Stars of Akarios
Stars of Akarios Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Credits
- Components
- Basic Concepts
- Campaign Setup
- Space Combat Setup
- Space Combat Overview
- Phase 1: Pilot Action Phase
- Phase 2: Enemy Action Phase
- Phase 3: End of Round Phase
- Additional Space Combat Rules
- End of a Scenario
- Pilot Progression Pad
- Space Exploration Setup
- Space Exploration
- World Exploration Setup
- World Exploration
- Market
- Class-Restriction Upgrades
- The Sparrow (Additional Rules)
- Co-Pilots
- Unlocking New Pilots and Ships
- Adjusting the Difficulty
- Alternate World Exploration
- Combat Effects
- Appendix
- Quick Reference
Overview
Stars of Akarios is a narrative-driven, cooperative campaign game for 1–4 players set in the Akarios Galaxy. During the game, players explore the galaxy, engage in epic space battles, and discover new worlds. Throughout the sprawling narrative, players will make choices that shape their story. They will meet memorable characters, travel the stars, and unravel the mysteries of Akarios.
Stars of Akarios consists of three primary gameplay modes that are interwoven throughout the campaign. These are space combat, space exploration, and world exploration.
- Space Combat — Space combat scenarios are the core of Stars of Akarios. These scenarios make up the bulk of the campaign's game-play. During space combat, players are placed in control of their ships, where they work together to complete scenario-specific objectives and engage in dogfights with the enemy.
- Space Exploration — During space exploration, the players jointly control the Sparrow, their capital ship, as it makes its way through the galaxy. As the Sparrow discovers new locations during its travels, these are added as stickers to the players' galaxy atlas, creating new places for the players to explore. Space exploration is unlocked during the prologue of the campaign.
- World Exploration — World exploration scenarios offer a respite from the rigors of space, allowing the pilots to exit their ships and get their boots on the ground. During these scenarios, players control their pilots as they explore a new world, discovering the secrets of new locations that are revealed through unique world exploration cards.
A typical session of play starts with the players interacting with the galaxy atlas. From the atlas, players can choose to visit locations that correspond to scenarios in the scenario book. The majority of a session consists of players resolving that scenario. Between scenarios, players use rewards to advance along their individual skill tree to gain ship upgrades and new modifier cards.
Credits
Lead Design: Brendan McCaskell Game Design: Jonathan Thwaites Art: Justin Currie (Chasing Artwork), Dan Wang, Nemanja Malidza 3D Modeling: Nicholas Hein (Warlock 3D Models) Graphic Design: Dan Hughes, Marv Peters Writing: Nathan Lige, Steve Daldry, Chris Gliddon, Josh Boralse Rulebook: Adam Baker Technical Editing: Andrea dell'Agnese Game Line Director: Mark Larson Creative Catalyst: Lance Priebe Playtesters: Dallas Honeycutt, Colin Thrasher, Kenneth Valentine, Scott Lewis, Kev Lar, Nick Lachen, Andrew Miller, Philip Wells, Tobias Hochhaus, Gladys Lee, Stephen Gallagher, Andrew Slade, Brady Roberts, Craig Lincoln, Jordan Barton, Timo Schrey, CJ Revilla, Christian Moisan, Tom Oxenham, Austin Thomas, Matthew Thornton, Stephan Mielke, Gage Petar, Douglas Walls, Yannick et Hugo Glinec, Tommaso Ciccolone, Adam Kuzick, Ray Napoli, Matt Brummett, Neil Chidalek, Leon Cornelius, Matt Gorman, Felina Haun (aka Felizwerg), and the countless others who have contributed!
Special thanks to Aimee Ward, Lana Ricci, Game Trayz, Paul Grogan from Gaming Rules, and all of the Kickstarter backers!
Components
- 32 Pilot Ability Cards
- 30 Ship Ability Cards
- 230 Modifier Cards
- 42 Enemy Cards
- 140 Enemy Combat Cards
- 57 Weapon Upgrade Cards
- 57 Engine Upgrade Cards
- 28 Event Cards
- 1 Six-Sided Die
- 28 Sparrow Upgrade Cards
- 57 Tech Upgrade Cards
- 16 Action Dice
- 30 Co-Pilot Cards
- 140 World Exploration Cards
- 22 Trauma Cards
- Squad Progression Pad
- 8 Pilot Progression Pads
- 4 Player Ship Stands
- The Sparrow Board
- 8 Enemy Boards
- 4 Player Boards
- 8 Pilot Tiles
- 10 Ship Tiles
- 95 Purple, Blue, Green, Red, Black Cubes
- The Sparrow Miniature and Stand
- 8 Yellow Stands for Enemy Standees
- 8 Black Stands for Enemy Standees
- 8 Pilot Miniatures
- 42 Enemy Standees
- 10 Player Ship Miniatures
- 2 Reference Sheets (double-sided)
- 8 Pilot Tokens
- 4 Nebula Tiles
- 8 Asteroids Tiles
- 4 Small Planets Tiles
- 4 Large Planets Tiles
- 3 Wormhole Tiles
- 6 Scenario Markers
- 20 Numbered Tokens
- 4 Galaxy Atlas Sticker Sheets (Reusable)
Also included: Base Tray, Card Tray & Lid, 4 Player Trays & Lids, Sparrow Tray & Lid, 204-page Scenario Book, 52-page Rulebook, Galaxy Map, Game Board, Galaxy Atlas.
Basic Concepts
This section contains the basic concepts for Stars of Akarios for players who are learning the game.
Pilots and Ships
Each player begins the campaign controlling a pilot and a ship.
Pilots — Each pilot consists of a miniature, a tile that displays that pilot's starting health and skills, and a set of unique pilot cards containing unlockable abilities.
During world exploration scenarios, players use their pilot miniature to explore unique locations within the world exploration cards. These scenarios will ask players to perform tests using their pilot's skills.
Ships — Each ship consists of a miniature and a tile that shows that ship's starting hull, starting shields, and that ship's class, and a set of unique ship cards containing unlockable abilities.
During space combat scenarios, players move their ships around the game board, engaging with enemy ships and completing objectives.
Player Board
A player board tracks and displays a player's ship and pilot status while playing a scenario.
Player boards hold a player's pilot and ship tiles, equipped engine, weapon and tech upgrades, as well as co-pilots, and unique ship and pilot abilities. Player boards also provide players with basic space combat actions, and are used to track the ship's hull, shield, and the pilot's stress value.
Pilot Progression Pads
Players use their pilot progression pad to track their skill tree progress, ship level, trauma, credits, and to gain upgrades for their ship and their modifier deck.
Modifier Deck
Each player begins the game with a 20-card modifier deck. During space combat, players use this deck to modify their ship's attacks. Throughout the campaign, players have opportunities to add and remove cards from this deck, providing it with new abilities and altering its overall effectiveness.
Enemies
There are a variety of enemies for players to encounter throughout the Akarios Galaxy. Each enemy consists of a standee (or a miniature from the Ships of Akarios expansion), and a double-sided card that shows that enemy's stats and immunities.
During space combat, enemy standees move around the game board and attack player ships or other scenario-based targets. Unique enemy activation decks govern enemy movement and attacks.
Enemy Boards and Modifier Decks
Enemy boards are used to track the shield and hull values and all combat effects of enemy ships during space combat.
All enemies share a single modifier deck when performing attacks.
The Sparrow
The Sparrow is the Akarios Institute's capital ship and is jointly controlled by all players. During space combat scenarios, the Sparrow is represented by a miniature placed on the game board along with other player and enemy ships.
The Sparrow Board
The Sparrow board acts as the game's general turn tracker during scenarios and tracks the Sparrow's hull value during space combat scenarios. It also tracks the Sparrow's supply used during galaxy exploration.
The Galaxy Atlas and Campaign Log
The galaxy atlas contains maps of the various systems the Sparrow can explore throughout the Stars of Akarios campaign. As the players explore new systems, they place stickers to the galaxy atlas to represent and track discovered locations.
The players also have a squad progression pad to track their campaign progress. As players visit locations and complete scenarios, they mark what they have completed on their squad progression pad.
Campaign Setup
To begin a Stars of Akarios campaign, complete the setup steps throughout this section.
Squad Creation
When beginning a new campaign, the players create their squad by choosing their starting pilots and ships. To perform the Squad Creation portion of the setup, follow these steps:
1. Gather player components
Each player takes a player board, four action dice, a green, a blue, and a purple cube, and a starting modifier deck.
Each starting modifier deck contains exactly 20 cards and is labeled with a 1, 2, 3, or 4. There is a 5th deck, labeled E, used by the enemies.
2. Choose pilots
Each player chooses one of the four starting pilots (Starla, Violet Ray, Enver, or G'Airdan) and gathers that pilot's miniature, token, progression pad, tile, and their level I ability card.
Levels II, III, and IV pilot ability cards for now remain in the game box.
Pilot-specific components are identified by that pilot's name and image. Pilot ability cards have a level indicator on the front and the back of the card.
Choosing pilots: Each pilot has a unique stat allocation (pilot tile), abilities (pilot card), and skill trees (pilot progression pad). Players can examine all of these components to help them determine which pilot they would like to control.
3. Choose ships
Each player chooses one of the four starting ships (Argonaut, Merkava, Knossis, or Invictus). Gather that ship's miniature, stand, tile, and starting engine and weapon cards. The three matching ship ability cards for now remain in the game box. Ship-specific components are identified by that ship's name and image. Ship ability cards have a level indicator on the front and the back of the card.
Choosing ships: Each ship has unique stats and classifications (ship tile) as well as unique upgrades (Weapon & Engine). Players can examine all of these components to help them determine which ship they would like to control.
Ship classes determine the types of upgrades a ship can equip, as follows:
- (C) Command — Useful at commanding the battlefield and out-thinking opponents.
- (H) Heavy — Slow and strong. These ships specialize in close-range combat.
- (A) Assault — Ready to equip the most powerful weapons available in the Akarios Galaxy.
- (R) Research — At the forefront of technological advances. These ships excel at supporting squad-mates and hindering enemies.
- (S) Scout — Fast and nimble. These ships can travel great distances while often remaining unseen.
Starting cards by ship:
| Ship | Weapons | Engine |
|---|---|---|
| Argonaut | Burst Fire | Flank |
| Merkava | Proton Blast | Barrel Roll |
| Knossis | EMP Blast | Bank |
| Invictus | Long Shot | Burn & Flip |
4. Prepare progression pads
Take a squad progression pad and collectively create a squad name. On the pilot progression pad, write the pilot's call sign and their chosen ship's name.
Player storage: All of the components each player has gathered (except for their player board and pilot progression pad) fit into one of the four player storage trays. Players can use these trays to store their components between play sessions. As players gain cards throughout the campaign, they can be added to their storage tray.
5. Assemble ship
Each player attaches their ship miniature to their ship stand and inserts their pilot token into the slot on the stand.
6. Prepare player board
Each player places their pilot tile, pilot miniature, ship tile, and ship miniature on their player board in the locations depicted in the diagram. Place both the pilot and ship tiles face-up. Then place the green, blue, and purple cubes into space "0" of the matching hull, shield, and stress tracks.
This is the state of a player board between scenarios. When setting up a scenario, players will use their ship miniature and the back of their ship tile for space combat scenarios, and their pilot miniature and the back of their pilot tile for world exploration scenarios.
7. Start the campaign
Players are now ready to start playing! Turn to page 6 of the scenario book and start scenario #001. The scenario book will instruct players to return to this rulebook to learn how to setup a space combat scenario, and will guide players along the first steps in the campaign, eventually learning all the different gameplay modes of Stars of Akarios.
