Mag·Blast (Second Edition) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Object of the Game
  • The Cards
• Zones and Fleets
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • 1. Discard
  • 2. Draw Action Cards
  • 3. Draw Ship Cards
  • 4. Movement
  • 5. Play Action Cards
• Game End
• Playing with 5-8 Players
• Special Ship Types
• Game Cards
  • Upgrades
  • Events
  • Criticals
  • Squadrons
• Flagship Cards
• Credits

Introduction

Object of the Game

The object of the game is to destroy your opponents' flagships. When your flagship is the only one left in the game, you win!

The Cards

There are three types of cards in Mag•Blast: Flagships, Ships, and Action cards.

Flagships

There are 10 Flagships in the game, each of which represents a galactic empire ready for war. You begin the game with one Flagship in the center of your fleet. Each Flagship has a hull value and four color-coded zones.

1. Hull Value: This number represents the Flagship's strength and integrity. If a Flagship receives damage equal to or greater than its hull value, it is destroyed. (Damage is explained below.) If your Flagship is destroyed, you are eliminated from the game.
2. Zones: Your Flagship is always the center of your fleet. As you put Ships into play, you must put them into one of four color-coded zones around your Flagship. (Zones and their significance are explained below.)
3. Special Ability: Each Flagship has a special ability, which is detailed on the Flagship itself.

Ships

These cards represent the mighty vessels of war that will defend your Flagship while attacking your opponents' Flagships. You begin the game with four Ships, one in each zone. Each ship has a movement value, a hull value, and one or more weapon icons.

1. Movement Value: This is the number of zones the Ship can move during your Movement Phase.
2. Hull Value: This number represents the Ship's strength and integrity. If a Ship receives damage equal to or greater than its hull value, it is destroyed. (Damage is explained below.)
3. Weapon Icons: These icons indicate which blasts the ship can fire.
4. Ship Type: This text indicates the Ship's type.

Action Cards

These cards represent the maneuvers, attacks, and events your fleet can execute. There are two types of Action cards: blasts (which are red) and game cards (which are blue).

Blasts

You can attack your opponents' fleets by "firing" blasts. Each blast represents a "shot" from one of your Ships to an opponent's Ship or Flagship. Each blast has a icon requirement and a damage value. Some blasts also have one or more resource icons.

1. Icon Requirement: In order to fire this blast from a Ship, the Ship must have this weapon icon.
2. Damage Value: This is how much damage the blast inflicts on its target. If a Ship or Flagship receives damage equal to or greater than its hull value, it is destroyed.
3. Resource Icons: Resource icons represent your fleet's resources, which can be exchanged for reinforcements, as explained in the Draw Ship Cards phase later in these rules.

Game Cards

These cards represent your fleet's special maneuvers and actions. Each of these cards is explained in detail later in these rules.

Zones and Fleets

Your Flagship and all the Ships in all your zones are collectively called your fleet. Your Flagship is always the center of your fleet. Each of your Ships is placed in one of the four color-coded zones around your Flagship. The top of your Flagship is the yellow zone, the right is the green zone, the bottom is the red zone, and the left is the blue zone. An empty zone is a zone with no Ships in it.

A Ship can only fire a blast at an enemy Ship in the same zone. For example, if you have a Ship in your blue zone, it can only fire blasts at Ships in your opponents' blue zones.

A Ship can only fire a blast at an enemy Flagship if the enemy fleet has a corresponding empty zone. For example, if you have a Ship in the yellow zone, it can only fire at an opponent's Flagship if that opponent has no ships in his yellow zone. For another example, if your fleet has no Ships in the red or blue zones, then your Flagship may be attacked by your opponents' Ships in either of those zones.

Example 1: Below is an example of a player's fleet after his first turn. The player has reinforced his blue zone with a second Ship, and his Ship in the green zone has received a blast. (Yellow Zone, Green Zone, Blue Zone, and Red Zone surround the Flagship.)

Example 2: The player's yellow and green zones are empty. His opponents' Ships in those zones may now fire on his Flagship.

