FlickFleet
FlickFleet Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Two fleets of acrylic ships: Imperium (grey) and Uprising (red):
Capital Ships
- 1x dreadnought (grey)
- 4x destroyers (grey), 3x destroyers (red)
- 1x carriers (grey), 2x carriers (red)
Wings
- 4x fighter wings (grey), 4x fighter wings (red)
- 1x bomber wings (grey), 2x bomber wings (red)
11 ship dashboards - one for each destroyer, carrier, and dreadnought (collectively Capital Ships). Note that fighter wings and bomber wings (collectively Wings) do not have dashboards.
In addition there are:
- A black six-sided die (D6) and a red ten-sided die (D10) - 2 of each in deluxe
- Wooden discs representing ship locations - 26 defence grid (red), 11 shield generators (white), 11 engines (blue), 4 fighter bays (yellow), 3 bomber bays (orange), and 1 nukes (black)
- Wooden cubes representing ship status - 24 shields (white), 3 hull (grey)
- One purple wooden cube per capital ship and wing (22)
- This rulebook
Setup
Choose whether you would like to play a fair battle (see page 13) or one of the scenarios provided. For your first game we recommend playing the introductory scenario (see right).
Players choose who will play the Uprising and who will play the Imperium of Earth. If they can't reach agreement, whoever broke a law most recently plays the Uprising.
Create a play area approximately 90cm (3 feet) square.
Introductory scenario
Fleets
The Uprising player takes two destroyers and a fighter wing.
The Imperium player takes a carrier, with two fighter wings and a bomber wing to launch during the game.
Special rules
None
Objectives
The first player to destroy their opponent's ships wins.
Players take the ships and corresponding ship dashboards for their fleet. Place your ships so that their back edges are 5 cm (2 inches) from the edge of the play area nearest you and the ship dashboards nearby (but outside of the play area).
Fill the ship dashboards (see page 5) with white shield cubes, grey hull cubes (dreadnoughts only), and discs representing the ship locations.
Place 2 fighter wings next to each dreadnought dashboard, and 2 fighter wings & 1 bomber wing next to each carrier dashboard. Each wing contains 3 Pieces representing a third of the full wing. When the wing is damaged, it will lose a piece to show its reduced strength.
Play
Play takes place over a number of rounds. During each round players take turns to activate one of their ships and then perform two actions representing movement, combat, and repairs. The player with the most ships in play starts the first round. If tied, the Uprising player starts the game. In subsequent rounds the player who most recently activated a ship will go second.
Playing a round
At the beginning of each round place a purple activation cube on each capital ship and wing (collectively Ships) in play. Once all ships have an activation cube on them, play begins.
On your turn you choose one of your ships with an activation cube on it and activate it by removing the cube and performing two different actions with that ship (see Ship actions below). Once those two actions are complete it is your opponent's turn to activate one of their ships. If your opponent has no more ships with activation cubes on them, keep taking turns until all of your ships have been activated.
Once all ships have been activated, the round ends. Begin a new round by placing activation cubes back on each ship in play.
Ship actions
When you activate a ship you choose one or two different actions for it to perform from: move, fire weapons, recharge shields, launch a wing, and repair damage.
Wings
Wings can only move and fire weapons, the other actions are not available to them. You can move and fire in either order.
- Move them by flicking the surfaces highlighted in blue below, and/or,
- Fire one die per remaining piece (see Combat on page 6)
Fighter wings
- Fires 1 D10 / piece
- Flick anywhere around the outside to move
Bomber wings
- Fires 1 D6 / piece
- Flick the rear surfaces to move
Ship dashboards
Targeting numbers
These tell you which location is damaged when a die (D10 or D6) hits your ship.
Disc spaces
Place 1-3 discs of the corresponding colour on these spaces at the beginning of the game. As long as at least one disc remains you can use the action associated with the location.
Shield spaces
Place a white cube on each of these spaces at the beginning of the game. Damage is dealt to shields before locations.
Hull spaces
Place a grey cube on each of these spaces at the beginning of the game. Damage is dealt to the hull after locations.