Space Combat Setup
To set up a space combat scenario, follow these steps:
1. Prepare ship
Each player flips their ship tile and adjusts the cubes on their hull and shield tracks to match the number shown on their ship tile. The stress track is not adjusted. Specific values of stress can result in some effects being resolved; refer to the stress thresholds chart.
2. Equip upgrades
Players can equip any upgrade cards by placing them on their player board. To equip an upgrade, a player places an upgrade card face-up in a matching slot on their player board. Players can equip any upgrade cards they have gained and freely trade upgrades with one another during setup; however, they are limited by the number of slots on their player board. A player board has enough slots to equip a maximum of two weapon upgrades, two engine upgrades, two tech upgrades, one ship ability, and one pilot ability.
As the campaign progresses, the upgrades a player can equip will be further limited by class restrictions (see Equipping Upgrades).
The first scenario: For a campaign's first scenario, each player will have one weapon upgrade, one engine upgrade, and their level I pilot ability.
3. Set supply
For each equipped upgrade that has a supply indicator, set the supply for that by placing one black supply cube on the upgrade's supply track. Place the cube on the slot that matches the value of that upgrade's supply indicator.
4. Gather modifier deck
Each player gathers their modifier cards to form their modifier deck. For their first scenario, players will only have their 20-card starting modifier deck. For each bolster boost filled in on the squad progression pad, each player adds one "x2" bolster modifier card to their deck. Then, each player shuffles their deck.
5. Place game board
Open the scenario book to the mission the squad is about to undertake and place the game board in the center of the play area.
6. Gather scenario components
Gather all the ships, terrain, and scenario markers indicated by the mission's legend in the scenario book. The number of those components is determined by the mission's map.
For example, a mission map might instruct players to gather exactly three asteroid tiles.
On the mission map, enemies are represented by hexagonal symbols, having a number on them: that number corresponds to the minimum player count for that enemy to be included into the scenario. Gather one enemy token per corresponding symbol shown on the map, ignoring symbols that are higher than your player count. Then, randomly assign ID numbers to them.
For example, if the legend indicates that players must gather Ronin Frigates and Ronin Scouts, and the game is played with two players, then for each enemy type indicated, gather one token per symbol showing player count of 1+ and 2+.
If the map legend shows scenario markers, gather all the markers indicated on the mission map. If the legend shows the Sparrow, gather the Sparrow and attach it to the Sparrow stand.
7. Prepare enemies
Enemies on the mission map are either regular (red) or elite (yellow). After gathering each enemy standee, insert it into an enemy stand. Insert regular enemies into black stands and elite enemies into yellow stands. Each stand has a raised arrow to indicate which direction a standee faces.
If using miniatures instead of standees, insert a random ID token (red for regular or yellow for elite) into that enemy miniature stand.
For each enemy standee (or miniature), take the enemy card that matches that enemy's type and ID number. Enemy cards are double-sided, with the regular enemy on one side and the elite on the other.
8. Set enemy boards
For each enemy, take one enemy board and place it near the game board. Then, place each gathered enemy card on a different enemy board.
Use a green (hull) and blue (shield) cube to set each enemy's starting hull and shield values according to their enemy card.
9. Prepare mission board
Place all the gathered components (terrain, enemies, the Sparrow, and scenario markers) onto the game board as depicted on the mission map.
When placing enemy ships (or the Sparrow), the ship icons on the mission map indicate which direction that ship faces. Ensure that all ships are placed facing the indicated direction.
10. Prepare the Sparrow
Place a black cube into slot 1 of the turn track. If the Sparrow is included in a scenario, check the scenario's special rules to determine its starting hull value.
11. Prepare enemy cards
Take the trauma deck, the enemy modifier deck (indicated by deck label E), and, for each enemy type in the scenario, the enemy combat deck. Shuffle each deck and place them near the game board.
12. Ship deployment
Place each player ship on the game board in a different deployment hex among those indicated on the mission map. Players may choose to face their ship in any direction.
13. Read mission and begin
The players read the mission story, objective and special rules in the scenario book and make any setup adjustments required by the text. Then, they are ready to begin their mission!
Space Combat Overview
Space combat scenarios allow players to pilot their ships, engaging in dogfights with enemy ships while working to complete scenario-specific objectives. Each scenario objective is presented at the top of the mission page, and a detailed description of the objective is found within the scenario text.
When a scenario objective is complete, end the scenario and read the corresponding (success or failure) mission page book entry.
Round Overview
Space combat takes place over a series of rounds. Rounds repeat until all scenario objectives are complete, or all player ships have 0 hull (which results in failing the scenario).
Each round consists of the following three phases:
- Phase 1 — Pilot Action Phase. During this phase, pilots perform actions, such as moving and attacking.
- Phase 2 — Enemy Action Phase. During this phase, enemies perform their combat actions.
- Phase 3 — End of Round Phase. During this phase, players perform upkeep steps to prepare for the next round.
Phase 1: Pilot Action Phase
The pilot action phase consists of the following three steps:
- Roll dice
- Assign dice and perform actions
- Update combat effects
During this phase, players resolve each of these steps in order. All players must complete one step before progressing together to the next.
When performing the assign dice and perform actions step, players can perform their actions in any order, and a player does not need to complete all of their available actions before another player performs their actions. If multiple players are interacting with the same hex or enemy while performing their actions, those actions must be performed one at a time.
After all players have completed all steps of this phase, the round proceeds to the enemy action phase.
Pilot communication: Pilots are linked via comms, which allow players to communicate in the midst of a space battle. While it is discouraged to discuss exactly what actions you will perform, you can share with your squad-mates the general idea of your actions.
1. Roll Dice
Each player rolls their four action dice. The result of each die determines where it can be assigned to perform actions. After rolling, a player may increase their stress by 1 to re-roll any number of their dice. Each player can do this only once per roll dice step.
Each die can produce the following results:
- Move — A move result has no inherent effect. It can be assigned to various actions, as described during the next step.
- Attack — An attack result has no inherent effect. It can be assigned to various actions, as described during the next step.
- Wild — A wild result can be used as either a move result or an attack result.
- Stress — A stress result can be used as a wild result; however, each time a player uses a stress result, they must increase their stress by 1 by moving the stress cube one step up, on the stress track of their player board (see Stress Thresholds). If a player rolls 3 or more stress results, that player can choose to re-roll all of their dice without increasing their stress. Each player can do this an unlimited number of times per round.
2. Assign Dice and Perform Actions
All actions available to players are either printed on their player board, or on the upgrades they have equipped. Basic actions are printed on each player board. Basic actions are always available to be resolved and are identical for each pilot.
Upgrade actions are found on weapon upgrades, engine upgrades, tech upgrades, pilot abilities, and ship abilities. These actions will vary depending on the pilot, ship, and which upgrades are obtained through the game and equipped.
Each action has one or more corresponding action slots where a player can assign results in order to perform that action.
Action slots can require different combinations of dice results to perform the corresponding action.
Assigning dice. Each action die can only be assigned once per round. Any unused dice are forfeited and not carried over to the next round.
To assign an action die, place it onto an empty action slot showing the same icon as the result on the die being assigned. After a player assigns an action die, they immediately perform that action.
Stress dice. If a player assigns a die that shows a stress result, they must increase their stress by 1 and resolve any stress thresholds passed, before performing the action.
Stress abilities. Some cards have stress abilities presented in their upper-right corner. If a player assigns a stress result to the action slot of a card that has a stress ability, that player can additionally resolve the stress ability immediately before or after performing the card's action. Refer to the combat effects section on how to resolve each ability.
Supply. Many upgrade and ability cards can be used only a certain amount of times during a scenario. This quantity is called supply: it varies from 1 to 4, and it's tracked using a black supply cube.
If a player assigns a die to an action that has a limited supply, they must reduce that supply by 1 before performing the action. If a supply is at 1, the player reduces it to zero by removing the cube from their player board.
If an action has no supply remaining, a player cannot assign a die to that action until supply has been added.
Action timing: Remember to immediately perform the action after assigning the corresponding action dice. This means players do not need to plan out their entire turn ahead and instead they can perform 1 action at a time.
Action Slots Info
- Wild action slot — Any action die can be assigned to this action slot.
- Single/separated action slots — Players may use this action once for each action slot. If this action has limited supply, players must reduce it by one each time this action is performed in the current pilot action phase.
- Joined action slots — A joined action slot must be entirely filled by assigning matching dice to perform this action once.
- Optional action slots — The "+" sign between icons implies that this action can be performed by assigning 1 or more action dice. If only 1 action die is assigned, the values above the left action slot are used to perform the action. If more than 1 action die is assigned, the values above the corresponding action slot are used. This action can only be used once per round: any unused action slot cannot be used again this round.
- Stress action slot — Only a stress result can be assigned to this action slot.
- Supply action slot — Players do not assign an action die to perform the action. Supply action slots can only be used once per round. Players simply reduce the corresponding supply by 1 to perform this action.
3. Update Combat Effects
Players continue taking actions, until all players have assigned all their action dice, or passed. A player can pass at any moment during the pilot action phase: unspent action dice are returned to their action dice pool at the end of the round. After passing, a player cannot perform any more actions for this phase. Once all players have passed, resolve any end-of-phase combat effects.
Actions
Players can perform three types of actions during the pilot action phase:
- Move action
- Attack action
- Special action
Move Action
Move actions allow a ship to move across the game board and/or rotate its facing. There are three basic move actions on each player board. Additional move actions are available on engine upgrades.
Advanced move actions (found on engine upgrades) may also contain bonus abilities.
Performing move actions. To perform a move action, a player resolves the following two steps:
A) Movement B) Use bonus abilities
A) Movement. Each move action depicts a starting location. When performing a move action, a player must rotate the movement diagram so it is oriented to match their ship's forward-facing direction, which is the direction the front of the ship is facing at any given moment. Then, the player moves the ship according to the action diagram. The hexes the ship moves through and the direction it faces when it reaches its ending location are relative to the front-facing position of the ship in its starting location.
B) Use bonus abilities. Some move actions have bonus abilities shown on the left side of the card. A player may resolve an action's bonus ability immediately after completing that action's movement. Bonus abilities are described in detail in the Bonus Abilities section.
Rotating. The rotate action allows a player to rotate their ship. When a ship is rotated, it is not moved from its current hex, but its forward-facing direction is shifted by multiples of 60° in either direction (to a max of 120°).
Interrupt movement. While performing a move action, a player may increase their stress by 1 to interrupt the action and stop the ship's movement before it reaches the ending location. When a ship interrupts its movement, the ship's facing is set to face the direction it would be in the next hex along the path, had the ship continued moving.
Additional ship movement rules:
- Both player and enemy ships can move through hexes occupied by other ships, but a ship cannot end its movement in a hex with another ship.
- A ship cannot move off the game board.
- If a player cannot complete a move action (e.g., another ship is in the ending location or the movement would take the ship into impassable terrain or off the game board), they must increase their stress by 1 to interrupt their movement before, in an eligible hex.
Movement example: Merkava assigns a stress result to the action slot on the Interference engine upgrade and reduces the engine upgrade supply by 1. They could also perform the rotate stress ability granted by the engine upgrade before performing the move action, but they decide they want to move in the direction they are facing. Merkava moves 3 hexes forward. Merkava now decides to rotate 2 spaces using the rotate stress ability. A Ronin Scout is 2 hexes away. Perfect! Merkava can use the bonus ability on Interference to apply the radar jam effect to all targets within 2 range. Merkava places a red cube in the Ronin Scout enemy board's radar jam slot.
Terrain
Players will encounter a variety of terrain during space combat scenarios. Terrain affects ship movement in the following ways:
- Asteroids — Each time a ship moves into an asteroid hex, it reduces its hull by 1 (an asteroid tile consists of 3 asteroid hexes).
