Snap Ships Tactics Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Component List
• Component Overview
  • Ship Models and Stands
  • Movement Tool
  • Range Rulers
  • Chassis Cards
  • AI Cards
  • Part Cards
  • Ship Status Trackers
  • Power Cubes (Blue)
  • Heat Cubes (Red)
  • Terrain Tiles
  • Missile Tokens
  • Special Damage Tokens
  • Ship ID and Activation Tokens
  • Initiative Token
  • Dice
  • Beacon Tokens
• Before Your First Game
• Your First Game
• First Game Setup
• How to Win
• Flow of Play
  • Deployment
• Ship Control Panels
• How to Activate a Ship
  • 1. Chassis Action
  • 2. Part Actions (Spend Power Cubes)
  • 3. End-of-Activation Effects
• Move Actions
  • Rotation
  • U-Turn
  • Movement
• Collisions
  • Overlapping Other Ship Bases
  • Ship Models Bumping
  • Leaving the Play Area
• Attack Actions
  • Attack Action Icons
  • Making an Attack
    • 1. Determine Legal Targets
    • 2. Pay Cost
    • 3. Determine Hit Number
    • 4. Roll Dice
    • 5. Reroll & Modify Dice
    • 6. Deal Damage
    • 7. Apply Hit Effects
    • 8. Resolve Critical Hits
  • Attack Example
  • Disabled Parts Example
• Repair Actions
• Evade Actions
  • Increase Evasion
• Ram Actions
• Reactions
• Launch Actions
  • Missile Token Anatomy
• Missile Impacts
  • 1. Sort Missiles
  • 2. Determine Hit Number
  • 8. Discard Missile Tokens
• Anti-Missile Actions
  • Anti-Missile Roll
• Terrain
  • Entering Terrain Tiles
  • Attacking Through Terrain Tiles
  • Missile Impacts on Terrain Tiles
  • Terrain Types
• Terrain and Cover Examples
• Gameplay Example
• Your Second Game and Beyond
• Custom Ships
  • 1. Choose Chassis Card
  • Chassis Card Anatomy
  • 2. Choose Part Cards
  • 3. Build Your Ship Model
• Part Abilities
  • Ability Type
  • Part Card Text
  • Part Ability Anatomy
  • Action and Effect Timing
• Special Actions
  • Vent Blue
  • Vent Red
  • Vent Blue/Red
  • Target Action (Expansion Content)
  • Attacking Multiple Targets (Expansion Content)
  • Mount (Expansion Content)
  • Torpedoes (Expansion Content)
• Playing Games with Multiple Ships
• Round Sequence
  • Tracking Activations
  • Claiming Initiative
  • Games with AI Ships
• Custom Setup
• AI Ship Setup
• Solo and Cooperative Play
• Automated (AI) Ships
  • AI Ship Activation Order
  • AI Ship Deployment
  • AI-Specific Icons
• AI Card Anatomy
• Activating AI Ships
  • 1. Determine Target
  • 2. Perform Chassis Action
  • 3. Perform Part Actions
  • Conditional Logic Icons
  • Performing Actions
• Activating AI Ships — Example Turn
  • 4. Resolve End-of-Activation Effects
  • 5. Discard AI Card
• AI Ship Movement Exceptions
  • AI Ship Collisions
  • AI Ships Leaving the Play Area
• AI Ship Heat and Damage
  • AI Ships Dealing Critical Hits and Disabling Parts
  • AI Ships Suffering Critical Hits
  • Special Damage Token Effects
• AI Ships Gaining Heat
  • AI Ships Dealing Heat
• Formats
  • Duel
  • Scenario
  • Dogfight
• Scenario: Asteroid Scramble
  • Scenario Special Rules
• Scenario: Beacon Rush
  • Scenario Special Rules
• Scenario: Last Stand
  • Scenario Special Rules
• Preset Terrain Layouts
  • Randomized Terrain
• Important Terms
• Quick Reference
  • Ship Activation Steps
  • Collisions: Overlapping Other Ship Bases
  • Collisions: Leaving the Play Area
  • Making Attacks
  • Attack Modifiers
  • AI Conditional Logic Icons
  • Icon Reference
  • Attack Icons
  • Ranges
  • Missile Types
  • Anti-Missile
  • Firing Arcs
  • Terrain Tile Effects

Component List

• 103 Snap Ships pieces
  • Sabre (42 pieces)
  • Scarab (45 pieces)
  • 16 exclusive pieces
• 2 building instruction booklets
• 2 plastic ship stands
• 2 circular bases
• 2 vertical stalks (different heights)
• 2 plastic movement tools
• 3 cardboard range rulers
  • 2 range-2 rulers
  • 1 range-1 ruler
• 1 rulebook
• 32 square cards (80x80mm)
  • 8 Chassis cards
  • 24 AI cards
• 28 Part cards (40x80mm)
• 8 custom ten-sided dice
• 2 Ship Status trackers, with 6 plastic rivets
• 30 blue power cubes
• 20 red heat cubes
• 6 Terrain tiles
  • 2 Asteroid Field / Tycho's Rift
  • 2 Asteroid Field / Debris Cloud
  • 2 Ice Cloud / Debris Cloud
• 16 Missile tokens
  • 8 Light Missiles
  • 4 Heat Missiles
  • 4 Heavy Missiles
• 5 Special Damage tokens
• 6 Ship ID tokens
• 6 Activation tokens
• 1 Initiative token
• 8 Beacon tokens

Component Overview

Ship Models and Stands

Each Snap Ship is represented on the table by a buildable model atop a circular base.