Capital ships
The actions available to a capital ship are shown on the right hand side of its dashboard. Each action corresponds to a ship location and can be used as long as the location has at least one disc on the space representing the location on the ship's dashboard:
- Shield Generator: refill 1 (destroyer and carrier) or 2 (dreadnought) of the shield spaces on the ship dashboard with white shield cubes;
- Defence Grid: Fire one D10 per remaining red disc on the Defence Grid location of the ship dashboard (see Combat on page 6);
- Nukes: Fire one D6 per remaining black disc on the Nukes location on the ship dashboard (see Combat on page 6);
- Fighter Bays: Launch a fighter wing (see Launching wings below);
- Bomber Bay: Launch a bomber wing (see Launching wings below);
- Engines: Move the ship by flicking it on one of the sides highlighted in blue on the ship dashboard;
- Engineering: Return a disc that has been removed from the ship dashboard to its original location, or return a grey hull cube to the ship dashboard. Note: The Engineering location never has a disc on it, but can always be chosen as one of your two actions.
Launching wings
If the Fighter/Bomber Bay location has a disc on it and there is at least one corresponding wing next to the ship dashboard, you may launch one of those wings. Take the wing and place it touching the activated ship with an activation cube on top of it - it can be activated this round.
Routed
If a ship leaves the play area during its move, as a result of a ramming action, or it is knocked out by a die during combat, the ship has fled the field of battle and cannot return - it counts as destroyed.
Ramming & collisions
If two ships collide without declaring a ramming action, no damage is dealt and the active player's turn ends immediately due to taking evasive maneouvres. If an inactive ship is knocked out of the play area in this manner, return it to the play area, 5 cm (2 inches) from the edge as near as possible to where it left, facing a direction chosen by its owner.
Capital ships can be rammed by other capital ships only - not by wings. Ramming is a last ditch action - a ship can only ram if it has 0, 1, or 2 discs remaining.
Before moving, the active player must declare a ramming attempt and the target. If the active ship hits its intended target the active ship is destroyed and the damage dealt to the target is as follows:
- If the target had at least one shield cube remaining, it loses all shield cubes and the disc from its Shield Generator location,
- otherwise the target takes damage according to the size (see page 11) of the active ship:
- small ships roll a D6 and do two damage to the resulting location
- large ships roll two D6 and do two damage to each resulting location
- huge ships roll three D6 and do two damage to each resulting location
Combat
Often during the game you will attack an opponent's ship using either short-range lasers (represented by D10s) or nukes (D6s). To attack, place the die anywhere on top of the active ship and then flick the die with your finger towards its intended target. The die will damage the first ship it hits, whether yours or your opponent's, unless the die leaves the play area. If a ship is moved when hit by the die, leave it in its new position - it veered off course taking evasive action.
If both players agree that the ships are so close that the attacker cannot miss, assume a hit and roll the die outside of the play area to determine the result.
If the die leaves the play area after hitting one or more ships, the shot was wild and nothing happens - ships hit by the die suffer no damage and are returned to the positions they were in before they were hit.
Hitting fighters and bombers
Wings are damaged regardless of the die result. Remove the outermost fighter piece or the defender's choice of front or back bomber piece. Removed pieces cannot be reused this game. When the third piece is removed the wing is destroyed (fighters and bombers both have three hits).
Hitting capital ships
For each point of damage a capital ship receives, work through this list in order:
- If the shields are up (there is at least one white cube on its dashboard), remove a white cube from the dashboard regardless of the die result.
- If the ship's shields were down, the die result is important:
- 7+: the hit has been absorbed by the ship's armour and nothing happens.
- 1-6:
- If there are one or more discs on the ship's dashboard on the location corresponding to the die result, remove one disc.
- If there were no discs, remove a grey hull cube from the dashboard (only dreadnoughts have hull cubes).
- If there were no hull cubes on the dashboard, the ship is destroyed - remove it from the play area and flip its dashboard face down.