- Nebula — Each time a ship moves into a nebula hex, it reduces its shield by 1 (a nebula tile consists of 3 nebula hexes). If the ship is at 0 shields when entering a nebula hex, that ship gains the stun combat effect.
- Planets and Moons — Planets and moons are impassable terrain. Ships cannot move through planets or moons.
- Wormholes — When a ship enters a hex with a wormhole, it immediately moves to any other wormhole on the game board, faces any direction of the player's choice, and ends its movement action. If that second wormhole already has a ship on it, place the ship on any hex adjacent to this second wormhole.
Attack Actions
Attack actions allow a player to attack enemy ships, attempting to damage and destroy them. There is one basic attack action on each player board. Additional attack actions can be found on upgrades and abilities.
Each attack action consists of the following elements:
- Firing arc — The firing arc shows which hexes the attacking ship can target. Even if the target ship is in one of the hexes depicted inside the firing arc, the target must both still be in line of sight to be attacked.
- Range — Some actions show a range instead of a firing arc. For these actions, a target must be in line of sight and can be in any hex within the displayed range.
- Damage — This is the base damage for the attack, before modifiers are added.
- Target — The number of targets that can be affected by the attack. When an attack allows for multiple targets to be hit, the same target cannot be selected more than once.
Performing attack actions. To perform an attack action, a player resolves the following four steps in order:
A) Choose target of attack B) Draw modifier cards and calculate damage C) Deal damage and apply combat effects D) Use bonus abilities
A) Choose target of attack. Choose any eligible target for the attack that is within the firing arc or within range and in line of sight.
Line of sight. To verify line of sight, trace an imaginary line from the center of the attacking ship forward-facing edge to any part of the hex of the target. If the line touches any part of the target hex without being blocked, the target is within line of sight.
- Ships do not block line of sight.
- Wormholes do not block line of sight.
- Planet and moon hexes block line of sight.
- Ships can fire into an asteroid or nebula hex, but not through them.
- Ships can fire from an asteroid or nebula hex through adjacent hexes that are not asteroids or nebula.
Friendly fire: Ships cannot damage other friendly ships with attack actions.
B) Draw modifier card and calculate damage. After a player selects a target within their line of sight to attack, that player draws a card from their modifier deck and modifies the basic value of their attack accordingly to determine the total damage of the attack. A modifier can never reduce attack damage below 0.
If the attack targets more than one enemy, the player draws a modifier card for each target and calculates the total damage for each target separately.
Place all drawn modifier cards into a discard pile.
If a player draws a modifier card with the shuffle icon, they finish performing the current attack and then shuffle all discarded modifier cards back into their modifier card deck.
- Some modifier cards do not affect the base damage but instead add a combat effect to that attack.
- Miss modifier cards cancel the entire attack and any other combat effects, but they do not cancel bonus abilities.
Advantage and disadvantage. Both player ships and enemy ships become advantaged if they attack a ship from behind or if their target has the target lock combat effect. When an attacking ship is advantaged, its pilot draws 2 modifier cards instead of 1 and chooses which modifier to apply to that attack damage.
Ships become disadvantaged when they have applied the radar jam combat effect. When an attacking ship is disadvantaged, draw 2 modifier cards instead of 1 and choose the card dealing the least amount of damage. If there are 2 equal choices, it is the player's choice.
If a ship is ever both advantaged and disadvantaged at the same time, those statuses are canceled. The attack is performed as usual, drawing only 1 modifier card.
Attacks that do not have a firing arc cannot gain advantage from direction, but can still gain advantage from the target lock combat effect.
C) Deal damage and apply combat effects. To deal damage to a target, first reduce the target's shields followed by the target's hull. To reduce a target's shield or hull, adjust the shield or hull track by moving the corresponding cube on the enemy board a number of times equal to the value of damage dealt. If in the process the ship reaches 0 shields (or it starts from 0 shields), any leftover damage is applied directly to the hull. If a ship's hull ever reaches 0, that ship is destroyed; remove that ship from the board.
Combat effects. Both players and enemies have upgrades and abilities that apply combat effects. Combat effects offer a variety of outcomes, such as allowing attacks to bypass shields (Pierce) or causing enemy ships to become disadvantaged (Radar Jam). A complete list of combat effects and the rules for resolving them are found in the Appendix.
Combat effects can be triggered from upgrades and abilities found on pilot actions, modifier cards, and within an enemy command line.
When a player resolves an ability with a combat effect, they apply any combat effects at the same time that damage is dealt. When an action applies a combat effect, follow the instructions unique to that effect.
If the total damage of the attack is 0, combat effects are still applied. Combat effects do not apply if a miss modifier card is applied.
Some combat effects have a continuous effect that needs to be tracked. For this reason, there are dedicated effect slots on both the player and the enemy boards. When such an effect is applied, place a red cube in the appropriate slot on the matching board.
Combat effects immunities. Enemies can be immune to certain effects. If an enemy card has a combat effect icon listed below its attack, it is immune to that combat effect and that effect cannot be applied to that enemy. Regular and elite types of the same enemy type can have different combat effect immunities.
D) Use bonus abilities. Some attack actions have bonus abilities shown on the left side of the card. A player may resolve an action's bonus ability after the attack has been fully resolved (i.e. damage has been dealt and any combat effect applied).
Attack example: Merkava is surrounded by Ronin Scouts. Thankfully, they have equipped the EMP Blast weapon upgrade. Merkava assigns 1 wild and 1 attack result to the weapon upgrade action slots. This means the attack is: damage (1), target (2), range (2); and it has the stun combat effect. Merkava checks to see which Ronin Scouts are within range. Ronin Scout 3 is 1 hex away from Merkava, Ronin Scout 2 is 2 hexes away, and Ronin Scout 1 is 3 hexes away. Ronin Scout 2 and 3 are within range of the EMP Blast and Merkava targets both of them. Merkava now draws 1 modifier card for each enemy they are targeting. Ronin Scout 3 already has a target lock combat effect applied to it from a previous ability, so Merkava draws 2 modifier cards for that target. A "+1" modifier card and "-1" modifier card are drawn for the attack on Ronin Scout 3. A "0" modifier card is drawn for the attack on Ronin Scout 2. Merkava applies the modifier values to the EMP Blast damage (1). They deal 2 damage (1+1) to Ronin Scout 3 and 1 damage (1+0) to Ronin Scout 2. Both Ronin Scouts take hull damage and the stun combat effect is applied to both enemies.
Special Actions
Special actions encompass a variety of abilities found on the player board (basic repair) as well as on tech upgrades, pilot abilities, and ship abilities. Like move and attack actions, players assign action dice to the chosen special action, lower the action's supply (if limited), and immediately perform that action.
Performing special actions. To perform a special action, a player follows these steps in order:
A) Choose target B) Perform attack C) Apply combat effects D) Use bonus abilities
A) Choose a target. Choose a ship that is within range and line of sight of the ship using the special action. A player may choose to target their own ship, a friendly ship, or an enemy ship. If the special action does not have a range icon, the player must target their own ship.
B) Perform attack. If the special action would deal damage to an enemy ship, draw a modifier card, as per normal attack action rules.
C) Apply combat effects. If the special action has any combat effects, they are applied using the same combat effect rules described in the attack action.
D) Use bonus abilities. Some special actions have bonus abilities shown on the left side of the card. A player may resolve an action's bonus abilities after they have resolved that special action's other effects entirely.
Basic repair. The most fundamental special action is basic repair, which is a basic action available on the player board. By assigning any 3 action dice to the basic repair action, players may repair either 2 hull or 2 shield, and additionally reduce their stress level by 2, and resupply 2 upgrades with 1 supply each. Do not increase stress when using stress results for basic repair.
Pilot action phase end. The pilot action phase ends after all players have finished performing their actions and passed.
Stress
As pilots gain stress, they will be unable to perform at peak ability. Pilots gain stress from assigning stress results to action slots, interrupting movement, damaging upgrades, and suffering the Hack combat effect.
The stress track on a player board has 4 stress thresholds, marked at stress levels 3, 5, 7, and 10. Each time a pilot reaches a stress threshold, immediately perform the corresponding effect, listed below:
Stress Thresholds
- 3-stress threshold — The player takes 1 stress miss modifier card from the box and shuffles it, along with any discarded modifier cards, into their modifier deck.
- 5-stress threshold — The player takes 1 stress miss modifier card from the box and shuffles it, along with any discarded modifier cards, into their modifier deck.
- 7-stress threshold — The pilot is triggered. Resolve the appropriate steps as detailed in the Triggered Pilots section.
- 10-stress threshold — The pilot is triggered. Reset stress to 0 and resolve the appropriate steps as detailed in the Triggered Pilots section.
Stress thresholds reached a second (or subsequent) time are resolved in the same way as the first time.
Any time the 3- or 5-stress threshold is passed by reducing stress (for example, reducing a pilot's stress from 6 to 4 by means of a basic repair action), the corresponding stress miss modifier card is removed from that player's modifier deck. The deck, along with any discarded modifier cards, is then reshuffled.
Do not remove stress miss modifier cards from the deck when resetting stress to 0 while resolving the 10-stress threshold.
Stress miss modifier card. Stress miss modifier cards have the same effect as a standard miss modifier card; they are removed from the modifier deck after being drawn and applied. Stress miss modifier cards are identified by the stress symbol in the bottom-right corner.
At the end of each scenario, every remaining stress miss modifier card in any deck is removed.
Triggered Pilots and Trauma Cards
When a pilot is triggered, perform the following steps:
- Draw a number of trauma cards equal to the trauma level marked on the pilot progression pad plus 1. If the trauma deck is depleted, shuffle the discarded trauma cards to make a new deck; then continue drawing, if needed.
- Players may be instructed to wait until the next pilot action phase to resolve a trauma card. Resolve trauma cards in the order they are drawn. If able, perform the action described on the trauma card(s) immediately drawn.
- After resolving a trauma card, place it into a discard pile. If the scenario ends before a drawn trauma card is resolved, discard that trauma card.
Stress threshold & trauma example: Enver uses a stress result to perform a rotate action. He increases his stress by 1 before rotating. Enver has now passed the 7-stress threshold and is triggered. He looks at his pilot progression pad and sees that he has already gained 1 trauma, so Enver draws 2 trauma cards. He draws Shield Overload and Spinning. Shield Overload immediately causes his ship to lose its 2 remaining shield and stun all ships (allies and enemies) within 3 range. Spinning will take effect at the beginning of the next pilot action phase. Before Enver performs each action, his ship will have to rotate 180º. That sounds like a headache! Enver finally performs his rotate action.
Bonus Abilities
Bonus abilities are found on upgrades such as weapon upgrades, engine upgrades, tech upgrades, pilot abilities, and ship abilities. Bonus abilities can have three elements:
- Combat effect — The icon indicates which effect is applied to the target. Some abilities only have an effect icon, without having a target or a range declared.
- Targets — The number of targets (within line of sight) that can be affected by this ability.
- Range — The maximum number of hexes away from the active ship a target can be.
Players can resolve bonus abilities while resolving a move, an attack, or a special action. To resolve a bonus ability, follow the unique instructions for that ability (see Appendix).
If a player uses a bonus ability that has a target and/or a range indicator, it can target itself or another ship within range with that ability. If a ship uses a bonus ability that does not have a range or target, it must target itself unless the effect's rules specifically state otherwise.
For bonus abilities that have combat effects that hurt other ships (like stun, hull breach) and do not have a target or range, these combat effects apply to that player's next attack.
Phase 2: Enemy Action Phase
The enemy action phase consists of the following four steps:
- Draw enemy combat cards
- Determine enemy order
- Perform enemy combat actions
- Update combat effects
1. Draw Enemy Combat Cards
Draw the top card from each enemy combat deck and place them face-up next to the game board. If an enemy combat deck is depleted, shuffle the discarded cards to form a new deck before drawing.