Setup

1. Shuffle the Flagship, Ship, and Action cards into three separate decks. The deck of Ship cards is the shipyard, and the deck of Action cards is the action deck.
2. Each player draws a Flagship. Any remaining Flagships are removed from the game. Place your Flagship face-up in front of you in the center of your playing area. (There should be enough room between the players that you can each comfortably manage your own fleet.)
3. Each player draws four Ships from the shipyard and places them, face-down, around his Flagship so there is one Ship in each zone. When all the Ships have been placed, the players turn their Ships face-up.
4. Each player draws five Action cards from the action deck. You may look at your hand of Action cards, but your opponents may not.
5. Each player adds up the total hull values of all his Ships. The player with the lowest hull value total takes the first turn. (Ties are broken randomly.)

Playing the Game

Below are the rules for playing Mag•Blast with 2-4 players. If you are playing with 5-8 players, see the section at the end of these rules.

Your turn is divided into five phases:

1. Discard
2. Draw Action Cards
3. Draw Ship Cards
4. Movement
5. Play Action Cards

After you have completed all five phases, declare that your turn is over, and the player to your left now takes his turn. Play passes clockwise in this manner until the game ends.

1. Discard

During this phase, you may discard as many cards as you wish from your hand. You may not discard during your first turn.

2. Draw Action Cards

During this phase, you may draw Action cards from the action deck until you have five cards in your hand. If you already have five or more cards in your hand, skip this step. If the action deck ever runs out of cards, simply reshuffle the discarded Action cards to form a new action deck.

3. Draw Ship Cards

During this phase, you may draw a Ship from the shipyard and put it into play in any one of your fleet's four zones. You may only do so, however, if you meet one of two requirements:

Play "Reinforcements"

If you have the "Reinforcements" Action card in your hand, you may play it during this phase, then draw a Ship from the shipyard and put it into play in any one of your fleet's four zones.

Exchange Resource Icons

Some Action cards have one or more resource icons printed on them. There are three different icons representing three different types of resources (A, B, and C). You may draw and play a Ship during this phase if you discard from your hand either:

• Three resources of one type (for example, three "A" resources), or
• One resource of each type (one "A," one "B," and one "C" resource).

Note that some Action cards have more than one resource on them. You may draw multiple Ships if you discard enough resources (for example, three "A" resources and three "B" resources).

Example: Four of Tod's five cards have resource icons on them. One of these has an "A" resource, one has a "C" resource, and two have "B" resources. During his Draw Ship Cards phase, Tod discards one "A" card, one "B" card, and one "C" card in order to draw a Ship. He draws a Ship, which he puts in his blue zone.

Note that you may both play the "Reinforcements" Action card and exchange resource icons if your have the necessary cards in your hand. You may not have more than three Ships in any one zone, however, so you cannot draw Ship cards if you already have 12 Ships in play.

If the Shipyard has no more cards in it, reshuffle the discarded Ships into a new Shipyard.

4. Movement

During this phase, each of your Ships may move a number of zones equal to its movement value. For example, a Ship with a movement value of 1 may move from the yellow zone to the green zone, and a Ship with a movement value of 2 may move from the yellow zone to the red zone. Note that some Ships have a movement value of 0, and cannot move. At the end of your movement phase, you may not have more than three Ships in any one zone.

Note: Your Flagship is always the center of your fleet and does not move.

There are two reasons you would want to move a Ship:

• Because your Flagship can only be attacked if you have empty zones, you may move your Ships to a zone that's empty or occupied by a heavily damaged Ship.
• If you see an opportunity to damage an opponent's fleet, you may move your Ships to concentrate your attacks in those zones.

5. Play Action Cards

During this phase, you may play Action cards from your hand. You may play as many cards as you are able. The most numerous and important Action cards are the red blast cards.

Firing Blasts

When you play a blast card, we say you are "firing" the blast from one of your Ships at an opponent's Ship or Flagship. There are three steps to firing a blast an an opponent's fleet.