Once the last disc has been removed from a location, that location has been damaged and the ship cannot perform that location's action until the location is repaired by activating the Engineering location.
The damage sequence, illustrated on a dreadnought: 1. Remove a shield cube if present. 2. Remove disc corresponding to the die result, if present. 3. Remove a hull cube, if present. 4. Destroyed! Flip dashboard and remove ship from play - "Contact Lost".
Nukes are particularly powerful weapons: they roll straighter so can be used at longer range, always damage capital ships and inflict double damage. If a nuke hits a ship, after calculating and performing the damage as described above, immediately deal a second point of damage to the same location (i.e. work through the list above a second time with the same die result). Similarly, nukes will damage wings twice (removing two pieces).
Combat example
It is Todd's (The Uprising) turn. He activates his fighter wing and moves it into a better firing position (1) before firing at the ISS Fury whose shields are down. The first shot (2) misses, hitting nothing, the next (3) hits the Fury but continues off the play area, so has no effect. The final shot (4) hits the Fury - with no shields left the die result, 6, means that the Fury's engines are damaged. The blue disc is removed from its dashboard (5) - the Fury cannot move until the Engineering action is used to repair its engines.
Ellie (The Imperium) chooses to activate the ISS Fury next. She can't move, but rather than repair her engines she chooses to use her Shield Generator to partially recharge her shields (1) and then fire twice at the fighters (one of the discs has already been removed from the Fury's Defence Grid, so it only has two shots). The first shot (2) misses the fighters and proceeds to hit the ISS Nova - her own ship! - which loses a shield cube (3). The second shot (4) hits the fighters, removing a piece from them (5).
Game end
The game ends when either the scenario conditions are met or all of one player's ships have either been destroyed or left the play area. The winner is the player who first meets their scenario win condition, or who has ships left in play.
Sometimes you will end up in a situation where at the end of the game each player has a roughly equivalent ship remaining. Rather than agree a draw or fight a protracted end game, you may wish instead to use the tournament 'Exhaustion' rule described below.
Exhaustion
Once you have only one capital ship remaining, your ship is fatigued. After suffering heavy losses, morale has plummeted and the ship has little energy, ammunition, and few spare parts remaining.
Once you are down to one final capital ship (and no remaining wings or neutral pieces), your final ship is fatigued. Place four counters on the engineering space on its dashboard. For Pirates (from Box of Flicks 2, or the Box of Pirate Flicks) or Hive (from Xeno Wars) ships, place them on the corresponding Salvage Drones or Heal location.
Every time your ship recharges its shields using the Shield Generator location or repairs a location using the Engineering (or Salvage Drones/Heal) location, remove one of these counters.
Once there are no counters remaining on the ship's Engineering or equivalent location, the ship is exhausted.
Exhausted ships can no longer repair systems, nor recharge shields. They can take two actions as normal with the remaining systems though, until those systems have their final discs removed.
Obstacles
Scenery within the game is considered an obstacle. Obstacles can be mobile or static and also permanent or temporary.
Static obstacles cannot be moved. Static obstacles moved by a die, ship or player are returned to their original position. Examples: neutron stars, planets, moons, nebula, rift tokens.
Mobile obstacles can be moved. Mobile obstacles moved by a die or a ship are left in their new location. If a player accidentally moves a mobile obstacle, return it to its previous location. Examples: asteroids, wreckage, comets.
Permanent obstacles cannot be damaged. A ship that hits a permanent obstacle is instantly destroyed. Dice that hit a permanent obstacle first do no further damage to other things they hit. Permanent obstacles cannot be damaged by area effects such as mines. Examples: neutron stars, planets, moons, nebula, rift tokens, comets.
Temporary obstacles can be damaged. If a ship collides with a temporary obstacle, the temporary obstacle takes two damage — usually denoted by removing pieces from play. The ship's turn ends and the ship either:
- If the shields are up (there is at least one shield cube on its dashboard), the ship loses all shield cubes and the disc from the Shield Generator location.
- Otherwise, roll a D6 and the ship takes two damage to that location as if hit by nukes.