2. Determine Enemy Order
Enemy ships of the same type perform the actions listed on their combat card one ship at a time. Begin with the enemy type that has the lowest numbered combat deck as indicated on the back of each combat card.
- Elite enemy ships perform their action before regular enemy ships of the same type.
- If two or more enemy ships of the same type and class (elite or regular) are present on the board at the same time, the resolution order is given by their ID, in ascending order.
3. Perform Enemy Combat Actions
Enemy actions are controlled by unique combat cards, each with their own command line. This command line is the enemy AI. Resolve the command line from left to right, by resolving the following steps in order:
A) Determine target B) Perform action C) Advance on the command line D) Repeat steps A through C
Each enemy ship completes all command line actions on their combat card before the game moves to the next enemy ship.
A) Determine target. An enemy always selects the nearest player ship (or objective) as their target. The nearest player ship is determined by counting the number of hexes between it and the enemy. Terrain and other ships do not affect this measurement.
If multiple targets are at equal distance from the enemy, the enemy selects the ship with the highest current hull as their target. If multiple ships have the same highest hull, the enemy selects the ship that has the highest shield as their target. If it is still a tie, the players select which ship is the target.
Important: Enemies determine their target before performing each action on the command line.
B) Perform action. After determining a target, the enemy performs the next action listed on their command line. There are 3 types of actions an enemy can perform:
- Rotate
- Move
- Attack/Ability
Rotate. An enemy rotates up to 2 facings (120º in either direction) to be able to perform an attack on their target.
- If there are multiple directions the enemy can rotate to perform their attack on the target, they choose to rotate so that they are forward-facing to the target. If 2 options to rotate are similar, the players decide.
- If an enemy would not be able to perform their attack after a rotate, they rotate in a way so that their move action would bring them as close to their target as possible.
- An enemy does not perform a rotate if they can already perform an attack and are forward-facing to the target.
Move. An enemy performs their move using the move diagram on their combat card depicting the enemy's starting and ending hex (including facing), in an identical way to the player move diagrams.
- Enemy ships can move through hexes occupied by other ships, but a ship cannot end its movement in a hex with another ship.
- If an enemy would complete their movement on a hex with a ship in it, the enemy stops short of its ending ship position instead. Following the player interrupt movement rules, when an enemy ends its movement early, the enemy facing is set to the direction it would be in the next hex along the path, had it continued moving.
- Enemies will move into an asteroid hex even if the damage received by entering the hex would destroy their ship.
Attack. An enemy performs an attack action the same way players do. The enemy combat card includes an attack action diagram with the damage, target, firing arc or range, and combat effects. Resolve the following steps in order:
- Draw a modifier card from the enemy modifier deck and calculate the total damage, by adding the ship attack (found on the enemy card), the enemy combat card damage, and then applying the modifier card.
- Deal damage to target (see Player Damage below).
- Apply combat effects.
If the target is not within the enemy firing arc, but that firing arc includes a different potential target, that enemy will instead attack the new target.
C) Advance on the command line. After performing an action, advance to the next action on the command line. When there is a "Yes"/"No" fork after an action icon in the command line, move along the "Yes" line if the enemy was able to perform that action, or move to the "No" line if they were not able to.
Command line example: Ronin Scout 1 performed the first attack action on the command line action and now advances on the command line. Because it was able to attack, it moves up to the "Yes" line from the fork in the command line.
D) Repeat steps A through C. Repeat steps A through C until there are no remaining actions in the command line. At that point, that enemy has completed their actions for this enemy action phase.
Abilities. Some combat cards don't present a typical attack diagram, but have abilities that apply combat effects (such as hull repair or shield charge) instead. Enemies will prioritize targeting other enemy ships when applying a hull repair or shield charge combat effect. If there is no available target, or such a target is not in range, then the ability targets the ship that is performing the action.
Note: Sometimes enemies will miss an opportunity to attack as they chase their target. This is a good thing for you! It means you can count on enemies having tunnel vision at times and giving you a chance to regroup.
4. Update Combat Effects
The enemy action phase ends after all enemy ships have finished performing their actions. Resolve any end-of-phase combat effects, then move to Phase 3: End of the Round.
Player Damage
Each time a player ship takes damage, unless otherwise indicated, reduce its shield before reducing its hull.
After a ship's shield reaches 0, all further damage (from the same attack or future attacks) is suffered directly by the ship's hull.
When a ship's shield or hull is reduced, the player reduces their ship's shield or hull by moving the cube on the appropriate track on their player board.
If a player ship's hull ever reaches 0, that ship is critically damaged. That ship is removed from the game board and its pilot becomes unconscious. Unconscious pilots gain 1 trauma and are unable to act for the remainder of the scenario; however, they still gain scenario rewards according to the scenario outcome.
Trauma. When a pilot gains a trauma, they fill in 1 spot on the trauma track on their pilot progression pad.
Avoiding damage. Anytime a player ship takes damage, they may choose to completely ignore the damage to the ship (including the combat effects) and damage a weapon or engine upgrade instead. To damage an upgrade, the player chooses an undamaged weapon or engine upgrade card on their player board, flips it face-down, and then increases the pilot stress by 1. If the ship has no undamaged weapon or engine upgrades left, it must take damage normally. Damaged upgrades cannot be used for the remainder of the scenario.
Note: Only weapon and engine upgrades can be damaged to ignore damage. Each time a weapon or engine is damaged, increase the pilot's stress by 1.
Avoiding damage example: Merkava has 3 hull, no shields, and is attacked for a total of 4 damage. Merkava has 1 undamaged weapon upgrade, proton blast. Merkava decides to ignore the attack by damaging the proton blast upgrade instead. The upgrade is flipped face-down and they increase their pilot stress by 1. Merkava has reached the 7-stress threshold and is triggered.
Phase 3: End of Round Phase
After the pilot and enemy action phases are complete, resolve the end of the round phase by performing the following steps:
- Resolve any end-of-round effects or special rules indicated by the scenario.
- Players collect their assigned action dice.
- Increase the round marker on the Sparrow mat by 1 slot. If the scenario lasts for more than 10 rounds, keep 1 cube in slot 10 and place another cube in slot 1.
- Repeat all phases until reaching the scenario success or failure condition.
Additional Space Combat Rules
Many space combat scenarios have unique rules that are specific to that scenario. A few of the most common rules you will encounter are detailed here.
Spawn
The spawn special rule introduces new ships onto the board after the initial setup is complete, and indicates the spawn location.
The number of pilots determines how many enemy ships spawn. Only spawn enemies listed on the line corresponding to the number of pilots currently playing.
Spawn uses the following rules:
- Each ship resolves the enemy setup steps as usual (steps 7, 8, and 11 of Space Combat Setup). If there are no available ships or enemy boards, the ship does not spawn.
- Spawned ships do not act in the round they spawn.
- Spawned ships are placed on the board facing their nearest available target.
- If directed to spawn enemies across multiple scenario markers, randomly place the ships as evenly as possible across them. Place enemy ships first onto the scenario marker location, and then adjacent to the closest player ship. If there is still a choice, the players decide.
- Spawned ships must be eliminated in order to successfully complete an eliminate all enemies objective.
Scenario Markers
Ships can move onto and through scenario markers if a marker does not have a hull value. If a scenario marker has a hull value, it is treated as impassable terrain that blocks line of sight. Track the hull of scenario objectives using an empty enemy board.
Hull or Shield "/[pilot icon]"
Anytime a "/" followed by the pilot icon is listed in the special rules, read this as "per pilot." For example, "8 hull / pilot icon" reads as "8 hull per pilot." In this case, if there are 2 pilots in the game, the total would be 16 hull.
Sparrow
The Sparrow is immune to all combat effects. If its final movement is to be done in a hex already occupied by a ship, that ship is pushed away 1 hex in any direction chosen by the players.
When the Sparrow takes damage, a pilot may choose to sacrifice a part of their ship to protect it. Each pilot, once per scenario, may do this by increasing their stress by 1 and damaging their ship ability to cancel all the damage that would be dealt to the Sparrow.
End of a Scenario
After ending a space combat scenario, each player performs the following steps:
- Reset the stress track on their player board to 0.
- Flip any damaged weapon and engine upgrades on their player board to their undamaged side, face-up.
- Remove all stress miss and bolster cards from their modifier deck and discard pile, then shuffle all discarded cards back into their deck.
Rewards
Scenarios provide pilots with rewards upon completion. There are 4 types of rewards players can gain:
- Credits
- Upgrades
- Pilot skill points
- Achievements
Each player gains all of the listed rewards, except for achievements. Achievements are gained by the squad as a whole.
Credits. Credits are always displayed by a number within a credit icon. Each player tracks their credits in the notes section of their pilot progression pad using a pencil or pen. As credits are gained or spent, players make the appropriate adjustments in their notes.
Upgrades. When a player gains a weapon, engine, or tech upgrade card, they can place it into their player storage tray. During the setup of any future scenario, a player can equip any of their gained upgrades by placing it into an appropriate slot of their player board (see Equipping Upgrades). Players can freely trade upgrades with one another during the setup.
Pilot skill points. Each time a player gains a pilot skill point, they advance on one of their pilot skill trees on their pilot progression pad and they increase the pilot progression chart found on the squad progression pad.
Achievements. When the squad gains an achievement, mark the corresponding hex on the squad progression pad.
Achievement benefits: Achievements track the decisions the squad makes and allow the squad to experience unique parts of the story.
Some sections in the scenario book display an achievement icon followed by the achievement name. If the squad encounters one of these sections and has the corresponding achievement marked on their squad progression pad, they proceed to reading that section. If the squad does not have that achievement marked, they skip that section instead.
Some sections in the scenario book display a crossed achievement icon. If the squad does not have the corresponding achievement marked on their squad progression pad, they proceed to reading that section. If the squad has that achievement marked, they skip that section.
Bolster Boost
Any time a scenario is failed, mark 1 bolster boost on the squad progression pad. At the start of each future space combat scenario, add 1 bolster x2 modifier card into each player's modifier deck per bolster boost icon that has been marked. Whenever a scenario is completed successfully, erase all marked bolster boost icons on the squad progression pad.
Choices During Scenarios
Some scenarios present a choice to players. When this happens, players must collectively select one of the options, gain any corresponding rewards, and continue playing the scenario as instructed.
Pilot Progression Pad
When a player gains a pilot skill point, they advance on one of their pilot skill trees. For each skill point gained, a player can mark one half-hex on one of the three skill trees on their pilot progression pad.
Marking Hexes
Each hex is divided into two halves. Therefore, 2 pilot skill points are required to unlock a skill tree upgrade.
When marking a half-hex on a pilot skill tree, players must obey the following rules:
- Skill trees begin at the bottom and progress upward. As such, players must mark skill trees from the bottom up.
- Players are able to mark half-hexes on any of their 3 trees when they gain a pilot skill point.
- Players do not need to complete a tree before advancing on another one.
- A player must mark both half-hexes on an upgrade in order to advance to the upgrade above it.
- When a player reaches a fork in a skill tree, they must choose either the left or right option before advancing. A player may never mark both options of a fork.
Gaining Upgrades
After both halves of a hex are marked, the player gains the corresponding upgrade. The following upgrades are available on a pilot skill tree as follows:
Pilot ability. Unlock the next pilot ability card in that pilot's deck — starting with level II reaching level IV. Players may equip any gained pilot ability card into their player board during the setup of a scenario. A list of available pilot abilities can be found in the Appendix.
Modifier deck upgrades. Most skill tree upgrades add or remove cards to a player's modifier deck. This will be shown by a + (add) or - (remove) sign followed by the quantity (outside of the hex icon) and the type of the modifier cards (inside the hex icon) to be either added or removed.