1. Choose a Firing Ship

   You must choose which of your Ships will fire the blast based on its weapon icons, its zone, and whether or not it has already fired. Note: Your Flagship can never fire blasts.

   Weapon Icons: There are three different types of blasts (lasers, beams, and mag-blasts), each with its own required weapon icon. In order for a Ship to fire a blast, it must have the icon required by the blast. For example, you can only fire a "beam" blast from a Ship with the "beam" icon.

   Zone: A Ship can only fire a blast at an enemy Ship in the same zone, and can only fire a blast at an enemy Flagship if the enemy fleet's corresponding zone is empty. (See "Zones and Fleets" above for details.)

   Already Fired: A Ship can only fire one blast per turn. If it has already fired this turn, it cannot fire again.

2. Fire the Blast

   Because this is a game of "screaming space battles," there is one more essential rule for firing blasts. When you fire a blast, you must make some sort of sound effect (such as "Bzzzat!" or "Blam!" or "Kapow!"). If you forget to do this, your blast misses its target and is discarded without effect. (It is recommended that the player with the worst sound effects shuffles and deals the cards in the next game.)

   When you fire a blast, place the blast card under the target Ship or Flagship, indicating that the target has received the damage marked on the blast card.

3. Apply the Damage

   Every blast card has a damage value. As soon as a Ship or Flagship accumulates an amount of damage equal to or greater than its hull value, it is immediately destroyed. Destroyed Ships are discarded into the Ship discard pile. If a Flagship is destroyed, its player is eliminated from the game. That player's cards and Ships are discarded.

   Example: It is Peter's turn. He has two Ships in his blue zone, and his opponent Jenny has one Ship in her blue zone. Peter fires a beam blast (with a damage value of 3) from his first Ship at Jenny's Ship, which has a hull value of 2. Jenny's Ship is immediately destroyed. Her blue zone is now empty. From his second ship, Peter fires a mag blast at Jenny's Flagship. Jenny has no way to avoid the blast, so she places the blast card beneath her Flagship to show that it has received 5 damage.

Playing Game Cards

There are four types of blue game cards you can also play during this phase: upgrades, events, criticals, and squadrons. The specific details of each card are described at the end of these rules.

Turn End

After you have completed all five phases, declare that your turn is over. The player to your left now takes his turn.

Game End

When a Flagship is destroyed, its player is eliminated from the game. That player's cards and Ships are discarded.

The game ends when only one player has a Flagship in play. That player is the winner.

Playing with 5-8 Players

In games with more than four players, you may only attack the players on either side of you. That is, you may only fire blasts and launch squadrons at the fleets of the players to your immediate left and immediate right. You may still play "Minefield" on other players, and use your Flagship abilities against them.

Special Ship Types

There are two special types of Ships: carriers and minesweepers.

Minesweeper: While you have this Ship in your fleet, your opponents may not play "Minefield" on your fleet.

Carrier: While this Ship is in your fleet, you may launch fighter and bomber action cards. (For details, see "Squadrons" below.)

Game Cards

Below is an explanation of each game card.

Upgrades

You may only play upgrades on your own Ships (but not your Flagship) during your Play Action Cards phase. An upgrade improves the Ship it is played on. When you play an upgrade, it is placed under the Ship you play it on, and is discarded when that Ship is destroyed.

Long-Range Cannon: This Ship can fire its blasts at Ships one zone away from its own. That is, a Ship in the yellow zone could fire a blast at a Ship in the yellow, blue, or green zone. This upgrade does not affect firing at Flagships.

EMP Cannon: When this Ship successfully fires a blast at an opponent's Ship, you may discard one random card from that opponent's hand.

Point Defense Turret: Fighters and bombers may not attack this Ship or any other Ships you have in this Ship's zone. For example, if you play this upgrade on a Ship in the blue zone, none of your Ships in the blue zone can be attacked by fighters and bombers.

Squadron Bay: This Ship may launch fighters and bombers as if it were a carrier.