Movement Tool

This tool allows you to rotate ships at fixed or arbitrary angles, as well as move one of two possible distances: short (using the S length of the tool) or long (using the L length of the tool).

Range Rulers

Whenever a ship needs to determine range to attack or use another game effect, use these range rulers to measure the distances between objects in the play area. Each range-2 ruler has two range increments.

Chassis Cards

Each ship has a single Chassis card that indicates its basic characteristics and the number of Part cards it must equip.

• The front of a Chassis card shows artwork of the preset ship build as well its stats and special abilities.
• The back of a Chassis card shows an image of the chassis cubes without any additional parts, and a collection of Part cards that can be used as the preset build for this chassis.

AI Cards

Each ship's preset build has a deck of four cards that dictate the actions the ship will take if it is controlled by the game, as opposed to a human player. Use these cards when playing either in solo mode or in cooperative mode against an AI player. These are not used when playing the standard head-to-head game.

Part Cards

Each Part represents a system on a ship. This either provides a passive improvement to the ship's statistics or can be powered to perform an action.

The backside of each Part card represents the part in its damaged state and has instructions on how to repair it if it can be repaired.

Ship Status Trackers

A pair of panels with embedded dials. Two of the dials track a ship's current hull value, and the third tracks its current Evasion rating.

Power Cubes (Blue)

Each ship has a pool of blue cubes and assigns them to various parts to perform actions such as moving and firing weapons.

Heat Cubes (Red)

These red cubes represent excessive heat caused by certain parts or attacks. They are not part of a ship's pool of power cubes, but may be added to parts from the common supply as a result of action costs or other effects.

Terrain Tiles

These large tiles represent the different terrain types that might be on the battlefield. Each of these tiles alters the rules of the game in some way, such as changing how ships move or modifying the results of attacks.

Missile Tokens

Tokens used by ships that have missile launchers. They represent missiles with homing capabilities that attempt to intercept the target.

Special Damage Tokens

These are used in games with AI ships to abstract the effects of Part cards disabled by critical hits. One side shows a -1 action icon, the other a critical damage icon.

Ship ID and Activation Tokens

Tokens used to associate a set of Ship and Parts cards with the corresponding model on the table. They are also used to track which ships have activated so far in a round. The Ship ID tokens are inserted into the model's stand, and the Activation token with the matching number is placed on that ship's Chassis card. These are not used in a head-to-head game with only one ship on each side.

Initiative Token

This keeps track of which team has the choice of going first each round. This is not used in a head-to-head game with only one ship on each side.

Dice

Several game effects, such as attacking with weapons, are resolved by rolling a set of custom ten-sided dice. Each die has faces with 1-8, a blank, and a Critical Hit (icon).

Beacon Tokens

These tokens are numbered 1-8 on the back. They are only used for scenarios.

Before Your First Game

If you are new to Snap Ships Tactics, you will need to assemble the Sabre XF-23 Fighter and Scarab KLAW Interceptor before setting up the game:

1. Open the bag of parts for each ship and follow the instructions in the corresponding building instructions booklet. a. For the Sabre kit, follow the first set of instructions to build the Sabre XF-23 Fighter. b. For the Scarab kit, follow the first set of instructions to build the Scarab KLAW Interceptor.

Your First Game

For your first game, we recommend playing a 2-player head-to-head game where one player controls the Sabre, and the other controls the Scarab, each with preset Part cards. The rules on the following pages are written with this in mind.

Rules for solo play, playing with custom ships, more than two ships, and other game types can be found in the Your Second Game and Beyond section on pages 20-37 of this rulebook.

First Game Setup

The Sabre chassis offers three preset builds to choose from: the Sabre XF-23 Fighter, the Sabre XB-04 Light Bomber, and the Sabre XR-01 Fast Recon. The Scarab chassis likewise offers three preset builds: the Scarab K.L.A.W. Interceptor, the Scarab K.L.A.W. Light Fighter, and the Scarab K.L.A.W. Attack Striker. Your first game uses the Sabre XF-23 Fighter and the Scarab K.L.A.W. Interceptor builds.

