Quick Reference

Game Round

Each game round consists of four phases. During the Ship Phase and Squadron Phase, the players take turns, starting with the player who has initiative.

1. Command Phase

Players simultaneously choose and assign facedown command dials to their ships, placing them at the bottom of the command dial stacks. Each ship must have a number of command dials assigned to it equal to its command value.

2. Ship Phase

Players take turns activating one of their unactivated ships by proceeding through the following steps.

1. Reveal Command Dial: Reveal the ship's top command dial. Choose whether to spend the dial to gain the corresponding command token.
2. Attack: Perform up to two attacks from different hull zones.
3. Execute Maneuver: Move the ship at the ship's current speed.

When it is a player's turn to activate, if that player has any unactivated ships, they can pass their turn by spending (and discarding) a pass token under the following conditions:

• First Player: Has activated at least one ship and has fewer unactivated ships than the second player.
• Second Player: Does not have more unactivated ships than the first player.

A player cannot spend a pass token on consecutive turns during the same Ship Phase.

3. Squadron Phase

Players taken turns activating two of their unactivated squadrons, one at a time. If a player has only one unactivated squadron, that player must activate that squadron. If a player has no unactivated squadrons, they must pass their turn.

When a squadron activates, it may either move or attack.

4. Status Phase

Players refresh the play area by following these steps:

1. Ready Defense Tokens: Flip each exhausted defense token to its readied side.
2. Ready Upgrade Cards: Rotate each exhausted card with a recur () icon (or no icon) to its readied position.
   • If players have exhausted cards with a non-recur icon (), they take turns, starting with the first player, choosing one card to ready and paying that card's cost, until one player has no more cards to ready.
3. Flip Initiative Token: Flip the initiative token.
4. Place Round Token: Place the round token with the next highest number next to the play area.

Attack Resolution

To perform an attack with a squadron or ship, proceed through the following steps:

1. Declare Target: Declare a target that is inside the firing arc and at attack range of the attacking squadron or hull zone. Declare the attacking and/or defending hull zone, if any. Measure line of sight to the defender.
2. Roll Attack Dice: Gather and roll the attack dice appropriate for the attack's range and the armament being used.
3. Resolve Attack Effects: Spend accuracy icons and resolve effects that modify dice.
4. Spend Defense Tokens: The defender can spend one or more of its defense tokens.
5. Resolve Damage: The attacker can resolve one critical effect. Then the defender suffers damage equal to the number of hit icons. If both the attacker and the defender are ships, the number of crit icons is added to the damage total.
6. Declare Additional Squadron Target: If the attacker is a ship and the defender was a squadron, the attacker can declare another enemy squadron that is within the firing arc and at attack range of the attacking hull zone of the new defender. Repeat steps 2 through 6 against the new defender. Each enemy squadron can be targeted once per attack.