Secondary Cannon: This Ship may fire two blasts per turn.

Security Force: Your opponents may not play "Boarding" on this Ship.

Events

While most Action cards can only be played during your Play Action Cards phase, some events can be played during other phases of your turn, or even during your opponent's turn.

Reinforcement: You may only play this card during your Draw Ship Cards phase. When you play this card, draw a Ship from the shipyard and put it into play in any one of your fleet's four zones.

Minefield: You may only play this card during your Play Action Cards phase. This card is played on your opponent's entire fleet (not just a single Ship or Flagship). Until the beginning of your next turn, that opponent's Ships may not move, fire blasts, or launch squadrons (though that opponent still takes a turn). At the beginning of your next turn, this card is discarded.

Asteroids: You may only play this card during your Play Action Cards phase. This card is played on either your fleet or an opponent's fleet (not just a single Ship or Flagship). Until the beginning of your next turn, the fleet on which the card was played cannot be the target of blasts or squadrons (though the fleet's player still takes a turn). At the beginning of your next turn, this card is discarded.

Spacedock: You may only play this card during your Play Action Cards phase. Play this card on a Ship in your fleet (not your Flagship) to immediately remove and discard the indicated number (one or two) of blast cards from that Ship.

Strategic Allocation: You may only play this card during your Play Action Cards phase. Play this card to immediately draw four Action cards from the action deck. (This may increase your hand to more than five cards.)

Temporal Flux: You may play this card immediately after an opponent plays any Action card except another "Temporal Flux." The effect of the card is canceled, and both cards are discarded. Note that if you cancel a Ship's blast with "Temporal Flux," that Ship may not fire again because it has already fired once.

Evasive Action: You may play this card immediately after an opponent's Ship fires at a Ship or Flagship in your fleet. The blast is canceled (it misses), and both cards are discarded. Note that if you cancel a Ship's blast with "Evasive Action," that Ship may not fire again because it has already fired once. You may also play this card immediately after an opponent's Ship launches a squadron at your fleet. The damage from the squadron is canceled, but the squadron returns to its owner's hand at the end of the turn. You may also play this card immediately after an opponent plays a "Direct Hit" to cancel and discard the "Direct Hit."

Direct Hit: You may only play this card immediately after successfully hitting an opponent's Ship or Flagship with a blast. Playing "Direct Hit" on that Ship or Flagship allows you to do one of two things:

• Your Ship that successfully hit your opponent's Ship or Flagship may fire a second blast at the same target.
• You may play a critical Action card.

Example: On Jenny's turn, she fires a beam blast (3 damage) from her Ship to Peter's Ship (which has a hull value of 10). Peter has no way to avoid the blast, so he takes the damage. Jenny plays "Direct Hit." She has no criticals in her hand, but she does have another beam blast, so she fires again from the same ship, and gives Peter's Ship another 3 damage. Peter's Ship takes a total of 6 damage from Jenny's assault.

Criticals

Criticals are cards that do extra damage to your opponent's fleet. You may only play a critical card immediately after playing the "Direct Hit" event card.

Boarding: When you play this card, immediately steal the Ship on which you just played "Direct Hit." Take the Ship from your opponent's fleet and put it into any one of your fleet's four zones. It is now your Ship. Any blast damage or upgrades on the Ship remain with the Ship. You may not fire a blast from this Ship the turn in which it was boarded. You may not play this card on a Flagship.

Catastrophic Damage: When you play this card, the Ship or Flagship on which you just played "Direct Hit" is immediately destroyed, regardless of its hull value and blast damage. You may play this card on a Flagship.

Bridge Hit: When you play this card, the player on whose fleet you just played "Direct Hit" must immediately discard all the cards from his hand.

Squadrons

There are two types of squadron cards, fighters and bombers. When you play a squadron card, we say you are "launching" the squadron from one of your Ships at an opponent's Ship or Flagship. You may only launch squadrons from a carrier in your fleet. If you have a carrier in your fleet, it may launch as many squadrons as you wish.