1. Create Play Area: Clear a flat play area of 3 feet x 3 feet (90 cm x 90 cm).
2. Determine First Player: Each player rolls a die. If the results are tied, roll again. The blank face is considered a 0 and the critical hit is considered a 9. The player with the highest result chooses who will be first player.
3. Choose Ships and Deployment Areas: The first player chooses any edge of the play area as their starting edge; the second player is assigned the opposite edge. Players decide who will control each ship. Each player takes an assembled ship model atop its circular base and places it beside the play area. Ships deploy when they take their first activation.
4. Create Control Panels: Each player takes the following components that match their chosen ship model, and lays them out as shown. a. The Chassis card with the matching image (Sabre XF-23 Fighter or Scarab KLAW Interceptor) b. The set of six Part cards listed on the back of the Chassis card. c. A Ship Status tracker. Set the Hull and Evasion values to match the ones shown on the Chassis card. d. Seven blue power cubes. Place these on the Chassis card.
5. Place Terrain: Take the Debris Cloud and Ice Cloud terrain tiles and place them in the play area as shown. Use the range rulers to help you measure distances from the edge of the play area.
6. Form Supply: Place all of the range rulers, movement tools, dice, missile tokens, and red heat cubes to the side of the play area, forming a common supply. The other tokens are not used in your first game. You are now ready to play!

Additional setup notes:

• Assemble a ship base and stand for each model as shown, and place the ship model on top facing the same direction as the arrow on the base. This is its forward facing.
• Assemble the Ship Status trackers using the plastic rivets as shown. Note: the two gray dials are different; make sure that both numbers are right-side-up when viewed through the opening.

How to Win

Your mission is to destroy the opponent's ship by reducing its hull to zero.

Flow of Play

Beginning with the First Player, Players alternate taking turns activating their ships. When you activate a ship, you take as many actions as you want and can afford to take. Once you have finished taking actions, play passes to your opponent.

Players continue alternating activations until only one player's ship remains.

Deployment

Ships do not begin the game in the play area. Before activating a ship for the first time each game, place it in the play area. The ship must be placed with its base touching your starting edge, but it may face any direction.

Ship Control Panels

A ship's Chassis card, Part cards, blue power cubes, and Ship Status tracker collectively make up its control panel. Together, these determine a ship's statistics and all of the actions it can perform.

How to Activate a Ship

When a ship is activated, the player controlling that ship takes their turn and goes through the following phases:

1. Chassis Action a. Reset Evasion Step b. Vent Step c. Movement Step
2. Part Actions (Spend Power Cubes)
3. End-of-Activation Effects

Each of these steps is described in detail on the following pages.

1. Chassis Action

Each ship's Chassis card features a chassis action with 3 steps that it must perform at the start of its turn. Process all of the icons shown on a ship's chassis action bar in left-to-right order.

a. Reset Evasion Step: You must set your ship's Evasion on your Ship Status Tracker to the default value listed on the Chassis card. This number represents how difficult your ship is to hit when attacked. Different actions may change this value, and this is the only time it resets to the default value for your chassis. b. Vent Step: Remove power and/or heat cubes from your ship parts, up to this number. You can remove power and heat cubes in any combination and in any order. Power cubes are returned to the Chassis card and heat cubes are returned to the supply. It is your choice which cubes are removed, and you do not have to fully clear a part. c. Movement Step: You may perform any rotation and must perform any movement shown here, from left to right. See Move Actions on page 8 for details.

Chassis Action Example: This is the Chassis Action for Sabre XF-23 Fighter: At the start of its turn, this ship must reset its Evasion to 2, then vent up to 5 cubes of any color, then it can rotate once before it makes a Long move straight ahead. After that, it can use its equipped parts by spending power cubes to perform actions.

All Chassis cards also have a special ability that changes how various actions or icons work. Pay attention to your chassis effects and don't forget to apply these powerful bonuses!

2. Part Actions (Spend Power Cubes)

After performing its chassis action, a ship's supply of blue power cubes determine how many part actions it can perform each turn. Each action has a cost in power and/or heat. Move power cubes from the chassis to a Part card to perform an action. Some parts also require red heat cubes, which are added from the supply as an additional cost. The supply of heat cubes is meant to be unlimited. If you run out, use whatever you can as a suitable replacement.

Power & Venting Example: Jeremy moves 3 of the 7 power cubes from the Sabre chassis and adds 2 heat from the supply to the Jump Engine to perform its Move action. Before either action on the Jump Engine can be used again, all those cubes must be vented at the start of Sabre's next turn using its Chassis action (or other Part actions that vent cubes).

Three Key Rules for Part Actions

You may perform actions on your part cards in any order, but you must remember three key rules:

• Perform part actions one-at-a-time. Pay the action's cost to resolve all of the action's text and/or icons in left-to-right order. You must fully resolve an action and its effects before performing another action.
• While a Part card has cubes (of any color) on it, none of the Actions or Reactions on that part can be used again. If a Part card has any cubes on it of any type, they must first be vented before you can use any actions on that Part card. Venting occurs during the Vent Step of the Chassis Action. There are some parts that may enable you to vent as well. See the Power & Venting Example, right. Note: Passive abilities with gray headings can still be used, even while those parts have cubes on them.
• If a Part card has more than one action, you may only perform one of them. Be aware that each individual action has its own cost.

