (6.2) (13.6)
• May fire any/all ships that have a fully charged Weapon Group.
• May attempt to Repair any ships with Critical Damage (See
Damage and Criticals).
Second Player Turn
Round Talon Terran Change Defend The Second Player Turn is identical to the Initiative Player Turn
(3.1) Initiative Initiative Initiative Initiative except replace the term Initiative Player with Second Player.
(4.1) (4.1) (4.2) (4.2) At the end of each Impuse check to see if the Initiative has changed.
Critical Damage markers: These occur in a Critical Hit (8.5).
Impulse B-F
Impulses B through F are conducted in the same manner as Impulse
A except different ships may have AP or movement.

Shields Helm Power –1 Turn +1 Power Power Phase

Down Down Loss Initiative Player’s Power Phase
Scenario Markers: Used in special scenarios only: • Charge one Red Box per Weapon Group or Passively Charge
Yellow Boxes (see Power Phase [6.0]) on all ships.
• Every Ship’s Power Curve may be adjusted up or down by 1 step.
1
Second Player’s Power Phase
Talon Terran Objective Jury Rig Jury Rig Identical to the Initiative Player’s Power Phase except now the Sec-
Front Line Front Line Marker Up Down ond Player can charge boxes and adjust Power Curves on his ships.

2.10 Weapon Types Reinforcement Phase

Some scenarios allow reinforcements to arrive in mid-battle.
• Initiative Player—Deploy reinforcements as per scenario
Fusion Cannon Wave Motion Gun description
• Second Player—Deploy reinforcements as per scenario description
Missiles Anti-Matter Torpedo
Retreat Phase
It may be necessary or wise to retreat ships during battle.
Phaser Disruptor
• Initiative Player—Eligible ships may jump to FTL
• Second Player—Eligible ships may jump to FTL
Start a new Round with Impulse A and advance the Round marker.

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4. THE IMPULSE DISPLAY Procedure:

• Each ship that spends AP on the Initiative should be marked with
AND INITIATIVE either a Change Initiative or Defend Initiative marker.
4.1 THE IMPULSE DISPLAY • At the end of an Impulse, if there are more Change Initiative •
The Impulse Display tracks the current Impulse and informs players At the end of an Impulse, if there are more Change Initiative
when AP is available or when ships must move. markers on ships than Defend Initiative markers, the Initiative
marker is flipped. The new Initiative Player will take his actions
The Initiative marker is placed in the appro- first in the upcoming Impulse and beyond, until the Initiative
priate box for the current Impulse and Turn. changes again.
Indicate which side has the Initiative with this • Players may force their opponent to have the Initiative.
marker. When moving this marker from the
• If the number of Defend Initiative markers on ships is greater than
Initiative Player box to the Second Player box within an Impulse do
or equal to the number of Change Initiative markers, the Initiative
not flip the marker. The side with the Initiative stays face up until
remains the same.
Initiative is changed.
• Remove all Change/Defend Initiative markers before beginning
Nothing in the game happens simultaneously. During each Impulse, the next Impulse.
the player with the Initiative takes his Turn first, followed by the
DESIGN NOTE: The ships in this game are traveling at tremen-
player without the Initiative.
dous speeds and are actually very small compared to the distances
Important! Each Impulse box on the chart may have one or more covered. Because of this, all of the ships on a side have interlinked
numbers. When a number on the Impulse box matches the ship’s sensors, targeting computers, electronic counter measures, etc.
Power (the first number in a ship’s Power Curve [5.4.1]), that ship Spending AP to change or defend the Initiative represents a side in-
receives AP. When a number on the Impulse box matches the ship’s vesting ship resources into these systems to gain a tactical advantage.
Speed (the second number in the Power Curve), that ship must
move during that Impulse.

EXAMPLE: It is Impulse C and the Talon player has the Initiative.

During his Impulse he had his BB spend 1 AP to Defend the Initiative.
However, both the Terran BC and SC get AP in their Turn so they
are both able to place Change Initiative markers on their ships. At
the end of this Impulse, there are more Change Initiative markers
EXAMPLE: The Patton has a Power Curve of 2-4-1. On Impulse than Defend Initiative markers so the Terran is allowed to select
C and F a “2” appears, matching Patton’s Power value. On those the new Initiative Player. The Terran player chooses himself, flips
Impulses the Patton receives AP. On Impulse A, C, D and F a “4” the Initiative marker over and will take his Turn first in Impulse D.
appears, the “4” matches the Patton’s Speed value. On those Im-
pulses the Patton must move.
In most battles, there may be Impulses where the ships will have no
AP available and will be unable to move. Ships may still fire, use
5. SHIPS
Batteries or use Afterburners in those Impulses, but most of the 5.1 Ship Properties
time they can be quickly skipped. Power Curve: Each ship has a Power Curve, listed on the Player Aid
Card, which shows, in order, the Power, Speed, and the Turn Radius
After Impulse F, the Power Phase occurs for the Initiative and then at all possible Speeds. As a ship increases Speed, the ship’s Turn
the Second Player, after which the Round ends and the Round marker Radius will increase and the Power will decrease. This information
is advanced to the next box. In some scenarios, events will occur is written in the white box and circle on the ship counter.
on a specific Round.
Power: This is the energy that a ship generates that is not being
4.2 Initiative Control used for movement, life support, shields, etc. This number is the
amount of Available Power (AP) that may be spent by this ship in
During an Impulse, a player may spend AP
the course of a Round. Each ship may only spend, at most, one AP
on Initiative Control in an attempt to either
per Impulse. Since most ships will have less than 6 Power and there
Change Initiative or Defend Initiative (keep
are 6 Impulses in a Round, ships will not be able to spend an AP in
it the same). Both the player with the Initia-
every Impulse. All AP spending options are detailed in the Spending
tive and the Second Player may attempt to Change it or Defend it.
Available Power section.