If a die hits a temporary obstacle first, it deals damage to the temporary obstacle as normal, and then does no further damage to anything else it hits. Temporary obstacles are damaged by area effects such as mines. Examples: asteroids, wreckage markers.
Many of the expansions for FlickFleet introduce scenery pieces such as asteroids, comets, nebula and wreckage, but you can also use coins, bowls, and a variety of other household items to represent obstacles. Adding obstacles makes for more tactical games as you can use them for cover and to make traversing the play area more dangerous.
Ship definitions
Ship sizes
Capital ships are categorised by their cost as shown on the dashboard. Wings (fighters and bombers) do not fit into these categories.
- Small ships are those that cost 1-20 points
- Large ships are those that cost 21-40 points
- Huge ships are those that cost more than 40 points (currently none!)
Fighter wing (6 points)
Movement: Flick in any direction Hits: 3 (1 per piece) Lasers: 1 D10 per remaining piece
Bomber wing (8 points)
Movement: Flick from behind Hits: 3 (1 per piece) Nukes: 1 D6 per remaining piece
Destroyers (10 points)
Small Shield cubes: 2, Hull cubes: 0
Locations:
- No number: Engineering: Repair a damaged location
- 1, 2, 3: Defence Grid: Flick fire one D10 attack die per remaining disc
- 4: Weak spot: The ship is instantly destroyed
- 5: Shield Generator: Restock 1 white shield cube
- 6: Engines: Move by flicking one of the back three edges
Carriers (5 points without fighters and bombers, 25 points with fighters and bombers)
Large Shield cubes: 2, Hull cubes: 0 Wings: 2 fighter wings and 1 bomber wing
Locations:
- No number: Engineering: Repair a damaged location
- 1: Defence Grid: Flick fire a D10 attack die
- 2, 3: Fighter Bay: Launch a single fighter wing (two in total)
- 4: Bomber Bay: Launch a single bomber wing (one in total)
- 5: Shield Generator: Restock 1 white shield cube
- 6: Engines: Move by flicking one of the back three edges
Dreadnoughts (23 points without fighters, 35 points with fighters)
Large Shield cubes: 4, Hull cubes: 3 Wings: 2 fighter wings
Locations:
- No number: Engineering: Repair a damaged location or return a hull cube.
- 1: Nukes: Flick fire a D6 attack die
- 2, 3: Defence Grid: Flick fire one D10 attack die per remaining disc
- 4: Fighter Bay: Launch a single fighter wing (two in total)
- 5: Shield Generator: Restock 2 white shield cubes
- 6: Engines: Move by flicking one of the back three edges
There are many other types of ships available for FlickFleet in the expansions that are available on our website. You can find the descriptions of the other ship classes in the rulebooks for the expansions which include them. All of the expansion rulebooks are freely available to download from our website.
Fair battles
There are two ways to play FlickFleet - fair battles and scenarios. We've included several scenarios in the rulebook, starting on page 14. You can get more in the expansion rulebooks (freely downloadable from our website), the FlickFleet page on our website, and the Scenario Booklet, which also provides a number of suggested fair battle fleets.
Fleets
If you want to play a fair battle, players first agree a points total for the game (30-40 is a good number for your first game).
| Ship | Points value |
|---|---|
| Fighter wing | 6 |
| Bomber wing | 8 |
| Destroyer | 10 |
| Carrier | 25 |
| Dreadnought | 35 |
Note: carrier and dreadnought points above include a full complement of fighters and bombers.
Players then choose ships from their supply that add up to that points total.
Setup
The start player is the player with the most ships, or the Uprising player if tied.
Players take it in turns, starting with the start player, to place a ship within 5cm of the edge of the play area nearest to them until all ships are placed.
Special rules
You may agree to play with some obstacles (see page 10). If you do so, place all the obstacles and the player going second chooses which side they want to play from.
Objectives
The first player to destroy all their opponent's ships is the winner.