For example, if a player unlocks a "-1 card" upgrade, they remove one -1 card from their modifier deck and return it to the game box. All other modifier deck upgrades correspond to cards that are added to the deck. To add a card, a player simply takes the appropriate card from the game box and adds it into their modifier deck.
Rolling modifiers. Modifier cards added from an upgrade may include a rolling icon on the bottom right of the cards. These cards are called rolling modifier cards. When a player draws a rolling modifier card, they continue drawing cards until a non-rolling modifier card is drawn. Values and combat effects of all cards drawn this way are applied to the attack.
- If a player draws a x2 card, add all other values drawn, then multiply the total by 2. Combat effects are not affected by x2 modifiers.
- If a player draws a miss card, the attack misses, with every other card in the stack negated, thus dealing no damage and applying no combat effects.
- Ships that are advantaged or disadvantaged may end up having two modifier stacks to choose from. If a ship is advantaged, the player can choose between the two stacks. If a ship is disadvantaged, the stack with a miss card or the lowest total damage is selected. If both deal the same amount of damage, the player decides which to use.
World exploration skill. Gain an additional skill point for world exploration skill checks. See the World Exploration section for more information.
Ship improvement points. When a player unlocks a ship improvement in their pilot skill tree, they mark a hex in one of their ship improvement trees at the top of their player progression pad.
When marking a hex on a ship improvement tree, players must obey the following rules:
- Ship trees begin at the left and progress to the right. As such, players must mark hexes on ship upgrade trees from left to right.
- When a player reaches a fork in the upgrade tree, they must choose either the top or bottom option before advancing. A player may never mark both options of a fork.
- If a player has more than one ship, they can choose which ship to use the improvement point on.
- Ship upgrades either increase the ship's starting hull or shield, or unlock a unique ship ability. Ships cannot have more than 10 hull or 10 shield at any time.
Space Exploration Setup
After completing scenario #005, players are introduced to space exploration and the galaxy atlas. To prepare for space exploration for the first time, perform the following steps:
- Open the galaxy atlas to the Draconian system and place it near the game board.
- Place the Sparrow miniature at location 001 on the galaxy atlas.
- Take the event cards for the Draconian system (as indicated at the bottom of each card) and place them near the galaxy atlas.
At the beginning of subsequent game sessions, players set up space exploration by opening the galaxy atlas to their current system, gathering that system's event cards, and placing the Sparrow on its current location. At the end of each game session, players should write down the Sparrow's current location on their squad progression pad so they know where to begin their next game.
Space Exploration
Throughout the Stars of Akarios campaign, players jointly control the Sparrow as they explore the galaxy. Space exploration occurs between scenarios and is often how the players choose the next scenario.
The Sparrow's journey is tracked using the galaxy atlas, which contains maps of several systems within the Akarios galaxy. As the Sparrow explores each system, it will discover locations that are added to the galaxy atlas in the form of stickers.
Locations (stickers) have a number which represents the matching scenario within the Stars of Akarios scenario book. When the players choose to move the Sparrow to a specific location, they locate the matching numbered entry within the scenario book and resolve it.
These scenarios can include space combat missions, world exploration missions, a variety of story events, and markets where players can purchase upgrades. After completing a scenario, the players mark the sticker in their galaxy atlas, indicating that they have completed that scenario. Stickers have 3 spots for marks to help track different campaigns. If the players want to avoid permanent marking, they can track their progress on the squad progression sheet instead.
Scouting
Throughout the scenario book, players are instructed to scout locations. When this happens, the players add the corresponding location sticker to the galaxy atlas. Scout instructions provide a sticker number, a system ID (letter), and then X and Y coordinates to help with placement when adding them to the galaxy atlas.
Scout example: The players are instructed to Scout [008]: D-3.2. They open the galaxy atlas to the Draconian (D) system. Then, they take sticker 008 and place it in location 3.2.
Exploring
When not instructed to do otherwise, at the end of a scenario the players return to space exploration to determine which scenario to resolve next. During space exploration, the players place the Sparrow on the galaxy atlas in their current location.
To resolve space exploration, the players collectively perform the following steps:
- Choose location
- Reduce supply
- Roll the six-sided die
- Move the Sparrow
- Resolve the scenario
1. Choose location. The players can choose to move the Sparrow to any scouted location within the current system that has not been marked in this campaign.
There are four types of location that the Sparrow can discover throughout the campaign:
- Primary scenarios — These are the campaign's core scenarios. Through them, the primary campaign story progresses.
- Side scenarios — These are optional side scenarios. They do not advance the primary storyline, but often offer rewards.
- Markets — These locations allow players to buy and sell upgrades, reduce trauma, and allow the Sparrow to resupply. Markets can be returned to by the Sparrow an unlimited number of times. Markets are described in detail in the Market section.
- Jump points — These locations allow the Sparrow to move between systems throughout the galaxy.
2. Reduce supply. After the players choose which location the Sparrow will move to, they reduce the Sparrow's supply by 1. To do this, simply adjust the supply track on the Sparrow board to show the Sparrow's current supply.
If the Sparrow's supply is at 0, each pilot increases their stress by 1 instead. Any stress accumulated during space exploration is not removed at the beginning of the next scenario. If the Sparrow ever gains supply, each player resets their stress to 0.
3. Roll the six-sided die. Each system has a movement legend at the bottom of its pages in the galaxy atlas. Before moving, the players roll the six-sided die, consult the movement legend, and apply the result.
Space events. If an effect instructs players to draw an event card, they randomly draw an event card from that system's event deck. Then, they read the text on the front of the card and follow its instructions.
If a choice is presented, players must agree on the option to select. If the players cannot agree, each player rolls 4 action dice and the player with the most stress results chooses. After selecting an option, they flip the event card and read the section that corresponds to the choice made.
If there are no more space event cards in a system event deck, re-roll the six-sided die until an effect that can be resolved is rolled.
4. Move the Sparrow. After reducing the Sparrow's supply and resolving the effects of the six-sided die, move the Sparrow miniature to its new location in the galaxy atlas.
5. Resolve the scenario. Players open the scenario book to the scenario that matches the number of the Sparrow's new location. Then, they play that scenario.
World Exploration Setup
To set up a world exploration scenario, follow these steps:
1. Prepare pilot. Each player flips their pilot tile to the back side and adjusts the cubes on their player board as follows:
A) Health — During world exploration scenarios, players use the hull track to represent their pilot's health. Each player sets their starting health to match the number shown on their pilot tile.
B) Energy — During world exploration scenarios, players use the shield track to represent their pilot's energy. The amount of starting energy that each pilot begins with is determined by the number of pilots in the game:
- 1 pilot: 10 energy
- 2 pilots: 8 energy
- 3 pilots: 7 energy
- 4 pilots: 6 energy
C) Stress — Stress starting value is 0 unless otherwise instructed by space exploration.
2. Prepare the world exploration deck. The scenario book instructs the players to setup a specific world exploration deck. Take the associated world exploration cards from the box and place them face-down near the play area. Do not shuffle these cards — they should remain ascending in numerical order.
3. Reveal starting location. Take the card of the world deck that reads "Start Here" and place it face-up in the center of the play area.
4. Place pilot miniature. Each player places their pilot miniature on the starting location.
World Exploration
World exploration takes place over a series of rounds. Rounds repeat until the conditions for the scenario are met, or all pilots are unconscious. Each round has three phases:
- Phase 1: Reduce Energy Phase
- Phase 2: Pilot Action Phase
- Phase 3: End of the Round Phase
During a round, players resolve each of these phases in order. All players must complete one phase before progressing together to the next phase.
When performing the pilot actions phase, players can perform their actions in any order, and a player does not need to complete all of their available actions before another player performs actions. If multiple players are interacting with the same point of interest or enemy while performing their actions, those actions must be performed one at a time.
After all players have completed the end of round phase, a new round begins starting with a new reduce energy phase.
Phase 1: Reduce Energy Phase
During this phase, each pilot reduces their energy by 1. If a pilot's energy is at 0, that pilot increases their stress by 1 instead; in world exploration scenarios, stress thresholds are never checked. If a pilot's stress is already at 10, that pilot decreases their health by 1 instead.
Important: Players can continue to use stress results even if they are at 10 stress!
Unconscious. If a pilot's health ever reaches 0, that pilot becomes unconscious and gains 1 trauma, which is added to their pilot progression pad as normal. An unconscious pilot cannot perform any action for the remainder of the scenario. If all pilots are unconscious, read the failure entry in the scenario book. Unconscious pilots still gain scenario rewards.
If there is no specific failure conclusion in the scenario book, unconscious players restart the next round from the world exploration starting card. If there is a failure conclusion, the unconscious player is unable to play for the remainder of the scenario.
Phase 2: Pilot Action Phase
During this phase, each player continues performing actions until all of their action dice have been committed or until they do not want to perform any more actions. During world exploration scenarios, pilots perform actions by interacting with points of interest (POIs) that are found on the world exploration cards. Each card may have multiple POIs.
Each POI contains 3 elements: the action type, the action dice requirements, and the scenario book entry.
- Action type — This indicates the type of action a pilot must perform to interact with the POI.
- Action dice requirements — This indicates the number of action dice and the results required to interact successfully with the POI: an attack result, a move result, an attack-or-move result, or a stress result.
- Scenario book entry — This number corresponds to the entry in the scenario book that players read after they interact successfully with the POI.
Performing pilot actions. To perform a pilot action, a player resolves the following steps in order:
- Choose a POI — A player can choose to resolve any POI that is on the same card as their pilot miniature.
- Commit dice — A player can commit 1 or more of their action dice to the chosen POI. Each player can commit each of their action dice only once per round. If a player cannot commit an action die to a POI, they cannot interact with it. A player must commit at least one action die even if the chosen POI does not have any action dice requirements. In such a case, that player skips directly to step 5.
- Roll dice — A player rolls all of their committed dice. Once per round, each player can increase their pilot's stress by 1 to re-roll any number of their committed dice.
- Assign results — The player may assign a result to one matching POI requirement. An attack result can be assigned to an attack or attack/move requirement, a move result can be assigned to a move or attack/move requirement, and both wild and stress results can be assigned to any icon. If a player assigns a stress result to any requirement, they must increase their pilot's stress by 1.
- Interact with the POI or end the action — If a matching result was assigned to each of the POI's requirements, or if the POI did not have any required die icons but at least one die was assigned to it, a player has successfully interacted with that POI. Each POI is resolved according to its action type. If the player cannot or chooses not to assign the appropriate number and type of results to the POI (with the exception of skill checks, described later), the player cannot further interact with that POI. They can use any uncommitted action dice to perform another action (using the same or a new POI in their area).
Note: Players can take multiple actions in a single round during world exploration. This means that while they may be guaranteed a success if they commit all of their action dice to the same POI, they won't be able to do much in a single round! Consider how much energy your pilot has before committing action dice.
Action Types
There are multiple types of POI actions.
Explore and Move. This action type allows a pilot to move to a new world exploration card.
To resolve an explore and move action, a player moves their pilot to the adjacent world exploration card. Each explore and move POI has an arrow that points in the direction of the adjacent card the pilot can move to. If there is no adjacent card in that direction, take the world exploration card matching the number on the POI and reveal it, by placing it face-up in the direction indicated by the arrow.
After a world exploration card is revealed, it remains explored (face-up) for the remainder of the scenario.
Investigate. This action type allows players to investigate POIs, hoping to find useful information or credits. Any credits gained during this type of interaction belong to the pilot who found them. That player updates the total credits recorded on their pilot progression pad.
To resolve an investigate action, read the corresponding entry in the scenario book and follow the instructions.
Skill Check. Each skill check POI has an icon matching one of the four pilot skills: strength, dexterity, intelligence, or charm.