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Speed: The number of hexes that a ship can move in the course of a 5.3 Firing Arc and Shield Arc
Round. Each ship may only move, at most, ONE hex per Impulse. (5.3.1) Firing Arcs: Weapons may only fire at targets within their
Since ships, in general, have a Speed less than 6 and there are 6 Im- Firing Arc. There are four Firing Arcs in the game—forward, left,
pulses in a Round, ships will not be able to move in every Impulse. right, and rear. These are indicated by the arrows next to the Weapon.
Turn Radius: A measure of the maneuverability of the ship. This See the image below or the image on the Player Aid Card to deter-
value dictates the number hexes a ship must move straight, after mine which hex around a ship is in which Firing Arc.
turning, before it can turn again. EXAMPLE: If a Weapon has an arrow pointing to the left and an
Power Phase: This is a special phase that occurs after Impulse F. arrow pointing to the front, it may fire at any targets within the left
Weapons are charged during this time and each ship’s Power Curve and/or front Firing Arcs.
may be adjusted. (5.3.2) Shield Arcs: Shield boxes absorb damage from fire within
Weapon Group: All of a ship’s Weapons are combined into one to the Shield Arc. There are four Shield Arcs in the game—forward,
three Weapon Groups. All of the Weapons in a Weapon Group share left, right, and rear. These are represented by the shields on the
the same Charge Bar and Firing Arc(s). All Weapons in a group must ship counter. The Firing Arcs and Shield Arcs are the same. There
be fired when that group fires. Individual Weapons within a Weapon is no need to draw lines of sight to determine which Shield Arc is
Group may select different targets, as long as the targets are within hit while firing (8.0).
that Group’s Firing Arc.
Weapon: Within a Weapon Group, there are one or more icons
which correspond to an individual Weapon.
Firing Arc: Each Weapon Group has one or more arrows designating
the direction(s) that Weapon Group may fire.
Charge Bar: This is the bar made of red and yellow boxes next to
a Weapon Group. Charged state is indicated by marking off boxes.
Red boxes are charged during the Power Phase. Yellow boxes may
be Actively Charged with AP (see Spending Available Power) or
Passively Charged during the Power Phase (see Power Phase).
Shield Arc: A groups of shields on a ship protecting it from dam-
age in a particular direction. Each shield box represents 1 point of
damage that Shield Arc can sustain. Damage to shields is indicated
by marking off boxes.
Hull Box: Each box represents 1 point of damage a ship can sustain. EXAMPLE: If an enemy ship was in the Forward Arc of a Heavy
A ship is destroyed when all Hull Boxes are marked off. Damage to Cruiser, only Weapons that could fire to the front would be able to
hull is indicated by marking off boxes. target the enemy. Likewise, any fire from that enemy ship would be
Critical Hull Box: Some Hull Boxes cause Critical Damage to a applied to the front shield of the Heavy Cruiser.
ship when marked off. The Critical Damage Table determines the
outcome. 5.4 Power Curve
Battery/Afterburner: Many Terran ships have Batteries and many (5.4.1) Each ship has a Power
Talon ships have Afterburners. Batteries are marked off when Curve, listed on the Player Aid
charged; Afterburners are marked off when spent. See those sections Card, which shows the Power (1st
of the rules for more details. number), Speed (2nd number),
and the Turn Radius (3rd number)
5.2 Hull designations at all possible Speeds. The start-
This game uses standard naval hull designations to identify a given ing Power Curve for each ship is highlighted on the Player Aid Card.
ship class as listed below. EXAMPLE: The starting Power Curve for a Terran Heavy Cruiser
Hull Abbreviation (CA) is 3-3-2.
Scout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SC (5.4.2) Indicating the Power
Destroyer . . . . . . . . . . . DD Curve: When the Speed for the ship
Frigate . . . . . . . . . . . . . FF is chosen, the corresponding three
numbers of the Power Curve are
Light Cruiser . . . . . . . . CL
written in the rectangular white box
Heavy Cruiser . . . . . . . CA and circle on the front of the ship
Battle Cruiser . . . . . . . . BC counter.
Battleship . . . . . . . . . . . BB
(5.4.3) Changing Speed: During the Power Phase, each ship’s Power
Dreadnought . . . . . . . . DN
Curve may be adjusted up or down. Normally, a ship can only change
Fighter . . . . . . . . . . . . . FTR her Speed by one. Most Power Curves do not go below a Speed of 1
Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . CV because normal combat ships must always have a Speed of at least 1.
Transport . . . . . . . . . . . Tran DESIGN NOTE: In general, as a ship increases Speed, the ship’s
Turn Radius will increase and the Power will decrease.
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EXAMPLE: A Terran CA with a • Power Through a Turn – Move the Turn Radius marker 1 hex
Speed of 3 at the start of the Pow- closer. If the Turn Radius marker is only one hex away, it is
er Phase may choose to Speed up removed and the ship can turn the next time it moves (see 7.0).
to Speed 4 or slow down to Speed If you are placing Turn Radius markers directly on the turning
2 as shown by the numbers in the ship, flip or replace the marker to indicate how many more hexes
white circle. If the Terran CA are left in the turn.
Speeds up, her Power Curve becomes 2-4-2. Erase the previous • Charge a Yellow box on a Weapon Group Charge Bar – On one
Power Curve, and write 2-4-2 in its place. The cruiser now moves of the Charge Bars on the ship, one yellow box may be marked
at Speed 4 but she has less AP to spend. off. This is called Active Charging. A Yellow box may be charged
even if there are un-charged Red boxes.
(5.4.4) Effects of Hull Damage: When a ship has damage, the
modifier in the Hull Boxes (8.4.2) may reduce the amount of Power. • Charge a Battery – If the ship has a battery (not all races have
This is applied to the Power during the Power Phase. A ship cannot batteries), it may be marked off (10.1) if not charged. Batteries
choose a Speed that would cause it to have negative Power. do not normally start the game charged.
• Reinforce a Shield Arc – One Shield Reinforcement marker may
(5.4.5) Power Less Than Zero: At the end of the Power Phase, if be placed on a specific Shield Arc of that ship (6.2). The letter on
a ship has a modified Power less than 0 because of the Power mod- the Shield Reinforce marker should match the letter of the current
ifiers caused by damage and critical effects, then the ship breaks Impulse.
apart and explodes.
• Change the Initiative – Place a Change Initiative marker on the
ship (4.2).
• Defend the Initiative – Place a Defend Initiative marker on the
ship (4.2).
• Transmit Power to Fighters – Carriers and Bases may transmit
AP to friendly Fighter Squadrons (Advanced Rule 12.2.2).
• Select New Missile Target – Ships with missile launchers may
select new targets for friendly missiles with AP (Advanced Rule
1 5 3 13.7).

6.2 Reinforce a Shield Arc

EXAMPLE: The Guderian is in trouble. She’s lost her front shields (6.2.1) Purpose: Each Shield Reinforce marker acts as one extra
and she only has 1 more Hull Box remaining. Currently her Power shield box and absorbs one damage to that Shield Arc before being
Curve reads “1-5-3” but, due to damage she just sustained, she removed.
now has a -2 showing in the left-most Hull Box. This means she
(6.2.2) Placement Restrictions:
must slow down to Speed 4 during the Power Phase, giving her a
Power Curve of 2-4-2. With the –2 modifier this becomes 0-4-2. If • Each Shield Arc can have, at most, one reinforcement.
she were unable to slow down, she would have a negative number • Shield Arcs that are down due to Critical Damage may not be
for Power. This would cause the FTL core to overheat and explode. reinforced, however, Shield Arcs that have been completely
depleted MAY still be reinforced.
NFTL drives must be kept “hot”. The rest of a ship’s energy is
generated by the power system produced by the drive. Attempts to • At most, 2 total Shield Reinforcements may be present on one
bring the ship to a standstill “stall” out the drive and deprive the ship.
ship of all power. (6.2.3) Removal: Shield Reinforce markers expire one Round
after they are placed. Remove the marker the next time the lettered
Impulse that matches Shield Reinforcement marker occurs for the
6. POWER owning player. Shield Reinforcement markers already in play may
be removed at will, before they expire, by the ship’s owner. This
6.1 Spending Available Power (AP) allows the ship to reinforce a different Shield Arc or reset a Shield
One point of Power becomes available to a ship at various Impulses Reinforcement.
throughout a Round based on its Power Curve and the Impulse chart.
The Impulses in which a ship has AP may or may not be Impulses
in which the ship moves. Remember that AP is spent before move-
ment. AP spent during the Impulse may impact movement in that
same Impulse.
When a point of Power becomes available to a ship, it can be spent
on one of the following actions:
• Enable a Side Slip – If this option is chosen a Side Slip marker is
placed on the ship. The next time the ship moves, it may choose
to Side Slip (see Movement and Turning). The next time the ship
moves (even if it is this same Impulse), remove the marker whether
the ship Side Slipped or not.

