Forbidden Stars FAQ
134 questions players ask · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Board
- Does a faction's home system tile have any special rules?
- Must the starting factory go on your home system tile?
- Can I place more starting units on a tile than its unit capacity allows?
- Do I control my home system if I place no units there?
- How does the first system tile get placed if tiles must touch another tile?
- How are objective tokens distributed onto tiles during board construction?
- Are two areas on different system tiles adjacent?
- Can warp storms be placed at setup to hem in an opponent?
- How many offence, defence and morale faces does a combat die have?
- What happens if I have no structure control token left?
- Can I destroy my own structure to stop an opponent capturing it?
- Is there a limit on how many asset tokens I can hold?
Planning and Operations
- Where may I place an order token: do I need units in that system?
- How many order tokens do I have and how many can I place?
- Can I place an order I can't afford, just to block someone?
- Can I look at my own order tokens in a stack?
- When and how can the Catch Up blank order token be placed?
- Can I play a scheme that says 'instead of revealing an order' when none of my orders is on top of a stack?
- What if I have no order token on top of any stack on my turn?
- Can I use Ork Roks with Mob Up!, and how many Advances can it give?
- When exactly is unit capacity enforced?
- Can I put coloured rings on order tokens to show who placed them?
Orders in Detail
- How many units can one Deploy order buy when I have several worlds or factories in the system?
- Can a Deploy order place units on a world that holds only an enemy structure?
- Can a Deploy order place more units than the area's capacity, and can I clear space first?
- Can one Deploy order buy units and then also use a factory I just built?
- Can I destroy or replace my own structure to build a different one on the same world?
- Can I buy ships into a void that holds enemy ships?
- How do Forge tokens work, and can I use more than one on a unit?
- What can Cache tokens reduce?
- If I lose a city, can I still use upgrades and units I already have?
- What does a combat upgrade pair cost?
- Can I resolve a Strategize or Dominate order where I have no units?
- Can I use an order upgrade the turn I buy it?
- When can I use an order upgrade during its order, and how often?
- Can I place a Dominate order just for the faction ability, or twice in one system?
- In what order do ships, ground units and combat happen in an Advance order?
- Can ground units move through a void my ships took earlier in the same Advance order?
- Can a ground path pass through an uncontrolled or enemy world?
- Can ground units move between worlds without a ship?
- Which systems can units come from in an Advance order?
- How many contested areas or combats can one Advance order create?
- What is the five-unit limit when moving in an Advance order?
- Do ships need a path, and can they pass enemy ships, in an Advance order?
- Can the same units advance and fight in two systems in one round with different Advance orders?
- Does Space Marine Crusade give a reinforcement token if my moves leave me with no friendly world?
- What happens to an order token I cannot or do not want to resolve?
- How does Chaos Dread Ritual work: placement, command level, factory, forge tokens?
- Can a unit moved by the Chaos Dominate ability be routed or cross a Warp Storm?
Orbital Strike
- Do units that survive an orbital strike become routed?
- Does an orbital strike damage every enemy unit on the world?
- Can an orbital strike target a world with only a structure, or an empty world?
- Can I orbital strike a world with a Bastion?
- Can an orbital strike hit a world that is only diagonal to my ships' void?
- After an orbital strike clears a world, can I move ground units in with the same Advance order?
- Does an orbital strike capture enemy structures on a world?
- How many orbital strikes can I make with one Advance order, and must I move ships first?
- How do the Space Marine Drop Pods work after an orbital strike: timing, empty worlds, retreat?
- How does the Eldar Corsair Raids upgrade work with orbital strikes?
- Does Eldar Strafing Run move one ship or all ships?
- Does the 8-dice limit apply to orbital strikes?
Combat
- In what order are combat cards revealed and resolved?
- If one side loses all units mid-round, does the round still finish?
- What happens if the defender has only routed units (or just a structure) when I move in?
- Does combat continue when all of one side's units are routed?