Values for these skills are found on the back of each pilot tile. Pilots use their skill values in combination with their committed action dice to satisfy the requirements for skill check POIs.
To successfully interact with a skill check, a player adds their total number of matching action dice results to the pilot's matching skill value. The result is the skill total for that skill check.
If the skill total is equal to or exceeds the number of die icons on the POI, the skill check is a success. The player reads the Success section of the corresponding entry in the scenario book.
If the skill total is lower than the number of die icons on the POI, the skill check is a failure. The player reads the Failure section of the corresponding entry in the scenario book.
If a skill check presents a "/" icon (per pilot), multiple players may attempt to pass that skill check together. Players participating in the action can commit any number of action dice to the skill check.
Intelligence test example: A player successfully passes an intelligence test that requires a skill total of 3 or higher by combining 2 committed action dice with their intelligence skill value of 1 (2 + 1 = 3).
Dock. This action type is similar to investigate POIs, but typically allows players to leave a world exploration scenario. To resolve a dock action, read the corresponding entry in the scenario book and follow the instructions.
Stop Event. If a player moves into a location with a stop event icon, immediately read the corresponding scenario entry for the entire squad. Stop events only activate the first time that card is explored.
Each time a player, reading a scenario, is instructed to "go to" followed by a number, they move to read the scenario entry that corresponds to that number.
Marking discovered actions. If an investigate or skill check action is successfully resolved, place a black cube (from the supply) on the POI to indicate that the POI has been discovered. A discovered POI cannot be resolved again unless it has the repeat action icon.
Repeat action. Any investigate or skill check action on a POI with this icon is a repeat action. Players can perform a repeat action as many times as they wish. Do not mark repeat actions with a black cube to indicate that they have been discovered.
Pilot damage. During world exploration, players may be instructed to take damage (DMG). When a pilot is instructed to take damage, they lower their health by the indicated value. If a pilot ever reaches 0 health, they are unconscious.
Phase 3: End of Round Phase
During this phase, each player gathers all of their committed dice. Then they begin a new round starting with phase 1. Players repeat phases 1-3 until either the world exploration objective is complete, all pilots are unconscious, all conscious pilots board the Sparrow via a Dock POI, or the scenario book instructs otherwise.
Market
When the players visit a market location, they can buy and sell upgrades for their ships and resupply the Sparrow. Each market location provides players with a list of the upgrades available from that market. Players can return to any market an unlimited number of times.
Every market contains a list of available items for purchase. The list indicates the card types that are available and which card numbers within those types can be purchased. For example, if a market list has "Engine: 1–6," players can purchase any engine upgrade card numbered 1 through 6.
When visiting a market, players can perform the following actions any number of times in any order:
Buy ship upgrades. A player can buy any card available on the market list. A card ID number is shown on the back of the card, and its cost is shown on the front.
To buy an upgrade, that player reduces their credits on their pilot progression pad by an amount equal to the upgrade's cost. Then, they can either add that upgrade to their player tray or immediately equip it by placing it in an appropriate slot on their player board.
To sell an upgrade, a player chooses any upgrade either equipped on their ship or in their player tray and returns it to the box, gaining credits equal to half (rounded down) of its cost and increasing their credits on their pilot progression pad by that amount.
Resupply the Sparrow. Players can spend credits to resupply the Sparrow. The number of credits required to increase the Sparrow's supply track by one is shown in the market list. Players can divide the cost among themselves however they choose. For each supply purchased, the players increase the Sparrow's supply track by one, by moving accordingly the corresponding cube. The Sparrow cannot have more than 10 supply at any time.
Buy Sparrow upgrades. Players can purchase upgrades for the Sparrow following the same rules as for ship upgrades. When paying the cost for a Sparrow upgrade, players can divide the cost among themselves however they choose. Sparrow upgrades are described in the Appendix.
Buy ship improvements. Throughout the campaign, each player can buy from a market up to 2 improvements for each of their ships. If a ship improvement is available for purchase at a market, its cost is listed there.
After purchasing an improvement, a player can advance on one of their ship upgrade trees on their player progression pad, following the normal rules presented under Ship Improvement Points. Then, to indicate that they have purchased a ship improvement, they mark the first unmarked hex in the ship improvement tracker in the upper right corner of the ship upgrade tree of the matching ship.
Reduce trauma. Players may be able to reduce trauma when visiting a market. The cost to reduce trauma is shown on the market list. Players can divide the cost among themselves however they choose. Then, for each trauma reduced, they erase one trauma from their pilot progression pad.
Class-Restriction Upgrades
Ship upgrades may have a class restriction, which is shown on the front of the upgrade card. A player cannot equip an upgrade with a class restriction unless it matches a class type shown on their ship tile. A player can buy a ship upgrade that they cannot currently equip and keep it in their player tray.
The Defensive Move upgrade has a class restriction of Heavy. It can only be equipped by ships that are Heavy Class ships, like the Argonaut.
The Sparrow (Additional Rules)
This section contains additional rules for the Sparrow.
The Sparrow tray. The Sparrow tray stores the Sparrow board, trauma cards, the Sparrow upgrades, co-pilots, the six-sided die, and colored cubes. The lid for the Sparrow tray allows players to maintain the Sparrow's supply track even between game sessions.
The Sparrow upgrades. During the campaign, players can obtain upgrades for the Sparrow. These upgrades are stored in the Sparrow tray and can be equipped during the setup of any space combat scenario. The Sparrow can only have two upgrades equipped at a time. Equipped upgrades are placed in the slots built into the Sparrow tray.
Upgrades without action slots are active while they are equipped on the Sparrow. Upgrades that have action slots show a supply of one, which means they can only be used once per scenario. To use one of these upgrades, any number of players can assign dice. Then, they resolve the action and/or bonus abilities and flip the card face-down to indicate that it was used.
If a Sparrow upgrade allows it to attack, its attack uses the modifier deck of one of the players who assigned dice to the upgrade.
All Sparrow upgrades can be used even if the Sparrow is not on the game board. If the upgrade has a range value, disregard that range while the Sparrow is not on the game board.
Co-Pilots
Co-pilots are a unique type of upgrade that squads can gain and lose throughout the campaign. Each player can equip up to 1 co-pilot upgrade on their player board, placing it in any tech, ship, or pilot ability slot. A list of co-pilots can be found in the Appendix.
Any acquired co-pilot is available for any player to equip at the start of a space combat scenario. Unlocked co-pilots are stored in the Sparrow tray, rather than an individual player's pilot tray.
Unlocking New Pilots and Ships
New pilots. When the scenario book unlocks a new pilot, they are now available for all players to use. When players want to use a different pilot, they gather all of the corresponding material (as per pilot setup), and add skill points to the pilot so that their total assigned skill points match the amount indicated on the global skill point tracker found on the squad progression pad.
Players can switch pilots at the start of setup for any space combat or world exploration scenario.
New ships. When the scenario book unlocks a new ship, they are now available for all players to use. When players want to use a different ship, gather all the corresponding material (as per ship setup). When a new ship enters play, it gains a number of ship improvement points equal to the act they enter play in (1 improvement point for act 1, 2 for act 2, etc).
Players can switch ships at the start of setup for any space combat scenario.
Adjusting the Difficulty
If you find the game too easy or too difficult, you may choose to adjust the difficulty of space combat before a scenario. All difficulty adjustments impact the scenario objectives and enemy hull, shield, and damage starting values. Each pilot can also gain bonus credits for completing that scenario objective.
| Difficulty Level | Enemy Hull | Enemy Shield | Enemy Damage | Credit Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | -1 | -1 | -1 | 0 |
| Normal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Medium | 0 | 0 | +1 | 1 |
| Hard | +1 | +1 | +1 | 2 |
| Very Hard | +2 | +2 | +2 | 3 |
| Insane | +2 | +2 | +3 | 4 |
| Abyss | +3 | +3 | +4 | 5 |
Ironman Mode
For an added challenge, players can attempt the ironman mode. This game mode must be chosen at the beginning of act 1.
Space combat:
- Players are unable to damage their weapon or engine upgrades to ignore attacks.
- All enemies use the elite side of their combat effect immunities (even if they are regular enemies).
- If a player ship ever reaches 0 hull, the pilot ejects, and the ship is destroyed. Return the ship, all corresponding material (as per ship setup), and all equipped upgrades to the game box.
- Destroyed ships can still be chosen, but they are added back into the game as a new ship. See Unlocking New Pilots and Ships.
World exploration:
- Each pilot starts a world exploration scenario with 2 fewer energy.
- If a player ever reaches 0 health, they die. Return the pilot and all corresponding material (as per pilot setup) to the game box.
- Pilots who have died can still be chosen, but they are added back into the game as a new pilot. See Unlocking New Pilots and Ships.
Space exploration:
- It costs +2 credits per pilot to resupply the Sparrow.
Alternate World Exploration
You may choose to skip any world exploration missions during the campaign. When instructed to set up a world exploration mission, instead turn to page 201 of the scenario book and read the appropriate entry. That entry will replace the entire scenario.
Combat Effects
- Advantaged — Become advantaged on your ship's next attack, first target only.
- Bolster — Shuffle a x2 bolster modifier card into the target's modifier deck. Return that card to the box when drawn.
- Cancel Effects — Remove any 1 combat effect active on a target (except hull breach).
- Disadvantaged — Become disadvantaged on your ship's next attack, first target only.
- Hack — A pilot affected by Hack increases their stress by 1. An enemy affected by Hack shuffles 1 stress miss card into the enemy modifier deck.
- Hull Breach — If the target is dealt hull damage with an attack, their ship is hull breached and receives 1 hull damage at the beginning of each of their following action phases. Remove hull breach when the target hull is repaired for any amount. Use a red cube to track this effect.
- No Resupply — This upgrade cannot be resupplied.
- Pierce — Attacks with pierce ignore shields and deal damage directly to the hull.
- Pull — The target is pulled toward the attacking ship a number of hexes equal to the indicated amount. If there are two hexes which the target could be pulled into, the players collectively decide. Targets cannot be pulled into other ships or impassible objects.
- Push — The target is pushed away from the attacking ship a number of hexes equal to the indicated amount. If there are 2 hexes which the target could be pushed into, the players collectively decide. Target cannot be pushed off the board or into other ships or impassible objects.
- Radar Jam — Target becomes disadvantaged in all of its attacks until the end of its next action phase. Use a red cube to track this effect.
- Repair — Increase a target hull value by the amount shown. This cannot increase the target hull value above their starting value.
- Resupply — Increase the supply by one on a number of other upgrades or abilities equal to the indicated amount. Supply cannot be increased above their starting value. Target self if resupply is listed as a combat effect. The Sparrow cannot be resupplied by this effect.
- Shield Charge — Recharge a target shield by the amount shown. Shields cannot be increased above their starting value.
- Slow — The target is unable to move or use engine upgrades on their next action phase, but may still rotate and attack. Use a red cube to track this effect.
- Stealth — The next attack a ship affected by stealth performs is advantaged against all its targets. Use a red cube to track this effect. A ship loses its stealth effect after attacking or at the end of the next action phase, whichever comes first. Suffering damage does not remove stealth. Stealth ships cannot be targeted while in stealth mode, but can be damaged by an attack with infinite targets.
- Stress Reduction — Lower the target's stress by the indicated amount.
- Stun — If any hull damage is dealt by this attack, the attacked ship is stunned and cannot attack nor use any weapon upgrades during its next action phase. Nonetheless, it may still move, rotate, and use non-attack abilities/upgrades. Use a red cube to track this effect.
- Target Lock — Ships attacking the target become advantaged. Remove the target lock at the end of the target's next action phase. Use a red cube to track this effect.