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1) place a Turn Radius marker a number of hexes away from the ship
7. MOVEMENT AND TURNING equal to her current Turn Radius. This counter indicates when the
The invention of the Near Faster Than Light (NFTL) drive was the ship can turn again. The Turn Radius markers are much smaller
first revolution in space travel. Before that, mankind was dependent than the hexes and it is helpful to place the counter along the hex
upon conventional rockets. The cost to get even one pound of weight side closest to the ship that it belongs to; OR
out of Earth’s atmosphere and into space was exorbitant. Travel
between planets within Earth’s solar system was painfully slow. The 2) place the Turn Radius marker directly on the ship. In this case,
NFTL drive changed all of that and effectively eliminated conven- the number on the counter corresponds to the remaining hexes a
tional rockets. The drive creates a pocket of subspace in front of a ship must move before it may turn again. The counter is flipped
ship which draws a ship forward. While a ship using an NFTL drive or replaced with a smaller value Turn Radius marker as the ship
never leaves normal space, the change in subspace around (and moves through her turn.
especially in front of) a ship allows it to easily overcome gravity, DESIGNER NOTE: During large battles, it may be more convenient
accelerate in space, and travel at Speeds much more quickly than to place the counter directly on the ship performing the turn to
conventional rocketry would allow. It also does it at a fraction of the prevent board clutter.
cost and without the need for ridiculous amounts of fuel. All ships
A ship with a Turn Radius of 0 (and no Turn Radius counter on the
in this game are using NFTL drives when moving around the board.
board from a previous turn) could turn every time it moves.
The unique properties of NFTL drives have a number of interesting
impacts in this game. First, the distortions and subspace pockets 7.3 Side Slip
are such that it is difficult for ships with NFTL drives to be close to (7.3.1) Procedure: The ship shifts one space 60 degrees forward
each other. Second, it is very dangerous for NFTL drives to change (left or right) without changing facing. This is independent of the
their output dramatically – whether in Speed or direction. The Turn Radius and can be done even if the ship has a Turn Radius
parameters of the subspace field must be adjusted incrementally or marker on the board.
the ship will break apart.
(7.3.2) Side Slip Markers: A Side Slip can only be done
if that ship previously spent AP to place a Side Slip
7.1 Moving marker on the ship. Whether the player uses the sideslip
When a ship can move according the Impulse chart, it MUST move. or not, the Side Slip counter is removed when the ship
If a player has multiple ships that can all move in the same Impulse, moves. When a ship performs a Side Slip, if the ship still has a Turn
he may move them in any order. A ship that can move can do one Radius marker on the board, the marker will need to be moved to
of the following: be in the same hex row as the ship. When moved, it should be ad-
• Go straight. Move the ship one hex forward, along her current justed so that it is one hex closer to the ship, since the ship moved
facing. If a ship has a Turn Radius marker on the board, it is one hex forward.
removed if the ship moves into the same hex as that counter.
• Turn (7.2)
• Side Slip (7.3)

7.2 Turning
(7.2.1) Procedure: Rotate the ship one hexside either left or right
and move one space forward, in that order.
(7.2.2) Turn Radius: A ship may only turn if it does not have a
Turn Radius marker on the board. After completing the turn and
subsequent move either:

EXAMPLE: Here the Terran cruiser used AP to place a marker on

the ship. During this cruiser’s next Move, she MAY choose to shift
one hex to the side, keeping the same facing. Since the cruiser had
a turn radius marker 2 hexes ahead of her, it also gets shifted in the
same direction and it moves 1 hex closer.

7.4 Collisions
Because of the instability of the subspace pockets caused by the
NFTL drives, ships of the same race suffer damage if they occupy
the same hex together (Exception: Fighters in the same squadron,
Bases, and Missiles). Because each race’s NFTL drives are tuned
slightly differently, this does not apply to ships of different races.
Rule: If a ship moves into the same hex as another ship of its race
both ships take 3 Damage on the shield facing the other ship. The
EXAMPLE: A Terran CA with a Speed of 3 has a Turn Radius of ship’s owner chooses which ship resolves damage first. Ships of
2. After the ship completes its turn, a turn radius marker is placed different races may pass through each other freely without damage.
2 hexes away. Ships of the same race may never begin the scenario stacked in the
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same hex. 8.2 Target Selection
If a Fighter squadron collides with another friendly ship, including (8.2.1) In General: Any and all firing by one ship must be completed
other Fighter squadrons, EACH Fighter in the squadron would suffer before another ship may fire. If more than one ship or Missile is in a
3 damage, destroying the entire squadron. The opposing ship would hex, the firing player must choose the target he is firing at. Weapons
also receive 3 collision damage as normal within a group may select different targets.
PLAY NOTE: Since ships move one at a time, ships of the same (8.2.2) Restrictions:
race that start their move in the same hex and end their move in • Weapons may only fire at targets within their Firing Arc (5.3.1).
the same hex will damage each other each Impulse they move. Be • You may not intentionally fire on your own ships.
careful managing large fleets. • No fire may occur between ships or Missiles in the same hex.

7.5 Floating Map (8.2.3) Blocking Fire: Planets may block fire (17.2.2). Ships do not
(7.5.1) The Map board is “floating”. If a ship is about to move off block fire in any way (Ships are actually quite small compared to
the map, all of the ships and planets can be shifted over the same the size of the hexes).
amount and centered on the map so that there is room to move. If
there is not enough room to shift things over, the Extension map may 8.3 Firing Procedure:
be used to accommodate movement. Also, if both players agree, the Follow this procedure for each firing:
map may be shifted at any time to better accommodate the ships. 1. Select a fully Charged Weapon Group on the firing ship.
2. Confirm that an eligible target is in range of the Weapons in that
Group.
3. Erase the Weapon Group Charge Bar.
4. Select a Weapon (one at a time) within the Weapon Group and
the target.
5. Fire is resolved by rolling a die and consulting the appropriate
weapon chart on the Player Aid Card. Whether a shot hits and how
much damage is dealt depends upon the result at a given range.
EXAMPLE: The Phaser deals a variable amount of damage based
on the range and the number rolled. The Disruptor, on the other
hand, always deals 2 damage if it hits.
You may repeat steps 4 and 5 for the remaining Weapons in that
Here a Talon ship is approaching the left edge of the board and Group, if able.
wishes to turn to its left side. To accommodate the shift in battle, the 6. Determine which Shield Arc is hit—the Shield Arc hit is the target
map “floats”—every counter on the board is moved 3 hexes inward. ship’s Firing Arc in which the firing ship resides. Note that Firing
Arcs and Shield Arcs are the same; there is no need to draw lines
(7.5.2) Mandatory Retreat: If both maps are already in play and
of sight to determine which Shield Arc is hit (Lines of sight are
there is no room to shift things over, a ship that is 6 or more hexes
drawn only for blocking terrain like Planets).
away from the nearest other ship is removed from play to accom-
modate the shift. She is considered to have retreated.
(7.5.3) Terrain and the Floating Map: Terrain is likewise shifted
when the map floats and if a Terrain counter is ever six hexes from
another ship it is removed from play to accommodate the shift. Com-
bat has drifted so far that the terrain element is no longer relevant.