- Do routed units roll dice or count for morale?
- How is combat damage assigned among my units?
- Does damage carry over between rounds or weaken a routed unit?
- How do bastions take damage, and can they be captured?
- What happens if both sides lose all their units in the same combat?
- Who wins a morale tie, and what counts as morale?
- When a card says 'more morale', do units and card icons count?
- Does the 8-dice limit apply when cards add dice?
- Do units or reinforcement tokens added mid-combat roll dice?
- How do reinforcement tokens work in combat?
- How many reinforcement tokens can I hold or commit?
- How long do combat tokens last?
- Where can a losing attacker retreat?
- Where must a losing defender retreat?
- Can units retreat to avoid being destroyed for exceeding capacity?
- Can retreating units pass through a Warp Storm?
- Can a routed unit move, be placed, or retreat by a card?
- If I win a world with two structures, do I capture both?
- Can I decline a combat card's ability or part of it?
- Can a card ability affect a combat I am not in?
- When a card forces my opponent to destroy, rout or lose something, who chooses?
- What if a card makes the opponent lose a die or token he doesn't have?
- Does a card's effect continue if the triggering unit is routed or the card leaves play?
- Can a card discard or affect the opponent's card before it is revealed?
- Can ground units attack ships, and can ships join a ground combat?
- Can I attack with more units than a world's capacity?
- How do Lure of Chaos and Show No Fear interact?
- What does Spiritseer's Guidance do?
- Can I choose the Psychic Lance option that does nothing?
- Does Lootin'! give materiel if the opponent has none?
- How does Armoured Advance's second assess damage step work?
- How does Ultramarines Ambush work?
Refresh Phase and Winning
- Can a Warp Storm be moved more than once in a Refresh Phase?
- Can a Warp Storm move to the board edge or onto another storm?
- How far does a Warp Storm move with an event card?
- How do I orient the event card to move a Warp Storm?
- Can ships or ground units move through a Warp Storm?
- What do I do in the Refresh Phase if I have no order tokens on my event deck?
- Can I choose not to resolve my event card but still move the storm?
- When I draw several event cards, do I resolve all of them?
- Can I keep more than one scheme card in play?
- Do routed units or structure-only worlds count as friendly for collecting objectives and materiel?
- When do routed units rally?
- When does the game end if someone collects enough objective tokens?
- How is a tie for victory broken?
- Does Prayer to the Dark Gods give the interrupted player another storm move?
- Can Incantation of Tzeentch resolve a scheme, and must I resolve one of the three cards?
- Can the Ork scheme Gitz Dem! be used outside my own combat, or after a delay?
- When Touched by the Warp says 'upgrade', can I take an order or combat upgrade?
Factions
- Do free units from Ultramarines abilities (Dominate upgrade, replacing a Scout) need command level or materiel?
- Which abilities ignore command level: free units or purchases?
- Does Ork Spores need a factory, can it buy ships, and does cache help?
- How does the Ork Roks upgrade work?
- Does an order used via Green Tide go on my event deck?
- How does Chaos Through the Warp work?
- Are Chaos units from cards and Mark of Tzeentch permanent?
- Do Mark of Nurgle or Daemonic Resilience still give tokens if the opponent has nothing to destroy?
- Must the opponent spend a die to avoid Khorne's Rage if there's nothing to rout?
- Who chooses what is destroyed by Complete Destruction?
- How does the Eldar Warp Gate work after errata?
- Can Warp Gate place units on an uncontrolled world or enemy area?
- How does the Eldar Wave Serpent card work?
- How does Eldar Hit and Run work?
- Can The Emperor Protects place a bastion on a world that already has a structure?
- When does Direct the Faithful resolve?
- Can Unwavering Resolve be played just to skip revealing an order?
- How does Fury of the Ultramarines work?
- How many order tokens go on the event deck with Favour of the Dark Gods?
- Where must the structure for Wraithbone Singers be built?