Just like blasts, squadrons have damage values. Fighters have a damage value of 2 and bombers have a damage value of 4.

Fighters: Launching a fighter is similar to firing a blast, with the following exceptions:

• You may launch a fighter at a Ship in any zone, regardless of which zone your carrier is in.
• You may only launch a fighter at a Flagship if that Flagship's fleet has at least one empty zone.
• At the end of your turn, fighters return to your hand.
• Damage from fighters is temporary. When they return to your hand, the damage they inflict is canceled. Therefore, fighter attacks are only useful if the damage is sufficient to destroy the target during the current turn. (Fighters are very useful for "finishing off" a damaged Ship.)
• You may launch as many fighters as you have in your hand.

Bombers: Launching a bomber is the same as launching a fighter, with one exception: A carrier can only launch a bomber at an enemy Ship in the same zone, and can only launch a bomber at an enemy Flagship if the enemy fleet's corresponding zone is empty. (Bombers are restricted by zone like blasts are.)

Defending Against Squadrons: If an opponent launches a squadron at your fleet, there are three ways you can defend yourself:

• Playing "Temporal Flux" will cancel and discard one squadron card.
• Playing "Evasive Action" will cancel the damage of one squadron card (though the card still returns to its player's hand at the end of the turn).
• If you have your own carrier in play, you may play fighters from your hand. For each fighter you play, you may discard one of your opponent's attacking squadrons. If the attacking squadron is a fighter, the fighter you played is also discarded. If the attacking squadron is a bomber, then your fighter will return to your hand at the end of the turn.

Example: Tod has a carrier in his blue zone and two fighters in his hand. He sends his two fighters against Jenny's Ship (with a hull value of 3) in the yellow zone. Jenny also has a carrier, and a fighter in her hand. Jenny plays her fighter, which is discarded along with one of Tod's fighters. Tod's remaining fighter does 2 damage, which is not enough to destroy Jenny's Ship. At the end of Tod's turn, he takes his lone fighter back into his hand, and Jenny's Ship is unharmed.

Flagship Cards

Below is an explanation of each Flagship card.

Xxcha: Two times per game, you may steal three random action cards from another player at any time. You can steal an opponent's cards during his turn, but not after he plays them.

Hacan: During your Draw Action Cards phase, you draw up to six cards instead of five.

Sol: Three times per game, during your turn, you may draw a Ship from the shipyard and put it into your fleet at any time.

Letnev: During your Draw Ships phase, you may draw two Ships from the shipyard, choose one and discard the other. You may only draw from the shipyard if you play "Reinforcements" or exchange resource icons.

Sardakk N'orr: Each Ship in your fleet is considered a carrier, in addition to any other type (minesweeper, cruiser, etc.) it might be. Therefore, you may launch squadrons from any Ship in your fleet.

Jol-Nar: When a Ship in your fleet is hit with a blast, you may immediately discard any two Resources to cancel and discard that blast.

L1z1x: Immediately after one of your Ships is destroyed, you may draw two cards.

Naalu: Two times per game, during your turn, you may remove all blast cards from one of your Ships (not your Flagship) and put them on an opponent's Ship.

Yssaril Tribes: Two times per game, you may cancel a blast that hits a Ship in your fleet (not your Flagship) as if you had played "Evasive Action."

Mentak Coalition: Two times per game, after you successfully hit an opponent's Ship with a blast and play "Direct Hit," you may steal that Ship and put it into your own fleet (as if you had played "Boarding.") You may not steal a Ship with the "Security Force" upgrade.

Credits

Design: Anders M. Petersen and Christian T. Petersen

Additional Design: Darrell Hardy

Graphic Design: Brian Schomburg

Cover: John Matson

Card Illustrations: John Goodenough, Tyler Walpole, and Ben Prenevost

Editing: Christian T. Petersen, Jen Kalish, and Greg Benage

Mag•Blast is a trademark of Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. Copyright ©2002 Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission from the publisher.