8. FIRING
8.1 Charge Bar
(8.1.1) Purpose: Each Weapon Group has a Charge Bar on the ship
counter. Some Charge Bars are divided to fit the counter; this is
treated as one Charge Bar (example: the Wave Motion Gun on the
Terran BB). The Weapon Group may only be fired if the bar is EXAMPLE: The Patton is firing on Vision with her Forward Firing
fully charged. Once the Weapon fires, the charge bar is completely Arc. Fire will affect Vision’s left Shield Arc since Patton is in Vision’s
erased—even if only one Weapon in the Group fires. No Weapon in left Firing Arc (shaded hexes).
the Weapon Group (even if it did not fire) may fire again until the
Charge Bar is again fully charged. 8.4 Damage and Criticals
(8.4.1) Damage: One point of Damage destroys one Shield or Hull
(8.1.2) Recharging: Yellow boxes on a Charge Bar may be Actively box. Damage is normally applied to the appropriate Shield facing
Charged by spending AP or Passively Charged during the Power first. When all of the Shield boxes are destroyed on a given Shield
Phase. Red boxes are only charged during the Power Phase. Arc, that shield arc is considered “down” and additional damage
(8.1.3) Ships normally begin a scenario with their Charge Bars (9.2) taken on that Arc is marked off on the Hull boxes.
fully charged.
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(8.4.2) Power Modifiers: If a modifier is present in the leftmost empires for possible use in a defensive role, but none have yet been
Hull Box, then that modifier is applied to the Power during the successful in implementing it on a capital ship. Missiles, like Fight-
Power Phase. ers, share an NFTL bubble when traveling close together in space.
EXAMPLE: Terran CA Napoleon 8.7 Repair of Critical Damage
has 3 Hull Boxes destroyed so that
Some Critical Damage can be repaired if the Critical Damage marker
the leftmost box is a “–1”. During
has the Repairable Damage icon = . Only Critical Damage
the Power Phase, the player
that has this icon is repairable. To attempt repair, roll a 6-sided die.
chooses a Speed of 3 giving it a
If the result is a 6, the Critical Damage has been repaired and the
Power Curve of 3-3-2. Because of
counter is removed.
the damage, the Terran player
actually writes 2-3-2 on his ship. Repairs may be attempted at the end of every Turn (thus every Im-
pulse) following the Impulse in which the ship took Critical Damage.
Critical Damage may not be repaired during the Impulse in which
(8.4.3) Critical Hull Box: The moment a is marked off. The it is placed on the ship.
ship’s owner must roll two 6-sided dice on the Critical Damage Table.

8.5 Critical Damage Table 9. THE POWER PHASE

The Critical Damage Table is located on the Player Aid card. Roll 9.1 In General
two dice and apply the result immediately.
The Power Phase occurs between Rounds—after Impulse F ends
• Bases take no critical damage if Maneuvering Thruster Damage (6) but before the next Impulse A begins. The player with the Initiative
or Helm Down (4) are rolled. Bases would be instantly destroyed takes all of his Power Phase actions first. Remember to adjust the
by a FTL Core breach (12) like any other ship. Initiative before the Power Phase if the Change Initiative marker is
• It is possible that, because of other battle damage or the game in place from Impulse “F”.
situation, a roll on the above table will actually have little or no
impact. This represents non-critical damage and a re-roll should 9.2 Charge Weapons
not be performed. (9.2.1) Passively Charge Yellow Boxes: If no Red Box needs to
EXAMPLE: A ship rolled an 11 on the critical damage table and be marked off on a particular Charge Bar, the player may instead
now has a Power Loss marker. The ship takes another critical mark off a number of Yellow Boxes on that Charge Bar equal to the
damage and again rolls an 11. Since it still has the Power Loss number of Weapons in that group.
marker, nothing happens. EXAMPLE: A Talon BC has a Weapon Group of 2 Disruptors. The
Charge Bar is 1 red and 4 Yellow Boxes. If the Red Box is already
8.6 Ship Destruction marked off, he may instead mark off 2 Yellow Boxes on that bar
(8.6.1) How: When the last Hull Box is destroyed, the ship is im- since there are 2 Weapons in that Weapon Group.
mediately destroyed. Remove the counter from play.
(9.2.2) Charge Red Boxes: Every ship may mark off one Red Box
(8.6.2) Explosion Damage: on every Charge Bar it has. This is the only time during the game
• Each ship in the same hex with the destroyed ship takes damage that a Red Box may be marked off.
equal to the ship’s Explosion Rating plus one. The Explosion
Rating of a ship can be found on the Player Aid Card. Roll one 9.3 Adjust Power Curve
die for each Shield Arc. The highest result is the side that takes Every ship may then have her Power Curve adjusted. Remember
damage. In the event of a tie, reroll among the tied Shield Arcs. that most ships may only change their Speed by one.
• Each ship in all adjacent hexes takes damage on the facing Shield
Arc equal to the destroyed ship’s Explosion Rating. If a ship has a modifier in the left-most Hull Box, apply the modifier
to the ship’s Power (see Power Curve).
(8.6.3) Sequence of Explosions: If multiple ships are exploding at
the same time (due to fire from a Weapon like the Fusion Cannon) If a Turn Radius marker is already on the board, it is not moved
the order in which the explosions are resolved is determined by the closer or farther away if the ship’s Turn Radius changes.
ships’ owner. If both sides of the battle have ships that are exploding,
The “Power Loss” Critical Damage does not modify your Power,
the current player resolves his ships first.
however it does prevent adjusting your Power Curve and Charging
(8.6.4) Fighters, Missiles, and Explosions: Fighters never cause weapons.
explosion damage. If Fighters or Missiles are in the proximity of an
explosion, the damage is only applied to one Fighter in a Squadron 9.4 End Turn Activities
and one Missile per hex. The owner of the Fighter/Missile selects After all ships have completed the Power Phase, it is usually a
the one destroyed by the explosion damage. good idea to quickly scan the ships and see what numbers appear
for movement and AP.
The tuned nature of a Fighter Squadron’s NFTL drives means that a
Fighter Squadron operates within a single subspace pocket. The net Advance the Round marker one space to the right. If it is Round
effect of this subspace field causes exterior explosions to be focused 10, advance the back to 1. It is now Round 11.
within the field toward the nearest NFTL generator. Like electricity
running along the quickest path to ground, explosions impact only
one FTR in the squadron. This principle has been studied by multiple
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10. BATTERIES AND