During your ship's activation, you can perform as many actions as you have available power cubes, but are not required to spend any power cubes. Any unspent power remains on your Chassis card and will be available the next time the ship activates. Your ship's activation ends when you choose not to perform any more part actions or can't afford to do so.

The various types of Part actions and their effects are described on the following pages.

3. End-of-Activation Effects

If there are any effects that apply to your ship at the end of its activation, resolve those now in any order you choose.

The most common effects with this timing are missile impacts. See Missile Impacts on page 14.

Move Actions

Your ship's chassis action, thrusters, wings, and fins all provide movement effects. Move actions have a sequence of one or more icons. Paying the action's cost executes all of the icons in the sequence in the order shown. All rotation and movement is handled using the Movement Tool.

Rotation

This is how ships change facing. Each rotation icon allows the ship's base to be rotated up to this many increments clockwise or counterclockwise, without changing its position. Icons show "Rotate 1" and "Rotate 2" for one or two increments respectively.

To perform a rotation, place the circular cutout on the movement tool against any part of the ship's base and turn the model up to the number of increments shown. Each notch corresponds to 1 rotation (45º) in either direction. A ship does not have to use all of the rotation provided by this icon; it may choose not to rotate at all, or it may choose to rotate any arbitrary angle less than the number of increments specified.

Tip: If rotating to an arbitrary angle, use the section of the movement tool with the circular cutout that doesn't have notches for smoother rotation. This helps you maneuver precisely or line up attacks with narrow firing arcs.

U-Turn

Unlike normal rotation icons, you cannot rotate an arbitrary angle with this icon. It is still optional, but you must choose to either continue with your current facing or rotate 180º to face the opposite direction.

Movement

This is how ships traverse the play area. Each movement icon shows a circle with either a short (S) or Long (L) distance. When you move, you use the corresponding length of the movement tool. Many actions move your ship straight ahead, but some move icons support movement in other directions. The shapes shown around the edge of the icon show the possible directions: forward movement, left or right movement, or up to 5 possible movement directions — Move Short forward, Move Long forward, or Move Short in either of two side directions.

To perform a Move, place the Movement Tool against the ship's base in your chosen direction shown on the icon. You can flip the move tool over if needed. Then, pick up the ship and place it against the other end of the Movement Tool.

Note:

• You cannot pre-measure movement. You can only place the movement tool to check possible movement options when performing a Move action and have an S or L icon to resolve.
• You must use the distance listed on the icon; you cannot move less than the distance provided.
• You must move in one of the directions indicated; you cannot place the movement tool at an arbitrary angle.
• During any movement, the facing of your ship does not change. You must use a rotate icon or other game effect to change facing.

Example: Sabre performs the bottom action of the SDU-14 Jump Engine, by moving Long at an angle, then performing a U-turn.

Collisions

Overlapping Other Ship Bases

Whenever you resolve a movement icon, if the final position of your ship's base overlaps another ship's base, the ships have collided, even if the ships are on the same team. If your movement overlaps multiple ships, you collide with the one closest to your starting position. When your ship collides, skip all of the remaining icons in your current action (those to the right of the movement icon you performed) and resolve the steps below instead.

1. Reposition. Place your ship touching the base you overlapped, in any position and on any side of it. Do not rotate or change your facing. This reposition cannot:
   • Overlap the edge of the play area.
   • Overlap any other ship. Placing a ship for a collision cannot cause a second collision, but you may place your ship touching another ship.
   • In the rare case there is nowhere to place your ship where it touches the ship you overlapped because of other ships or play area edges, place it as close as possible to the ship that caused the initial collision.
2. Resolve collision damage. Skip this step if the two ship bases were already touching prior to the overlapping movement. Also skip this step if the current ship is using a Ram action. a. Each ship rolls a number of dice equal to its size (listed on its Chassis card), plus any modifiers from parts. b. Each die roll of 5 or more deals the other ship 1 damage. Note that Terrain and the other ship's Evasion rating have no effect on the results of this roll. c. Each critical hit symbol rolled deals 1 damage and also disables one part on the other ship. See 8. Resolve Critical Hits on page 11.
3. Resolve abilities that modify collision results. Resolve abilities on the current-turn ship first, then abilities on the overlapped ship second.
4. Resolve Terrain. If a ship was placed to overlap a new terrain tile (other than a Tycho's Rift), apply its effects now.

Overlapping Position Examples:

• Sabre performs a Long move which overlaps Scarab, causing a collision. The Sabre's pilot chooses to place Sabre around the other side of Scarab.
• Scarab uses Blade Wings (S move icon) to overlap Sabre, and repositions itself touching Sabre without changing its facing.