- +X Damage, Range, Target — Increase the corresponding damage, range, or number of targets for this ship's next attack by the listed value. Damage increase only applies to the first target of the next attack.
Appendix
Co-Pilots
- 65DOS — Perform the first move action. Then, you may choose to rotate. Then perform the second move action.
- Alpha 89 — Add stun to your next attack.
- Anayeli Ili — Apply shield charge 2 or repair 2 to chosen targets within 3 range.
- Aura Cana — Add 2 range to your next attack, if that attack has a range.
- B'ruvaluv — Decrease your stress by 2.
- Balroq — Treat drawn -2 modifier cards as +2 modifier cards instead.
- Belar — Apply hack to a target within 2 range.
- Blarne — Perform shield charge 3 on your ship.
- Darzo — Add +1 target to your next attack.
- Drolf — Apply shield charge 2 to 2 different ships within 5 range.
- Guinny-Bot — Guinny-Bot's supply can be used by an equipped drone.
- Gul Berdil — Add +2 damage to your next attack. If a stress result is committed, add an additional +2 damage.
- Gynnifer — Treat drawn miss modifier cards (including stress miss modifier cards) as -2 modifier cards instead.
- Hewar — Perform the move action.
- Jorhinja — Choose to perform either of the two move actions.
- Kapral — Apply repair 3 to 2 targets within 4 range.
- Kresnar — Perform 2 rotate actions in a row.
- Krina — Before rolling, you may set aside up to 2 of your action dice as attack results.
- Mac — Add +2 damage to your next attack.
- Night Errandal — Perform the attack action.
- Pinto — Swap location with your target. This effect can only target enemy ships using combat cards, and cannot target the Yur Beacon, T'Kotchka Mammoth, UIA Arnaut, or the Synthetic Titan.
- Powder — Perform a rotate action.
- R'birl — Apply repair 3 to your ship.
- R'upito — Perform the move action.
- Robin Kowel — Add +2 damage to your next attack.
- Rojan Pale — You may perform the rotate action. Then perform the attack action.
- Salwa — Perform the attack action.
- Sigma-013 — Use one of your undamaged engine or weapon upgrades, treating all action slots and stress bonuses as activated, but without assigning any result to them. Then damage that upgrade and increase your stress by 1.
- Tannah O'Neill — Use a damaged engine or weapon upgrade as if it were undamaged and all its action slots had a matching result assigned. If the selected upgrade has an attack action, instead of drawing a modifier card, add +2 damage to the attack. This ability cannot be resupplied.
- Tena — Add hull breach to your next attack.
- Timbor — Your ship's starting shield value is increased by 2.
- Trude — Apply cancel effects on every target within 4 range.
- Vogeo — Choose one: perform either slow, target lock, or radar jam on 1 target within 5 range.
- Vramnad — Your ship becomes advantaged on your next attack.
Engine Upgrades
- Advantage Move — Perform the move action. Become advantaged on your next attack.
- Attack Move — Perform the move action. Then perform the attack action.
- Bank — Perform the move action. Add radar jam to your next attack.
- Barrel Roll — Perform the move action. Add slow to your next attack.
- Bolster Rush — Perform the move action and then apply bolster to all targets within 2 range.
- Burn & Flip — Perform the move action. Then apply push 1 on up to 2 ships within 1 range.
- Cargo Hold — Perform the move action. Then apply resupply 1 on up to 2 targets within 2 range.
- Core Explosion — Perform the attack action. Then perform the move action. Stress rotate can be used before or after either action. Flip core explosion face down after using it, to indicate it has been damaged (this does not add additional stress). Then, lower your hull by 2.
- Deepstrike — Move to any unoccupied hex space adjacent to the edge of the board. Lower your hull and shield by 1.
- Defensive Move — Perform the move action. Then apply repair 2 to your ship.
- Disrupt — Choose an enemy ship within 4 range and move it using the depicted diagram. This effect cannot target the Yur Beacon, T'Kotchka Mammoth, UIA Arnaut, or the Synthetic Titan.
- Duel Move — Perform the move action. Then apply target lock to 1 target within 3 range.
- Energy Bubble — Perform the move action. Then apply stun to up to 2 targets within 1 range.
- Energy Scoop — Perform the move action. For each nebula hex you enter, apply resupply 1 to your ship. Ignore any nebula terrain movement rules when resolving this effect.
- Flank — Perform the move action. Apply pull 1 to your next attack.
- Gravity Move — Perform the move action. Then apply pull 2 to all targets within 2 range.
- Hypergravity Warp — Place your ship in any unoccupied space within 6 range. The chosen space must be adjacent to a planet or asteroid. You may choose any forward-facing when placing your ship.
- Interference — Perform the move action. Then apply radar jam to all targets within 2 range.
- Jet Burn — Perform the attack action. Then perform the move action.
- Prepare — On your next attack, do not draw modifier cards; apply a x2 damage modifier instead. If the attack has multiple targets, this ability is applied only to the first target.
- Propel — After performing the move action, each friendly pilot can also perform this move action without assigning action dice to this card.
- Quick Thinking — Perform the move action. Then you may perform the bonus ability rotate. You may use the stress rotate either before or after the move action.
- Ram Move — After completing a move action, perform the attack action.
- Regenerating Hull — After completing a move action, perform the action depicted. Apply repair 2 to your ship.
- Repair Bubble — Perform the move action. Then apply repair 2 to any targets within 1 range.
- Scouting — Perform the move action. Then apply target lock to 1 target within 4 range.
- Shake It Off — Perform the move action. Apply radar jam to your next attack.
- Stealth Move — Perform the move action. Then apply stealth to your ship.
- Supply Chain — Perform the move action. Then apply resupply 1 to your ship.
- Take Command — Choose a friendly ship within 4 range and move it according to depicted diagram.
- Warp Drive — Your ship is warp-enabled. You can travel through obstacles (planets, asteroids, nebulae) without penalty. You cannot end your movement on a planet.
Pilot Abilities
- Adaptive — Immediately after rolling, change 1 of your action dice to any result.
- Aggression — Become advantaged when attacking an enemy within 1 range.
- Avionics Hack — Take control of an enemy ship during the next enemy action phase. Control what the enemy targets for each of its actions. This ability cannot target the Synthetic Titan and cannot be resupplied.
- Bionic Eye — All attacks and abilities without a firing arc gain +1 range.
- Close Combat — Add +1 damage to all your attacks against enemies within 1 range.
- Close Encounters — You receive -1 damage from all enemy attacks done within 1 range.
- Engineer — Apply +1 repair when applying a repair on a friendly ship.
- Evasive Maneuvers — Enemies cannot become advantaged when attacking your ship.
- Focus — Add +1 target to your next attack.
- Good Under Pressure — Re-roll any number of your action dice.
- Grudge — Become advantaged on every attack against the first enemy who attacked you for the remainder of the scenario.
- Interrupt — Stop your movement at any point and perform a rotate action.
- Into the Breach — Apply pull 2 to all targeted ships within 3 range.
- Looter — When you destroy an adjacent enemy, you may temporarily turn to the undamaged side a damaged upgrade card, use it without committing dice or spending supply, and then turn it face-down again to its damaged side. Returning the card to its damaged side does not increase stress.
- Lucky — When you draw a miss card, deal 3 total damage instead. When doing so, do not apply any additional combat effects from the attack or other modifier cards.
- Mimic — Perform an action that is the exact copy of the latest action a friendly ship performed this round. This ability cannot be resupplied.
- Motivational Speech — Each other pilot in the game can take one of their assigned action dice, and assign it again, to a different action slot, without changing the result.
- Outmaneuver — Perform one of the depicted move actions anytime during the enemy action phase. This ability can only be used once per enemy action phase.
- Owl-Eye — Perform a rotate action.
- Petty — Every time you gain a stress miss modifier card, also add a stress miss modifier card to the enemy deck.
- Powder Monkey — Each of your equipped weapon upgrades gain +1 starting supply.
- Proximity Exploit — Add +1 damage to your next attack if your ship is advantaged. This effect is applied only to your first target.
- Push the Limit — Increase your stress by 1 and discard a drawn modifier card to draw a new one.
- Quickness — Perform the move action.
- Resolve — If after applying all modifier cards, your attack deals 0 total damage, reduce your stress by 1.
- Salvage — After an adjacent enemy is destroyed, apply resupply 2 to your ship.
- Self-Sacrifice — Reduce your hull by 1 and apply bolster to 2 targets within 3 range.
- Steady Hand — After drawing a modifier card, you may discard it and draw a new one.
- Stealth — You may extend all of your movements by 1 hex in the forward facing direction while in stealth.
- Stimpacks — Become advantaged on your next attack.
- Stress Reduction — When assigning a stress result to any of your basic actions, do not increase your stress.
- Thread the Needle — Instead of taking shield or hull damage when moving through an asteroid or nebula, you may gain 1 stress.
- Wingman — After rolling, give another pilot one of your uncommitted action dice without changing its result. They can commit this die as normal, and return it to you at the end of this pilot action phase.
Ship Abilities
- Beam Cannon — Perform the attack action.
- Chain Attack — Perform the attack action. Add +1 target to the attack if a stress result was committed to this action.
- Charge Attack — At the beginning of the next pilot action phase, perform a rotate action, then resolve the attack without committing additional action dice at that time. This ability cannot be resupplied.
- Effect Infusion — Add either slow or radar jam to your next attack.
- Gather Energy — Apply resupply 1 to up to 2 targets within 2 range.
- Gravity Move — Perform the move action. Then apply pull 3 to 3 ships within 4 range.
- Gravity Pull — Apply stun and pull 3 to all targets in the specified area.
- Healing Beam — Apply repair 3 and shield charge 3 to all targets in the specified area.
- Hull Explosion — Perform the attack action. Then reduce your hull by 2.
- Internalize — Apply cancel effect to 2 targets within 5 range.
- Invulnerability — The target takes no damage nor combat effects during the first attack against them during the next enemy action phase.
- Jagged Spikes — At the end of each round, deal 1 damage to each enemy and friendly ship within 1 range.
- Jet Attack — Perform the attack action. Then perform the move action.
- Laser Weapon — Add +1 damage to your basic attack.
- Lock-On — Draw 3 modifier cards instead of 2 when advantaged.
- Maneuvering Thrusters — Perform the move action.
- Multi-Rocket — Perform the attack action.
- Multi-Round — Perform three attack actions. You may perform a rotate action after the first and second attacks. This ability cannot be resupplied.
- Overcharge — Apply shield charge 4 to all friendly targets within 4 range. This ability cannot be resupplied.
- Overwatch — Perform the attack action. This ability can only be used during the enemy phase.
- Polarized Armor — This ability can be used only after being attacked and suffering damage. Ignore 1 damage dealt by that attack.
- Reactive Ignore — This ability can be used only after being attacked. Ignore all combat effects applied by that attack.
- Reverse Thrusters — Perform the move action.
- Shard Burst — Perform the attack action. Then reduce your hull by 1.
- Shield Zap — Reduce the target's shield by 3. Then apply shield charge 3 to your ship.
- Stun Jump — Perform the move action. Then apply stun to 1 target within 2 range.
- Target Lock — Apply target lock to 1 ship within 4 range.
- Targeted Shot — Place a x2 bolster modifier card from the supply on top of a friendly pilot's modifier deck.
- Targeting Computer — Add +1 target to your next attack.
- Vortex Blast — Apply pull 2 to all targets within 3 range. Then perform the attack action.
The Sparrow Upgrades
- Advanced Shield Tech — Each friendly ship's starting shield value is increased by 2.
- Aerial Barrage — Perform the attack action. This upgrade cannot be equipped if the Aerial Bombardment upgrade is equipped.
- Aerial Bombardment — Perform the attack action. This upgrade cannot be equipped if the Aerial Bombardment upgrade is equipped.