AFTERBURNERS ADVANCED RULES
10.1 Batteries 11. RETREATING FROM BATTLE
Some races, including the Terrans, have figured out a dynamic The Faster Than Light (FTL) drive was the second revolution in
way to temporarily store massive amounts of energy. space travel. Using very similar principles to the NFTL, it allows
(10.1.1) Purpose: A Battery lets a ship save AP for later use. A ships to move many times faster than the Speed of light. Instead of
Battery gives a ship one AP in the Impulse it is used. A ship with a creating subspace field distortions and pockets around the ship (like
Battery will have a battery icon on the counter. No ship has more the NFTL), a FTL drive actually moves the ship into subspace. NFTL
than one battery. When used, erase the Battery. and FTL drives are so similar that they are essentially the same
engine. A ship that wants to retreat from battle must stop using the
(10.1.2) When: Batteries can only be used to provide an AP in an engine as a NFTL and use it as a FTL. When battle begins NFTL
Impulse that the ship does not normally receive an AP per the Im- drives are engaged and cannot be switched to FTL mode until after
pulse Chart. This means that a ship will never have more than one a “spooling up” period. Bigger ships take longer to spool their
AP to spend in any Impulse. FTL drives.
(10.1.3) Recharging a Battery: The same Battery can be charged (11.1.1) Purpose: Retreats can be used to deny your opponent a
and used any number of times throughout the game. Batteries are Great or Devastating Victory if playing with the Campaign/Lifetime
charged by spending an AP and marking off the battery icon. scoring rules or as required by a scenario.
(10.1.4) At Start Status: Batteries do not usually start charged at (11.1.2) Procedure: Retreat is achieved when a ship is able to
the beginning of a scenario. activate its FTL drive. To do that it must do all of the following:
• spool up her FTL drive (11.1.3)
10.2 Afterburners • “punch it” (jumping to FTL). This occurs after the Power Phase
Afterburners represent the Talon’s ability to force their of a given Round. Other ships or terrain in front of the retreating
NFTL engines to operate at higher output than normal. ship do not matter, the ship leaves normal space. After a ship
This causes them to burn out with extended use. retreats, set it aside.
(10.2.1) Who: A ship equipped with an Afterburner will have one (11.1.3) Spooled and Unspooled: At the start of a battle, each ship’s
or more Afterburner icons somewhere on the counter. FTL is considered to be “unspooled”. The FTL becomes spooled
during the Power Phase of the Round number equal to that ship’s
(10.2.2) Purpose: On any Impulse in which a ship is not scheduled
total Hull Boxes.
to move, Afterburners may be used to allow the ship to move one
hex. Normal movement rules and Turn Radius restriction apply. EXAMPLE: A Terran CA is spooled up by the Power Phase of
A ship may use an Afterburner to Side Slip, if previously marked Round 6.
with a Side Slip counter. When used, mark off one Afterburner box.
(11.1.4) Restrictions on Retreats:
Each Afterburner can only be used once in a scenario and cannot
• A ship cannot retreat while in a hex with terrain such as a Nebula
be recharged.
or Asteroid.
(18.2.3) Restrictions: Each ship can only use one Afterburner in an • Bases cannot retreat as they don’t have FTL.
Impulse, so a ship may not move more than one hex per Impulse. • Fighters do not have FTL drives and must dock with Carriers (16.1).
They then jump to FTL when the Carrier is eligible to jump.

12. FIGHTERS
12.1 Fighters
STOP (12.1.1) In General: Fighter counters represent 3 fighters flying
together in a squadron. FTRs may not be present at a battle unless
The above rules are all that are needed to play a Carrier or friendly Base is present at the start of the battle. FTRs
the Tutorial and Scenario 1. may continue in the battle after their Carrier or Base is destroyed.
(12.1.2) Characteristics: Fighters have the following character-
istics:
• Because of their small size, FTRs have a minimum Speed of 5.
Fighter NFTL engines must run “hot”.
• FTRs do not have Shield Arcs. Damage is applied directly to the
hull of one of the Fighters on the counter.
• Fighters do not have a FTL drive to retreat from battle.
• Collisions: Fighter Squadrons suffer and cause the same penalties
for being in the same hex as other ships or other Fighter
squadrons of their race. Fighters in the same squadron (i.e., the

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same counter) do not cause collision damage with each other. 13.3 Target Tracking
• Talon Fusion Cannons: Due to their size and agility, they are Missiles are “smart”, have unlimited fuel and will keep tracking
able to evade a Talon Fusion Cannon, taking no damage from it. toward their targets until they hit or are destroyed. Missiles track
This makes Fighters ideal to assault larger Talon capital ships. independently of their firing ship and are not removed if the firing
• FTRs do not generate AP on their own. They rely on Carrier ships ship is destroyed.
and Bases to provide them with power (12.2). If the target ship leaves the battle or is destroyed, the Missile contin-
• When FTRs are destroyed, ships in the same hex and adjacent ues to move forward and cannot turn. The Missile cannot detonate
hexes are not affected by explosion damage. until a new target is selected (13.7).
(12.1.3) Targeting Fighters: When a FTR is targeted by a Weapon,
a specific FTR in the squadron must be targeted. 13.4 Missile Movement
• Missiles move during the movement step of a player’s turn and are
12.2 Powering Fighters treated like any other ship for this purpose. They may be moved
in any order along with any other ships that must move during a
(12.2.1) In General: One Carrier or Base (14.0) can deploy a maxi-
given Impulse.
mum of 4 FTR squadrons each. Terran CVs and Bases are equipped
with phased arrays that can transfer power to Fighters through the • Missiles have a Speed of 6 (they move each Impulse).
vacuum of space. • Missiles have a Turn Radius of 0. They may turn one hex side
each time they move.
If there are no friendly Carriers or Bases left in the battle, Fighter
• Missiles may not Side Slip.
groups no longer receive AP. Their Charge Bar Yellow Boxes may
still Passively Charge during the Power phase. • The firing player may move a Missile as he sees fit as long as he
chooses a hex that is closer to the target (if possible). If two hexes
(12.2.2) Transmitting Power to FTRs: When a Carrier or friendly are equidistant to the target, the owner may choose which hex to
Base receives AP, it may spend it on any friendly fighter group move it into.
instead of itself. The AP may be spent to: • Missiles may not cause the map to “float” (see Floating Map) and
• Actively Charge a Yellow Box on a FTR Weapon Group (one ship are destroyed if they go flying aimlessly off the map.
on the counter may charge one Yellow Box).
• Pull a FTR Squadron’s Turning Radius marker one hex closer 13.5 Missile Detonation
(Powering through a turn [6.1]). When a Missile enters into the same hex as its target, it immediately hits
• Enable a side-slip for the FTR Squadron (6.1). it and does 2 damage to the Shield Arc it passed through (or the hull if
the Shield Arc is down). This is resolved during Movement. It happens
(12.2.3) Restrictions: immediately when either the ship or the Missile moves into the other’s
• Only one AP may be spent on each Fighter squadron per Impulse. hex. Subsequent ship explosion damage should be resolved at this time.
• The FTR squadron receiving AP must be within six hexes of the • A Missile fired at its target at Range 1 would immediately detonate.
CV or Base and must not be in an Asteroid or Nebula. Planets, • If a Missile moves into the same hex as a non-targeted ship,
Nebulae and Asteroids may block a Fighter from receiving AP friendly ship, or other missile, nothing happens.
just like they block or interfere with fire (17.2.2).
13.6 Shooting Down Missiles:
If a single source of damage ever deals 3 or more damage to a missile,
13. MISSILES it is destroyed. If a missile takes less than 3 points of damage flip
the missile to the damaged side. If a missile is on the damaged side
13.1 Which Ships Have Missiles and takes any amount of damage, it is destroyed.
Some Talon ships are equipped with Missile launchers.
These ships have an unlimited number of Missiles • Missiles do not deal explosion damage when destroyed but may
available. receive explosion damage.
• If multiple Missiles in the same hex are receiving damage from
13.2 Launching Missiles an explosion, damage is only applied to one Missile in the hex.
Unlike other Weapons, when a Missile is fired, the effect is not • Damaged missiles still deal 2 damage when they hit their target.
immediately resolved. Instead, a Missile counter is placed in an
• Destroyed missiles do not count towards degree of victory.
adjacent hex within the firing arc of the firing ship. The Missile must
face a hex side in the direction of the target ship. A Missile may only
be fired when the target is in the Firing Arc of the Missile launcher
and the target is within range of the firing ship.
The target of each Missile should be announced (sensors can pick
these things up) and the number of the Missile counter should be
written on the target ship. The Missile may only ever hit that target
and will pass through the hex of other units. If targeted against a
Fighter squadron, the specific Fighter in the squadron is not chosen
until the Missile hits. Missiles may target ships or Fighters, but not
other Missiles.
EXAMPLE: Defiant is being targeted by Missile # 4. Fortunately,
she has a chance to shoot it down with her charged right Phaser
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group. Her first Phaser only rolls a 2, dealing two damage to the
Missile. This is not enough to destroy a Missile as it needs to take 3
15. THE BIG GUNS
or more damage from one source to be instantly destroyed. Instead, 15.1 Wave Motion Gun
the Missile is flipped to its damaged side. If this Missile hit Defiant,
the ship would still take two damage. However, Defiant still has one
more Phaser left to fire in the right weapon group. This time she only
rolls a 1, dealing 1 damage to the Missile. This destroys the Missile!
If a damaged Missile takes any amount of damage it is destroyed.