Ship Models Bumping

Only the ship's base counts for collisions with other ships and other game effects. If the plastic ship models bump or get in the way, add snap cubes to one of the ship's stands to change its height or temporarily remove one model until they are no longer interfering.

Leaving the Play Area

If the final position of your ship's base collides with the edge of the play area, what happens depends on the scenario. If the scenario you are playing allows ships to retreat from that edge, the ship may retreat. Otherwise, if the ship chooses not to or cannot retreat from that edge, skip all of the remaining icons in your current action (those to the right of the movement icon you performed) and resolve the steps below instead:

1. Place the ship's base fully within the play area, touching the edge, closest to the point where it overlapped the edge.
2. Reduce the ship's Evasion rating by 1 (to a minimum of zero).
3. You may rotate your ship exactly 2 increments (90º) left or right.

Example: Sabre performs a Long move which will overlap the edge of the play area. Sabre is moved backwards along its direction of travel until it remains within the play area. Then, Sabre reduces its Evasion by 1 and chooses to Rotate 90º to the left.

Attack Actions

Many parts can be used to attack enemy ships. All weapons share a common set of icons describing their characteristics. This is true whether the weapons are Gatling guns, laser cannons, railguns, or all manner of projectiles.

Attack Action Icons

Every weapon icon set shows a Firing Arc, a Range, a Hit Number, Damage, and a number of Dice.

Firing arc icons: 180º Arc, 90º Arc, 45º Arc, and Line Arc (directly ahead). Firing arcs are also described relative to a ship's facing as Flank or Rear.

Range icons show Range 1, Range 2, Range 3, or Range 4.

Making an Attack

Whenever a ship performs an action that makes an attack, follow these steps:

1. Determine Targets
2. Pay Cost
3. Determine Hit Number
4. Roll Dice
5. Reroll & Modify Dice
6. Deal Damage
7. Apply Hit Effects
8. Resolve Critical Hits

Each of these steps is described in detail below:

1. Determine Legal Targets

Measure the weapon's range and check its firing arc. Any enemy ship that falls within the weapon's listed ranges and firing arc may be fired upon. If there are no such enemy ships, the action cannot be performed. Each target you choose is considered the defender in the steps below.

Firing Arcs

In addition to movement, the radial lines on the ship's base also indicate its firing arcs. The firing arc icon of an attack determines the directions a weapon may be fired. An attack can only target an enemy ship if at least some of the target's base is within the firing arc. It cannot be fired at targets outside this arc.

Range

The distance between objects in the play area is measured using range rulers. The Range icon shows four curved boxes, each corresponding to one short range ruler. From bottom to top, the boxes correspond to range 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. If a weapon or effect can be used at a specific range, the corresponding box appears as a solid black shape. If not, it is outlined with a white center. If a target is not at one of the ranges listed for the attack, it cannot be targeted.

Note:

• You can measure range between objects at any time.
• Always measure the shortest distance between objects. If the ruler touches both objects, they are considered "in range" of each other. For ships, only the circular base matters, never the ship model.
• Two ship bases that are touching are considered to be Range 0, and cannot target each other with Range 1 attacks or effects.

Measuring Range Within an Arc

When measuring range for an attack that requires a specific arc, you must measure the shortest distance that is within that arc. It is possible for two ships to be within range 1, but for an attack between them to be at range 2 within the weapon's arc.

Examples:

• These ships are Range 1 apart; too close for an attack with Range 2-3.
• This attack is Range 2 (within the 90º arc).
• This attack is Range 1 (within the 180º arc).
• The range between the ships within the 90º firing arc is 2, but the shortest distance between the ships is range 1.

2. Pay Cost

Assign the required number of power cubes from your chassis and add any heat cubes indicated by taking them from the supply.

3. Determine Hit Number

The attack action has some numbers to the right side of the die. The top number next to the crosshair icon indicates how to calculate the hit number. This is usually the accuracy of the weapon plus the defender's current Evasion.

This value can be further modified by attacking from the flank or rear, soft cover from terrain, or special abilities on Chassis and Part cards. See Attacking from Flank or Rear, below, and Terrain on page 16.

Attacking from Flank or Rear

An attack is considered a Flank attack if the attacking ship's circular base is fully within the defender's rear 180º arc. Flank attacks reduce the hit number by 1.

An attack is considered a Rear attack if the attacking ship's circular base is fully within the defender's rear 90º arc. In addition to the bonus from Flank attacks above, if the attack deals at least 1 damage from the Rear it also does a single point of additional damage, regardless of the number of hits.

Example: Scarab is fully within the Sabre's Flank arc, but not fully within Sabre's Rear arc. It will gain the Flank bonus.