Scenarios
Target practice
Time to learn how to fly those things. We're going to send you cadets out on a firing range. Whoever bags the most kills will be Top Gun for the week. Fewest is on latrine duty.
Fleets
Both players start the game with the centre disc of an Imperium fighter wing. This means they have one hit, and fire one D10.
Setup
Players set up their fighter disc in opposite corners of the play area about 5cm (2") from both edges. Place the pieces from four Uprising fighter wings separately as shown in the diagram. These are the obstacles. Place five separate Uprising bomber pieces as shown in the diagram, these are the drones on the target range. Your aim is to destroy more of them than your opponent.
Special rules
Roll a die to choose a start player. That player's first turn is to move a drone by flicking. After that, players take it in turns to fire and/or move their fighter and then finally move one of the drones. If a drone crashes into an obstacle both are undamaged. If your die hits an obstacle first, nothing happens.
When you successfully shoot a drone, keep the piece you remove in your score pile.
Objectives
The first player to destroy (by shooting) three drones is the winner. A player loses immediately if:
- their fighter leaves the table,
- their fighter collides with anything,
- they move a drone off the table,
- or if they shoot (either accidentally or intentionally) their opponent.
In gravity's shadow
A small Uprising fleet has been spotted cowering in the outskirts of the Gravit-E neutron star system. Dispatch the ISS Annihilator to cleanse them from the sector.
Fleets
The Imperium player has a single dreadnought (with two fighter wings ready to launch).
The Uprising player has a carrier (with two fighter wings and a bomber wing ready to launch) plus a destroyer.
Setup
The Uprising player sets up first with the rear edge of their ships anywhere 5cm (2") from their edge of the play area. Then the Imperium player sets up their dreadnought anywhere with its rear edge 5cm (2") from their edge of the play area. Additionally, place a circular object approximately 2.5cm (1") in diameter (such as a large coin) in the centre of the table to represent the neutron star.
Special rules
After each ship has finished its turn, move it in a straight line 5cm (2") directly towards the neutron star. If you don't have a ruler handy, the distance from the outside edge of the largest piece of a fighter wing to the opposite inside edge is 5cm. If it collides with another ship then resolve the collision as a ramming attempt (see Ramming and Collisions on page 6).
Any ship that hits the neutron star is instantly destroyed and if a die hits the neutron star before it hits a ship nothing happens (return any ships moved by the die to where they started before the shot was fired).
Objectives
The first player to destroy their opponent's ships wins.
Get them while the training wheels are still on
We've heard the Imperium are sending their new Cataclysm class dreadnought on a training mission. This is our chance to inflict a massive setback upon them, before it starts wreaking havoc across the sector.
Fleets
Initially, the Imperium player has a single dreadnought (with two fighter wings ready to launch) and will receive two destroyers as reinforcements at the beginning of turn 4.
The Uprising player has three fighter wings and two bomber wings.
Setup
The Imperium player sets up first with the rear edge of their dreadnought anywhere 5cm (2") from their edge of the play area. Then the Uprising player sets up their fighters and bombers anywhere with their rear edges 5cm (2") from their edge of the play area.
Special rules
The dreadnought is a prototype of a powerful new model. It can launch both its fighter wings as a single action, and has 2 discs (and hence two shots) on its Nukes location and 3 discs (and hence three shots) on its Defence Grid location.
At the start of round four, the Imperium player adds two destroyers to the play area, with their rear edges 5cm (2") from their edge of the play area. You can use spare components from the box to keep track of the current round.
Objectives
If the Uprising destroy the dreadnought, they have won, otherwise the Imperium win.
Flight before the firestorm
Our supply base on Fray-T has been betrayed! We need to evacuate the personnel and materiel before the Sector fleet can destroy the base.
Fleets
The Imperium player starts with no ships on the board, but will need four destroyers.
The Uprising player starts with a destroyer and two fighter wings, and will additionally need two carrier models representing freighters (without their fighters and bombers).
Setup
Place a circular object approximately 15cm (6") (such as a small plate or bowl, rim down) in the centre of the play area to represent the moon Fray-T. The Uprising player places their fighter wings and destroyer approximately 2.5cm (1") from the edge of the moon.