13.7 Select New Missile Target

Any ship with at least one functional Missile launcher (not affect-
ed by Critical Damage) may spend 1 AP to select a new target for
any one Missile. The new target must be an enemy ship within the
Firing Arc and range of the redirecting ship’s Missile launcher. The
Missile receiving the new target need not be in the Firing Arc of The Wave Motion Gun is the most powerful weapon ever developed
the redirecting ship. by the Terrans. Based on NFTL technology, the blast contains so
much energy that a subspace pocket forms behind the target, like a
When this occurs, note the missile counter number, write it on the shadow of the vessel’s mass. This pocket pulls the target ship towards
new ship, and erase the number from the old ship. it, effectively knocking it back.
Immediate Detonation: If the new missile target is already in the (15.1.1) Procedure: The Wave Motion Gun has a range of 4 hexes.
same hex as the missile, the missile immediately hits the new target To determine if it hits the target, consult the Wave Motion Gun table
during this part of the Impulse. Resolve the damage as above. The and roll one die. A hit Displaces (15.1.2) the target ship and causes
Shield Arc hit is determined by rolling one die for each Shield Arc. 10 damage points.
The highest result is the side that takes damage. In the event of a
tie, reroll among the tied Shield Arcs. (15.1.2) Displace Effect: On a hit, a straight edge is placed from
the center of the firing hex through and beyond the center of the
target hex. The target ship is displaced one hex away from the firing
ship along the straight edge, without changing facing. If the straight
14. BASES edge is exactly along a hex-spine the firing ship may choose a hex
Characteristics: Bases are treated like ships in all respects except on either side of the hex spine.
they cannot move. Their Power Curve does not include a Turn
Radius. • If the target ship has a Turn Radius marker, it is shifted along with
the target ship such that it remains the same distance in front of
Base Rotation and Speed: The Speed number in their Power Curve the ship.
represents the Speed of their rotation. Rather than moving when their • If playing with Same Faction Combat and a Fighter is hit by this
Speed number appears in the Impulse Chart, the Base must rotate weapon, the entire Fighter squadron is knocked back.
1 hex side clockwise, at that time. Like ships, the Speed for a Base
may only be adjusted up or down by 1 during the Power Phase. A (15.1.3) Damage from the Weapon is not resolved until after the
Base’s AP is not impacted by the Speed of a Base. shift. Any movement related effects are resolved first, such as taking
damage for entering a hex with another friendly ship or asteroid (see
EXAMPLE: A Base with a Speed of 1 will rotate clockwise only once Collisions [7.4], Ship Destruction [8.6] and Terrain [17.0]). This
per Round (on Impulse F). A Base with a Speed of 2 will rotate on may mean the target ship could enter a hex with a friendly ship, take
Impulses C and F, etc. damage from the collision, damage the friendly ship, then blow up
due to the Wave Motion Gun damage, further damaging the friendly
No Collision Damage: If a Base and a friendly ship occupy the same
ship. Any ships that exploded might also cause explosion damage to
hex no damage is dealt. Bases do not have FTL or NFTL drives so
other ships. Chain reactions of explosions are possible.
there is no possibility for interference.
Docking: Some ships may dock with Bases (16.1).
Setup: During setup, bases are deployed to the setup area before all
other ships, as if they were terrain.

EXAMPLE: The BB Vanguard fires its Wave Motion Gun at the Talon
Terran Base Talon Base CA Justice and scores a hit at range 2 on Justice’s rear Shield Arc

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but first the knock-back effect is applied. A straight edge placed from exploded, one of the two missiles would take 3 explosion damage.
the center of the firing ship’s hex through the center of the target If the CA Guderian exploded, CA Justice would take 3 explosion
ship’s hex aligns with the hex spine so the firing ship may choose to damage but only one of the 3 FTRs in Flying Tiger Squadron would
shift Justice back to either hex. Justice had a Turn marker that was take Guderian’s explosion damage.
2 hexes away. It remains 2 hexes away after the shift. Once the shift
is complete, the damage is resolved.

15.2 Fusion Cannon 16. DOCKING AND LANDING

16.1 Purpose
Docking usually involves either CVs or Bases and is only allowed
when required to fulfill a scenario objective or to allow Fighters to
retreat from battle aboard CVs. Unless specified by a scenario rule,
these units are removed from the battle and may not re-enter space.
Planets may be landed on using these rules as well, but this is only
permitted by scenario rule.

16.2 Docking/Landing Procedure

To dock, the player declares during the movement phase that this
The Fusion Cannon is composed of multiple, highly destructive ship will be docking. They then may move the ship into the same
beams that scatter to damage many ships over a large area. hex as the Base or Planet and remove the ship from the game.
(15.2.1) The Fusion Cannon fires in a cone, hitting all targets within • Docking never causes collision damage.
its Firing Arc and range. The die is rolled separately for each target • A Transport may not dock with a Base or land on a planet unless
hit by the Fusion Cannon. The damage dealt depends on the range it is moving at Speed 1.
of the hex and number rolled.
• FTRs may dock with a Carrier or Base while moving at any Speed.
(15.2.2) Resolving Fusion Cannon Damage: They are skilled enough to land “hot”.
• Damage is applied to all ships in each hex of the firing cone, • FTRs may not undock from a CV or Base except by scenario rule.
including friendly ships.
• While the Fusion Cannon may, inadvertently, damage friendly
16.3 Fighter Squadron Retreats
ships, an enemy ship must be targeted in order to fire the weapon. • Fighter squadrons normally dock with friendly Carriers to retreat
No weapon may intentionally fire on friendly ships. from battle (Transports may not, they are too large).
• Which ships resolve their damage first is up to the ship owner. If • When a FTR docks, it is then set aside. If the CV is able to jump
both sides have ships that are being hit by the Fusion Cannon the to FTL, that CV and any docked FTRs are considered to have
firing player resolves his ships’ damage first. retreated.
• Terran Fighter groups are too small and agile to be damaged by • If a CV containing docked FTRs is destroyed, all FTRs on board
the Fusion Cannon and ignore all damage that would be caused are also considered to be destroyed.
by it.