4. Roll Dice

The number of dice you roll is equal to the number inside the die icon for the attack action. Each die that shows a number greater than or equal to the hit number is considered a hit.

Each die showing the critical hit icon always counts as a hit, and each die showing a blank face always counts as a miss.

5. Reroll & Modify Dice

If you have any game effects that reroll or modify the dice results, you may use them now. Each player can force each die in an attack to be rerolled only once. However, a die might be rerolled a maximum of twice if both the attacker and the defender trigger a reroll. If both players have effects that modify or reroll dice, the attacker performs all of their effects first in any order, then the defender performs all of their effects in any order.

6. Deal Damage

Each attack action has a damage value listed to the right of the die. The damage value is the number next to the damage icon. Each successful hit (including critical hits) does this much damage. Rear attacks and Hard Cover both change the total damage dealt. See Attacking from Flank or Rear, above, and Terrain on page 16.

The defender reduces the hull value on their Ship Status tracker by the amount of damage taken. If the defender's hull reaches zero, it is destroyed, and the attacker is the victor!

7. Apply Hit Effects

If your attack action has any effects that happen as a result of hits, apply them now in any order you choose.

8. Resolve Critical Hits

When an attack roll contains one or more critical hits, each of them deals damage as normal and also disables one part on the target ship. Resolve each critical hit one at a time.

Roll a die to determine the hit location. Count the number of Parts cards to the right of the defender's Chassis card equal to the number rolled (i.e. a value of 1 means the Part card immediately adjacent to the Chassis card). This Part card is the one disabled by the critical hit.

Critical Hit Exceptions:

• The defending player chooses which part is disabled in the following cases:
  • The die rolled to determine the part shows a blank.
  • The part that should be disabled is already disabled, or cannot be disabled by critical hits.
  • The number rolled is higher than the total number of Part cards on the ship (e.g. 7 or 8 as shown for the Sabre).
• The attacking player chooses which part is disabled if the die rolled to determine the part shows a Critical Hit icon.

The part in the hit location is disabled. Remove all cubes from that part and flip the card face-down.

• Each power cube is returned to the defender's Chassis card.
• Each heat cube deals the ship 1 hull damage and is returned to the supply. If this reduces the hull to 0, the ship is destroyed as described under Deal Damage, above.

While a part on your ship is disabled (face-down), you cannot use its normal text or actions. Instead, most disabled parts have a repair action that allows the controlling player to repair it.

See the following page for examples of Attacks and Disabled Parts.

Attack Example

Sabre (A) wants to make an attack using its autocannon, which has a 90º firing arc and range of 1-2. A Scarab Attack Striker (B) is outside the firing arc and cannot be targeted, Scarab Light Fighter (C) and Scarab Interceptor (D) are both within the weapon's firing arc. However, the Light Fighter is at range 3. The only legal target is therefore the Scarab interceptor at range 2.

The Sabre player moves 2 power cubes from their chassis to the autocannon's Part card to make the attack. Next, they determine the hit number to be 5: 2 for the autocannon's accuracy, plus 3 for the Scarab's current Evasion.

Sabre rolls 4 dice for the autocannon, getting blank, 3, 5, 8. Only the 5 and 8 are hits, and will deal 1 damage each to Scarab. Scarab reduces its hull by 2.

Disabled Parts Example

A Scarab attacks a Sabre XF-23 using its gatling gun. The attack roll includes three critical hits!

For the first critical hit, the Sabre has no disabled parts, so that player uses its chassis ability to choose the hit location and disable its maneuvering fins. They flip the card and return the single power cube on it to their chassis.

For the second critical hit, the Sabre's chassis ability no longer applies. The Scarab player rolls a 6: this disables the Sabre's XR70 Missile Pod, so the player flips the Part card over. The 1 power cube on the missile pod is returned to the Sabre's chassis and the 3 heat cubes are returned to the supply, dealing the Sabre 3 additional hull damage.

For the third critical hit, the Scarab player rolls a 7. This roll doesn't correspond to a Part card on the Sabre's console, so the Sabre player chooses to disable their cockpit card.

Repair Actions

This action appears on the back of most Part cards. After deciding to repair a part, flip this card face-up and place the power cubes for its repair cost on the repaired side. This is the primary way of restoring disabled parts. Note that the cubes you assign to repair the part will need to be vented before you can use the repaired part again.

Actions with Variable Costs: Some actions and reactions, such as the Sabre's XF-25 Cockpit, cost a variable amount of power and/or heat, indicated by the "?" icon. The card's text will tell you how to determine the cost, or the effects of spending a variable amount of power.

Evade Actions

Increase Evasion

When you process this icon, increase your ship's current Evasion rating by 1, to a maximum of 6. Rotate the Evasion dial on the ship's tracker to show the ship's new total Evasion. Evade icons can appear on multiple types of actions. Whenever you process this icon, the behavior is the same.