- AI Micronavigation — Friendly ships do not reduce their hull upon moving into an asteroid hex.
- Cloaking Field — At the start of each scenario, one pilot applies stealth to their ship.
- Engine Shield — Neither slow nor radar jam can be applied to any pilot.
- Expert Hull Mechanic — Each friendly ship's starting hull value is increased by 2.
- Extra Cockpit — Each ship may have 2 co-pilots instead of 1.
- Hack Wave — Apply hack to up to 2 targets.
- Hardened Plates — Hull breach cannot be applied to any pilot.
- Healing Aura — Apply repair 2 to each pilot.
- Hull Mechanic — Each friendly ship's starting hull value is increased by 1.
- Ion Cannon — Perform the attack action. This attack can only target the Titan. After this attack is resolved, if the shields of the Titan are 0, the Titan is neutralized. Refer to the special rules in the scenario book.
- Local Barter — Every time a pilot purchases an upgrade from a market, they pay 5 credits less than the listed price to a minimum of 0.
- Local Market — Every time a pilot purchases an upgrade from a market, they pay 10 credits less than the listed price, to a minimum of 0.
- Quick Start — On the first attack performed by a friendly ship during a combat scenario, do not draw modifier cards; apply a x2 damage modifier instead. If the attack has multiple targets, this ability is applied only to the first target.
- Radar Shield — Radar jam cannot be applied to any pilot.
- Resupply — Apply resupply 1 to each pilot.
- Shield Network — When a ship's shields are damaged, another allied ship may absorb up to 2 points of that damage. This is done by reducing their own shields by 2 points to lessen the damage on the first ship.
- Shield Tech — Each friendly ship's starting shield value is increased by 1.
- Shockwave — Apply stun to up to 3 targets.
- Signal Disrupt — Apply both radar jam and slow to up to 3 targets.
- Stress Reduction — Each pilot reduces their stress by 2.
- Teamwork — Gain +1 damage to your next attack for each friendly ship adjacent to the attacked ship.
- Therapist — When a pilot is triggered, draw 1 additional trauma card and choose one to discard. Then, resolve all remaining trauma cards.
- Training Academy — At the start of each space combat, shuffle a x2 bolster modifier card into each pilot's modifier deck.
- Upgraded Ion Cannon — Perform the attack action. This attack can only target the Titan. After this attack is resolved, if the shields of the Titan are 0, the Titan is neutralized. Refer to the special rules in the scenario book.
- Weapon Shield — Stun cannot be applied to any pilot.
Tech Upgrades
- Action Sent — All other pilots can use the result assigned to this action slot as an extra result to assign once during the current pilot action phase.
- Advanced Alloys — Your ship's starting hull and shield value are increased by 1.
- Advanced Controls — Do not reduce your hull when moving into an asteroid hex. Do not reduce your shield when moving into a nebula hex. Asteroids and nebula do not block line-of-sight for your attacks.
- Advanced Hull Upgrade — Your ship's starting hull value is increased by 2.
- Advanced Shield Charge — Apply shield charge 4 to 2 targets within 4 range.
- Advanced Shield Upgrade — Your ship's starting shield value is increased by 2.
- Advanced Weapons — Add +1 damage to your basic attacks. This upgrade cannot be equipped to a ship if the Elite Weapons upgrade is also equipped.
- Beam Repair — Apply repair 2 to 2 targets within 3 range. If a stress result was assigned, add +1 to the repair.
- Blast Packs — Add push 2 to your next attack.
- Calm — All targets within 5 range reduce stress by 2.
- Cloak — Apply stealth to your ship.
- Command — Target a friendly ship within 4 range. Move their ship according to either basic move on their player board.
- Confusion Probe — Choose a discarded enemy modifier card and place it on the top of the enemy modifier deck.
- Double Damage — On your next attack, do not draw modifier cards; apply a x2 damage modifier instead. If the attack has multiple targets, this ability is applied only to the first target.
- Draw Focus — Apply pull 2 to all targets within 3 range.
- Elite Weapons — Add +2 damage to your basic attack. This upgrade cannot be equipped to a ship if the Advanced Weapons upgrade is also equipped.
- Enemy Tracking — Each other pilot may immediately resolve one attack against the target enemy, regardless of their attack range or firing arc. This ability cannot be resupplied.
- Evasive Maneuvers — An enemy that is attacking you becomes disadvantaged for that attack. Use this ability only during the enemy action phase.
- Field Immunity — Push, pull, and radar jam cannot be applied to your ship.
- Foresight — Look at the top card of the enemy modifier deck and either place it in that deck's discard pile, or return it to the top of that deck.
- Gravity Push — Apply push 3 to all targets within 2 range.
- Hull Upgrade — Your ship's starting hull value is increased by 1.
- Interference Removal — Apply cancel effect to all targets within 3 range.
- Mass Driver — Add pierce to your next attack, if performed while in, or adjacent to, an asteroid hex.
- Not a Threat — Enemies do not select your ship as a target for their attacks until the end of the next enemy action phase.
- Override — Choose another pilot within 4 range. Select one of their action dice and change it to a result of your choosing.
- Phaseshift Cloak — Apply stealth to your ship after an enemy attack lowers your hull by 1 or more.
- Piercing Fire — Add pierce to your next attack.
- Polarized Shell — After being attacked, reduce the damage dealt by that attack by 4 (minimum of 0).
- Protective Shield — All damage suffered by a friendly ship is dealt to your ship instead until the start of the next pilot action phase.
- Radar Jam — Apply radar jam to 2 targets within 3 range.
- Rallying Cry — Apply bolster to all targets within 4 range.
- Resupply — Apply resupply 2 to a target within 3 range, or to 2 targets within 4 range.
- Scanner — Apply target lock to 2 targets within 4 range.
- Scout Engine — You may extend all of your movements by 1 hex in the forward facing direction.
- Shield Charge — Apply shield charge 2 to 2 targets within range 3. If a stress result was assigned, perform an additional rotate action.
- Shield Upgrade — Your ship's starting shield value is increased by 1.
- Slow Charge — All friendly ships within 4 range apply slow to their next attack performed during this pilot action phase.
- Stone Shield — During the next enemy phase, all damage to your ship from enemy attacks is considered 0 (before applying shields). Combat effects still apply. This upgrade cannot be resupplied.
- Stun Charge — All friendly ships within 3 range apply stun to their next attack performed during this pilot action phase.
- Super Charge — Any pilot within 5 range can assign dice to this upgrade. The total damage from this upgrade will be added to the first target of your next attack. This upgrade cannot be resupplied.
- Target Lock — Apply target lock to 1 target within 3 range.
- Target Warp — Move a targeted enemy to any unoccupied hex within range. Then, apply stun to that enemy. This upgrade can only target enemy ships that use combat cards and cannot target the Yur Beacon, T'Kotchka Mammoth, UIA Arnaut, or the Synthetic Titan.
- Targeted Ion — Apply slow to 1 target within 3 range.
- Targeting Upgrade — Add +1 target to your next attack.
- Teleport Tech — Perform a move action to any hex within 5 range. After completing the movement, rotate the ship in the facing of your choice. Ignore terrain during your movement.
- Time Rift — Place 2 wormholes on any unoccupied hexes on the map. This effect cannot be resupplied.
- Upgraded Stealth — Apply stealth to your ship.
Weapon Upgrades
- Absorption Cannon — Perform the attack action. If a stress result was assigned, add +1 damage to the attack. Each time your ship takes damage, apply resupply 1 to this upgrade, to a maximum of 4 supply.
- After Burn — Perform the attack action. Then perform the move action. The stress rotate action may be performed either before or after either action.
- Attack Booster — Perform the attack action. Then perform the move action. The stress rotate action may be performed either before or after either action.
- Battering Ram — Perform the attack action. Then perform the move action. Then lower your hull value by 1. The stress rotate action may be performed either before or after either action.
- Chain Laser — Perform the attack action. If a stress result was assigned, add +1 target to the attack.
- Chain Lightning — Perform the attack action. If a stress result was assigned, add +1 target to the attack.
- Channeled Attack — Choose another friendly ship and perform the attack action from their position, using their forward-facing direction. The attack is resolved using your modifier deck.
- Drill Beam — Perform the attack action. If a stress result was assigned, add +1 target to the attack. Ignore line of sight rules when targeting enemies with this attack (you may shoot through planets, asteroids, and nebulae).
- Gravity Swap — Perform the attack action. Then swap places with the target. This upgrade can only target enemy ships that use combat cards and cannot target the Yur Beacon, T'Kotchka Mammoth, UIA Arnaut, or the Synthetic Titan.
- Healing Bomb — Perform the attack action. Then apply repair 2 and shield charge 2 to your ship.
- Hull Steal — Perform the attack action. Then apply repair 2 to your ship.
- Laser Cannon — Perform the attack action. If a stress result was assigned, add +2 damage to the attack.
- Missile Strike — Perform the attack action, targeting up to 1 ship in each of the 3 firing arcs.
- Pick Me Up — Perform the attack action. Then apply repair 1 and shield charge 1 to your ship.
- Quick Attack — Perform the attack action. Then perform a rotate action.
- Shard Launch — Perform the attack action. If a stress result was assigned, add +1 target to the attack.
- Shield Latch — Perform the attack action. Then apply shield charge 2 to your ship.
- Stealth Weapons — Perform the attack action. If your ship has the stealth combat effect, add +2 damage to the attack.
- Supply Charge — Perform the attack action. Then apply shield charge 1 to your ship.
- Targeted Bolt — Perform the attack action. If a stress result was assigned, add +1 damage to the attack.
Quick Reference
Space Combat
- Phase 1: Pilot Action Phase — 1. Roll Dice; 2. Assign Dice and Perform Actions; 3. Update Combat Effects
- Phase 2: Enemy Action Phase — 1. Draw Enemy Combat Cards; 2. Determine Enemy Order; 3. Perform Enemy Combat Actions; 4. Update Combat Effects
- Phase 3: End of Round Phase — 1. Resolve End of Round Effects; 2. Collect Assigned Action Dice; 3. Increase Round Marker
Stress Thresholds
- 3-Stress — The player takes 1 stress miss modifier card from the box and shuffles it, along with the discarded modifier cards, into their modifier deck.
- 5-Stress — The player takes 1 stress miss modifier card from the box and shuffles it, along with the discarded modifier cards, into their modifier deck.
- 7-Stress — The player's pilot is triggered. Follow the triggered steps.
- 10-Stress — The player's pilot is triggered. Reset stress to 0 and follow the triggered steps.
Stress thresholds reached a subsequent time are resolved in the same way as the first time.
If a player lowers their stress below stress thresholds 3 or 5, they remove a stress miss modifier card from their modifier deck and shuffle their discards back into their deck.
Do not remove stress miss modifier cards when resetting stress to 0 while resolving the 10 stress threshold.
Space Exploration
- Choose Location
- Reduce Supply
- Roll Movement Die
- Move the Sparrow
- Resolve the Scenario
World Exploration
- Phase 1: Reduce Energy Phase
- Phase 2: Pilot Action Phase — 1. Choose a POI; 2. Commit Dice; 3. Roll Dice; 4. Assign Dice; 5. Interact with POI or End Action
- Phase 3: End of Round Phase
POI action types include Explore and Move, Stop Event, Investigate, Skill Check (Dexterity, Charm, Intelligence, Strength), and Repeat Action.
Combat Effects (quick index)
Advantaged, Bolster, Cancel Effects, Disadvantaged, Hack, Hull Breach, No Resupply, Pierce, Pull, Push, Radar Jam, Repair, Resupply, Shield Charge, Slow, Stealth, Stress Reduction, Stun, Target Lock, +X Damage/Range/Target. See the Combat Effects section for full descriptions.