Special rules
At the beginning of any round the Uprising player may add one freighter (represented by a carrier model with an activation cube on it) to the play area with its rear edge 2.5cm (1") from the moon. The ship dashboards for these freighters have no Defence Grid, Fighter Bays or Bomber Bay discs and only 1 white shield cube (maximum).
At the start of rounds 1, 3, 4, and 5 (but after the Uprising player has added their freighter if they chose to) the Imperium player adds a destroyer to the play area with its rear edge 5cm (2") from any edge of the play area. These destroyers enter play with activation cubes on them.
Any ship that hits the moon is instantly destroyed and if a die hits the moon before it hits a ship nothing happens (return any ships moved by the die to where they started before the shot was fired).
The Uprising player is limited to two freighters in play at once (due to the poorly staffed launch complex restricting launch frequency).
The aim of the Uprising player is to move these pieces off the edge of the play area (where they count as in hyperspace, not destroyed). Unfortunately a hyperspace jump from low orbit would place too much strain on the ship's hull, tearing it apart, so the ship must move once (away from the moon) without leaving the play area before, on a subsequent turn, moving off the play area.
Objectives
The Uprising player needs to successfully get three of the four freighters into hyperspace (off the play area) to win. As soon as two freighters are destroyed the Imperium player wins.
Want more scenarios?
You can find more scenarios at: www.eurydicegames.co.uk/games/flickfleet/scenarios.html
Dedication
In memory of Ben Drake, Jane Tomlinson and Andrew Burgin.
Acknowledgements
Box and rulebook illustration by R H Aidley.
A huge thank you to everyone who has helped by reviewing, playtesting or otherwise providing input on FlickFleet, especially: Matt Goldsmith-Davis, Paul Thompson, Dale Rowe, Richard Shelvey, Chris Brown, Chris Preston, Ian Reah, Mike Broughton, Olly Burnett-Hall, Amo Deo, Ian Morns, Wilka Hudson, Mal Ross, Paul Henesey, Gavin Hope, Ellie Willcox, Finlay and Clementine Ensor, David and Nicola Zendle, Jack Eddy, Iain Chantler, Moe Tousignant, and Alex Bardy.
Thanks to Rob Harper for proof-reading the rulebook, Paul Grogan of Gaming Rules! for additional suggestions, and Mark Adams for his input on the end game rules.
Huge thanks also to the fans of the game who have contributed ships, scenery and extra rules ideas in the various FlickFleet expansions.
© 2019-2024 Eurydice Games Ltd.
Quick Reference
Setup
Choose either a fair battle (page 13) or a pre-defined scenario (pages 3, 14-18 or from www.eurydicegames.co.uk/games/flickfleet/scenarios.html).
Largest fleet is start player, the Uprising player starts if tied.
Turn
Place a purple activation cube on every ship. Players take turns to activate a ship: remove the purple cube and then take two different actions.
Actions available are those listed on the ship's dashboard whose locations still have at least one disc on them.
Fighter and bomber wings may move and/or fire one die per remaining piece.
Combat
Place a die of the appropriate type on top of the firing ship. Flick it towards the target. First ship hit is damaged unless the die subsequently leaves the play area, when nothing happens.
Fighters and bombers lose a piece regardless of the die result. Capital ships first lose shield cubes (regardless of die result), then discs corresponding to die result, then hull cubes (dreadnought only) - see chart on page 7.
Ships that move out of the play area (or a hit out by a die) are considered destroyed.
Ramming & collisions
If two ships collide unintentionally no damage is dealt, but the active player's turn ends immediately due to taking evasive maneouvres (see Ramming and collisions on page 6).
Slow-moving capital ships can be rammed. Before moving, the active player must declare a ramming attempt and the target. If the active ship hits its intended target the active ship is destroyed and the damage dealt to the target is described in Ramming and collisions on page 6.
Game end
Winner is first person to meet the scenario conditions or destroy all of their opponent's ships.