Your Evasion rating affects how difficult it is for opponents to hit your ship when they make an attack. A higher Evasion rating means it will be more difficult for others to hit you. Remember that your Evasion rating only resets during the first steps of activating your ship. Because of this, an increase to your Evasion rating will remain in effect until your ship's next activation.

Ram Actions

This action is a variation on Move actions that adds a collision-based attack. Ram actions have one or more movement icons, followed by the icons for an attack. When you perform this action, if one of these move icons causes you to collide with another ship, skip any remaining move icons and make the attack roll shown. If the movement does not overlap another ship, there is no additional effect.

Unlike a normal collision, your opponent does not roll any dice for collision damage during a Ram. Use the variation of the collision steps below:

1. Place your ship.
2. Resolve the Ram attack instead of normal collision damage.
3. Resolve abilities that modify Ram results.
4. Resolve any Terrain effects (other than a Tycho's Rift).

Notes: Cover does not apply to Ram attacks. Ram attacks only work when using this action; they have no effect when another ship collides with you. They also have no effect when you collide with another ship using a different Move action or other effect.

Reactions

Cards with reactions have yellow headings, and allow you to do something in response to another game effect, potentially even when it is not your turn. The required condition is printed in bold, followed by the part's effect.

Otherwise, reactions follow the same rules as other actions: they can only be performed if the Part card has no cubes on it, and you must pay the cost (if any) by moving power cubes from your chassis and adding heat from the supply.

Launch Actions

Missiles are homing weapons that are represented by launcher parts and missile tokens. They are powerful but take time to home in and reach the target. Missile parts have the Launch action, which places one or more Missile tokens on the target ship's Chassis card. In order to launch missiles at another ship, the target must be within the launcher's range and firing arc, like other weapons.

The launcher's Missile icon indicates the number and type of missile tokens it launches and assigns to the target. Each missile token has its own effects which are listed below (and on the reverse of the missile token for convenience). All Missile tokens of the same type are identical.

Missile Token Anatomy

1. Artwork: An image of the missile type to help you identify it.
2. Quality: The roll required to shoot down this missile (i.e. using an Anti-Missile action).
3. Missile impact effects: These are similar to weapon parts. Use these stats when this missile attempts to impact the target to deal damage. a. Number of dice rolled. b. Hit number. c. Damage per hit. d. Additional effects.

The possible types of missiles are:

• Light Missile — Quality 5, 1 die, hit number 0+, 2 damage per hit.
• Heavy Missile — Quality 6, 1 die, hit number 1+, 5 damage per hit.
• Heat Missile — Quality 5, 1 die, hit number 0+, 1 damage per hit. For each hit, place 1 heat on a target's part that has no heat.

Missile Impacts

Missiles take time to reach the target. At the end of a ship's turn, any missile tokens assigned to it must roll to hit to see if they impact. Missile impacts follow many of the same steps as attacks, but they are not considered Attacks for the purposes of parts and abilities. Follow these steps to resolve missile impacts:

1. Sort Missiles
2. Determine Hit Number
3. Roll Dice
4. Modify Dice
5. Deal Damage
6. Apply Hit Effects
7. Resolve Critical Hits
8. Discard Missile tokens

1. Sort Missiles

If there are multiple types of missiles, sort the assigned missile tokens by type. Then repeat the remaining steps for each type of missile token.

2. Determine Hit Number

The player controlling the ship determines the hit number for the missile type. Each missile's hit number is shown on the back of the missile token. This is usually its accuracy rating plus the current Evasion rating of the defender ship.

• Since missiles do not impact from a specific direction, missiles do not gain flank or rear bonuses.
• Terrain tiles provide cover against missiles. If any part of the defender's base overlaps a terrain tile, apply the tile's associated cover bonus. See Terrain on page 16.

Steps 3 through 7 are the same as the steps with the same name under Making an Attack on page 10. Any player on the opposing side can be assigned the role of attacker for the missiles. Roll the required number of dice to determine hits, then apply damage, hit effects, and resolve any critical hits.

8. Discard Missile Tokens

After resolving all missile impacts against a ship, all of those missiles are discarded and returned to the supply whether they hit or not.

Anti-Missile Actions

These actions allow you to roll to remove missile tokens before they impact their target. They have two associated icons:

• A dice icon that reminds you to roll 1 die per missile.
• A crosshair icon that reminds you to check the missile token's quality rating for what you need to roll to hit. If this icon has a modifier, it applies to the missile's quality rating (for example, a "-1" modifier reduces the quality rating of missiles by 1).

Anti-Missile Roll

To resolve an anti-missile roll, follow these steps:

1. Choose your ship, or another ship within range 1 (in any direction).
2. Roll 1 die per missile assigned to the chosen ship. Note: Terrain does not affect your roll.
3. Each result equal to or greater than the missile's quality destroys the missile and discards the token. Critical hits always destroy a missile.