17. TERRAIN
17.1 Introduction
• Terrain includes Planets, Asteroids and Nebulae. They are printed
onto the backs of most ship counters.
• If Terrain is being used, select the appropriate Asteroid or Nebula
counter, checking to make sure that the ship on the reverse side
is not being used in this scenario.
• Terrain does not move during the course of a battle but, when
the “floating” map needs to be shifted, Terrain counters are also
shifted, just like ships.
• See the Design Your Own Scenarios section (27.0) for how to
select and place Terrain for custom games.
• Ships destroyed by terrain count for the purpose of calculating
EXAMPLE: The Talon BB Eviscerator fires the Fusion Cannon. It degree of victory.
hits every ship within the shaded area which represents the Fusion
Cannon’s Firing Arc and range of 3. If a 4 was rolled: the Terran CA 17.2 Planets
would take 6 damage on her left Shield Arc, the Talon CA would take (17.2.1) Any Missile or Ship besides a land-
2 damage on her forward Shield Arc and the Terran FTR squadron ing Transport that moves into the same hex
would take NO damage. Missiles 14 and 15 each take 2 damage as a planet is destroyed; any adjacent ships
and would be flipped over to their damaged sides. Missiles 10 and take explosion damage as normal. Planets
11 are not caught in the Fusion Cannon’s fire, but if CA Justice have the following characteristics:

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• They are not harmed by explosion damage. 17.4 Nebula
• They cannot be targeted unless specified by scenario rule. In reality, Nebulae are collections of count-
• They may Block Fire (17.2.2) less stars, spanning multiple parsecs. How-
• Missiles already fired may continue to track to a ship blocked by ever, as humanity explored space, they found
a planet, but are still destroyed if they move into the planet’s hex. pockets of radioactive gas that interfered
They will move into the planet’s hex if there is no other closer with Shields and weapon targeting systems.
hex to the target. These early explorers called these clouds
“Nebulae”, since it was a much more elegant name than “Gas
(17.2.2) Blocking Fire and Power Transmission: To see if a planet Pocket,” the name stuck.
is blocking fire, use a straight edge (use the side of the Player Aid
Card) placing it from the center of the firing hex to the center of (17.4.1) Effects: Whenever a ship shares a hex with a Nebula
the target hex. If the straight edge passes through the Planet hex, counter, all of its shields are considered to be down. Do not mark off
fire is blocked. Fire is not blocked if it only goes along the Planet the shields on the ship counter. All Shield Reinforcement markers
hex’s spine. are destroyed.
Missiles may not be launched and Power may not be transmitted to • A ship’s shields come back online immediately upon exiting the
FTRs (12.2.2) if the target ship is blocked by a planet. Nebula hex.
• Any damage a ship suffers while in a Nebula is placed directly
on the hull.
• Nebulae have no effect on Missiles.
• When a ship leaves a Nebula counter, its shields immediately
come back on to whatever level is recorded on their counter.
EXAMPLE: If a ship exits a Nebula hex and collides with a Missile,
the damage could be placed on shields, if available.
Note that damage from the Wave Motion Gun is not applied until
after the displace effect is resolved. If a ship gets knocked into a
Nebula by the Wave Motion Gun, its shields would be down due to
the Nebula effect BEFORE the Wave Motion Gun damage is applied.
PLAY NOTE: Fighters love to hide in nebulae since they have no
EXAMPLE: The Talon BB and the Talon CA are in the Terran BB’s shields to lose.
left and forward fire arcs, respectively. However, when a straight
edge is placed from the center of the Terran ship to the center of the 17.5 Asteroids and Nebulae Affect
Talon BB, the planet blocks the line of fire. The Talon CA, however, Weapon Targeting Systems
can be targeted as the line of fire is traced along a hex spine. In • If a ship is firing in or through an Asteroid or Nebula subtract one
this case the Talon CA would take damage on its rear Shield Arc. (–1) from the die roll for every Asteroid or Nebula counter the
attack would pass through including any in the target ship’s hex
17.3 Asteroids and/or firing ship’s hex. If a die result becomes less than 1, the
Asteroids represent clusters of large rocks shot misses.
in space. Small vessels, like Fighters, do
not have trouble navigating them, however,
bigger ships do. They also affect weapon
targeting systems.
Effects: Whenever a ship moves into a hex with an Asteroid counter
it will take 1 damage on that Shield Arc (if the appropriate Shield Arc
is down, damage is placed on the hull). If a ship does not move during
their Impulse and remains in an Asteroid hex NO damage is taken.
EXCEPTION: Fighters and Missiles never take damage from
Asteroids.
Asteroid Speed: A term coined by early space explorers. Asteroid
fields could be safely navigated by large ships so long as their
Speed was equal to or less than their Power. In this way, they could
EXAMPLE: The Terran BB and Talon CA (Justice) are in Asteroid
constantly reinforce their forward shield when they moved through
hexes. If the Terran BB fired on the Talon BB (Eviscerator), fire
the Asteroid field and not take any permanent damage.
would pass through two Asteroid hexes, including the hex of the
firing ship. If the Terran BB fired Torpedoes and rolled a 3, it would
be reduced to a roll of 1; a miss. If the Terran BB fired on the Talon
CA, fire would be traced through 3 Asteroid hexes, including the
hex of the target ship. A roll of 3 would be reduced down to 0 which
automatically misses.
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• The Fusion Cannon roll result may be modified differently for
each ship it would hit.
DESIGNER NOTES
The idea for this game came about in 2006 when I was laid up sick
• If there is difficulty determining how many Asteroids/Nebulae fire (really sick). I couldn’t really get out of bed and so, during my wak-
passes through, place a straight edge from the center of the firing ing time, I spent it thinking about this game. It has changed dramat-
hex to the center of the target hex. The terrain hexes the straight ically since then, but that sickness was actually a pretty good start.
edge passes through affect fire. If passing along the hex spine of
two hexes containing Asteroids or Nebulae, that only counts as My original goal was to develop a playable space combat game that
passing through 1 hex. could easily handle fleets of 3-6 ships (or more) on a side. Individual
• Asteroids and Nebulae block Power Transmission from a CV or ship actions are nice, but I wanted fleet combat. I also wanted fleet
Base to FTR Squadrons the same way a Planet blocks fire. combat involving capital ships and not fighter craft. I wanted big,
complicated ships, that had to maneuver and charge systems and
not just do an Immelman. For me, it also has to be intuitive and easy
to play—hopefully with lots of good decisions. As I say with most
18. BLACK HOLES of my games, I want my cake and I want to eat it too. I want all the
While rarely encountered, black holes good stuff, but I want it simply.
provide a substantial piloting challenge to
most ships. Vector Movement?
With a tactical space combat game, the first question that needs to
18.1 Effects be asked is how to handle movement. The vacuum of space means
• Any ship that collides with a Black Hole is immediately destroyed. that objects will tend to stay at their same Speed even when thrust
Explosion damage is still dealt to adjacent ships. The Black Hole is removed (using conventional means). I assume that this is what
takes no damage. you mean when you say vector movement. Plus, with vacuum,
• Black Holes block fire just like a Planet. there is no air to turn against. To go in the opposite direction, all of
• When firing, if the target ship is closer to the black hole than the that thrust needs to be applied in the opposite direction in order to
firing ship, subtract one (–1) from the die roll due to interference begin to move it the other way. You can’t just turn. You might begin
from the Black Hole. to apply thrust to the side, but you retain all of your Speed in the
• Ships may not deploy within 2 hexes of a Black Hole. original direction as well. Even games that go with vector movement
usually get this wrong.
18.2 Gravity Pull For example, if you apply thrust for 5 turns in one direction, your
Once per Round immediately after the Power Phase all ships (in- Speed will increase in that direction each one of those 5 turns. That
cluding Bases!) must shift one hex closer to the Black Hole. Use a ship will then have to apply thrust in the opposite direction for 5
straight edge placed from the center of one hex to the center of the turns just to stop its movement in that direction (slowing each turn)
Black Hole hex to determine where each ship will shift. If the straight to say nothing of any thrust applied to the side to change direction.
edge is along a hex spine, the ship’s owner chooses the destination If you are in a plane going 500 mph you can turn that plane, keep
hex. The Initiative Player shifts all of his ships first. most of your momentum, and go 500 mph in the other direction.
• Any collision damage and resulting explosion damage is You can’t do that in a space ship because there are no aerodynamic/
immediately resolved. frictional forces at play—there is nothing to turn it against.
• Ships do not change facing, all Turn Radius markers are shifted
Space also means that a ship could easily change its facing. It might
accordingly and they are not shifted closer to the turning ship due
still be hurtling forward at the same Speed, but the ship can spin
to the Gravity Pull.
about on its axis and fire in any direction. No frictional or aerody-
namic forces would interfere with it doing that (like it would with
an atmospheric craft). Even game systems that model space flight at
19. WORM HOLES least somewhat accurately tend to ignore this very important point,
Some scenarios call for Worm Holes which allow ships to instantly a point which I find pretty boring in a game.
retreat from a battle, usually to fulfill a scenario objective. Retreat
Of course we are dealing with science fiction here and not science.
occurs immediately when the ship collides with the Worm Hole.
For this game to take place we have to have Faster Than Light drives,
These are represented by Black Hole counters with an objective
so why not Near Faster Than Light drives? This allowed me to set
marker placed on them. They do not act like Black Holes. They do
up the premise for the science fiction universe as I desired. I find
not cause ships to shift closer or subtract from firing rolls.
this very realistic. First of all, the way I model movement is realis-
tic to my premise. :-) Secondly, and more importantly, the game is
realistic to the genre. The ships in this game move and turn as the
capital ships do in the major science fiction franchises. When I play
science fiction, that is what I am shooting for.
Here is the irony—a space combat game that chooses vector move-
ment in an effort to be realistic has chosen a scientific premise. Yet,
if the game allows a ship to turn and keep its momentum or does
not allow ships to spin on its axis at will, it is missing the two most
important points of its scientific premise. In an effort to be realistic,
it has made itself far more unrealistic than a game like Talon. At
least Talon is accurate to its premise.
© 2015, 2017 GMT Games, LLC
 16
So, there was no way I was going to go with vector movement. The why miniature games are sometimes umpired. Just a little change in
only reason I would have done it would have been realism, but if I facing or movement distance can have a big impact on the outcome
made it truly realistic I would have made a boring game. Every ship of the game. I also didn’t want a traditional small counter, hex
would always be able to turn the shield and weapon of its choice map game. This would require some sort of ship display for every
against the enemy while the ships zipped around the board in mostly single ship on the board. That quickly becomes complicated, time
straight lines firing as they passed each other. consuming and a bit of a brain burn when you increase the number
of ships. Remember that I wanted the game to easily handle small
Three Dimensional Movement? fleets, and the large, laminated counters became the perfect solution.
The second thing that has to be addressed is three dimensional With everything on the counter, it is so easy.
movement. Do I want to include this in the game? If you have read
the rules, you know the answer is, no. My thought on it was that Development Phase
it didn’t add really anything to the game. In atmospheric combat, Of any of the games that I have designed, this one experienced
it is critical. Planes climb at a much different rate than they dive, the most change during its development, while it was on P500. As
but in space the third dimension doesn’t impact the combat any I look back now, I can see that I had focused so much on making
differently than the other two dimensions. It simply wasn’t worth a clean design, that I missed some opportunities. Fortunately, my
the rule investment and complication for something that didn’t add development team kept bringing that up to me. :-) My emphasis
anything to the game—except perhaps allowing me to brag about can be seen in the changes made. The system that I delivered to
how the game had 3D space combat :-). the development team is essentially unchanged from the original (I
tweaked the changing of initiative to make it simpler—that’s it). In
Power System one sense it is gratifying to me how robust the system turned out
The power system is something that I love. First, the power for the to be. However, the balance and the chrome is completely different
basic systems is baked into the Power Curve. Second, the adjustment than what we started with.
of the Power Curve is so easy that it makes playing with a fleet
The team is responsible at least in part for afterburners, drastic
so much easier. Lastly, it forces/allows you to spend power as it
weapon changes, multiple excel spreadsheets used to calculate and
becomes available. This is simulating a combat that is taking place
balance point values in the game, the special effects of Fusion and
fairly quickly and it breaks the suspension of disbelief for me if I
Wave Motion Guns, black holes, nebulae, docking, simplified/easier
have to sit down and plan out something in advance, whether it be
retreat, drastic changes to CVs, docking, several scenarios, a lot of
moves, or energy allocation, or whatever. I want as many decisions
back story, and many other things. They were great to work with.
as possible to be made on the fly, as befitting the subject matter.
So, in another sense, I was surprised how much goodness I had left
Those of you who are familiar with my game Band of Brothers will
on the table going into development.
notice that same similarity as that game also mimics something that
is happening very quickly (WW2 squad combat). You only have a
few units to do something with so you just use them. Here you only
Conclusion
have one power to spend (or one hex to move) so you just spend The rest of the game design was time consuming, but a lot of fun.
it. Sometimes you want to spend it on several things, but you can With a normally complicated subject made playable, the sky was
only choose one. the limit. The system is pretty modular and the differences in races
are easy to design. There are so many variables in the game that are
I suppose the most innovative part of the game is the large, laminated simply adjusted, it is easy to give the races a distinct personality
counters. I didn’t want to do miniatures (either figurines or cards) and there are many more that I am already fiddling with. I hope you
because of the inherent problems with movement. There are a lot of enjoy the game!
extra rules needed for miniature movement (I mean without a hex
grid) and it is very time consuming. Of course, there is also a reason

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© 2015, 2017 GMT Games, LLC