Anti-Missile Example: A Scarab fires at a swarm of 4 incoming Light Missiles using its gatling gun. The missiles have a quality of 5, and the gatling gun's anti-missile action has no bonus. The Scarab needs to roll 1 die per missile and will shoot them down on rolls of 5 or better. The player rolls 1, 2, 5, and a critical hit. The 5 and the critical hit each destroy 1 missile. The last 2 missiles remain assigned to the Scarab.

Missile Launch Example: The Sabre player would like to use its XR70 Missile pod to launch missiles at a Scarab Interceptor. The Scarab is at range 2 and within the missile pod's 180º firing arc. The Sabre player takes 1 power from their chassis and 3 heat from the supply and places them on the Part card. Then, they take 4 light missile tokens and place them on the Scarab Interceptor's Chassis card. The missiles are considered to be somewhere in space, heading toward the Scarab. Nothing more happens right now.

Missile Impact Example: Continuing the previous example, the Scarab has taken a turn, moving toward the Sabre and attacking. It also uses its cockpit to increase its Evasion rating by 2 so that it now has a total of 5 Evasion. At the end of the Scarab's turn, the Sabre player rolls to see if their previously-launched missiles successfully impact their target.

Each missile needs a 5 to hit (0 accuracy plus the Scarab's Evasion of 5). The Sabre rolls 3, 5, 8, and a critical hit, which means 3 missiles impact and deal 2 damage each. In addition, the critical hit will disable 1 Part card on the Scarab, just like an attack from a non-missile weapon. Finally, all 4 missile tokens are discarded and returned to the supply — the missiles that didn't impact have spiraled somewhere off into space.

Terrain

Terrain tiles affect ships that move into them as well as attacks that pass into or through them.

Entering Terrain Tiles

Whenever a ship enters a terrain type by overlapping it, that ship gains the bonus printed on the terrain tile. Immediately interrupt the current action to resolve the terrain effect.

Exceptions:

• If your ship is placed on top of a terrain tile as a result of a collision or Ram action, you must apply the effects of that tile after resolving the collision.
• If a ship overlaps a terrain tile and then moves so that it overlaps the same terrain tile again, it receives no further benefit. A ship must fully leave and reenter a terrain tile to gain its benefit again.

Attacking Through Terrain Tiles

All terrain tiles have a white outline which indicates how that terrain tile affects attacks. If the shortest line between the attacker and defender passes through any part of terrain tiles that the attacker's base does not overlap, the defender gets cover from the attack. Apply the effect below:

• Dashed outline: The defender has hard cover, decreasing the total damage suffered from the attack by 1, to a minimum of 0.
• Dotted outline: The defender has soft cover, increasing the hit number by 2.

Exceptions:

• When attacking, the attacking ship ignores the effects of terrain tiles it overlaps.
• A defender can only receive the benefit of soft cover or hard cover once each, regardless of the number of terrain tiles between the attacker and defender. That is to say, multiple instances of hard cover do not stack, nor do multiple instances of soft cover. However, the defender can receive both the hard cover bonus and the soft cover bonus from appropriate terrain tiles on a single attack.
• If the bases of the attacker and defender are touching (for example, during a Ram), there is no space between them and therefore terrain tiles do not provide cover.

Missile Impacts on Terrain Tiles

When a ship resolves missile impacts, if any part of its base overlaps a terrain tile, it receives the corresponding soft or hard cover bonus.

Terrain Types

Debris Cloud — Remains of a previous space battle, a cloud of small pieces of metal and ship fragments provide opportunities to hide. Provides soft cover. Ships that enter this terrain immediately gain +1 Evasion.

Ice Cloud — A cloud of frozen water crystals that improve a ship's venting. Provides soft cover. Ships that enter this terrain immediately vent 1 power or heat cube from any part.

Tycho's Rift — A ripple of intense gravity waves provides a slingshot opportunity for daring pilots. Provides soft cover. Ships that enter this terrain tile, except when placed on it by a collision or after a Ram, immediately perform a long movement in the direction they were traveling when they overlapped it. This bonus movement does not change your ship's facing. This can occur in the middle of a movement action. If so, process any remaining icons after the slingshot effect is resolved (including the attack provided by a Ram).

Asteroids — Chunks of rock, useful for tricking pursuing missiles and reducing incoming damage. Provides hard cover. Ships that enter this terrain immediately perform an anti-missile roll against any missiles assigned to them. See Anti-Missile Roll on page 15.

Terrain and Cover Examples

The Sabre Fighter (A) wants to fire its Autocannon. There are four enemy ships nearby: Scarab Attack Striker (B), Scarab Light Fighter (C), Scarab Interceptor (D), and Locust Stealth Craft (E).

Only B, C and D are within the 90º firing arc of the Autocannon.

All enemy ships currently have an Evasion of 3, which means Sabre will normally hit on rolls of (2+3) 5 or better and deal 1 damage per hit. However, most of these enemy ships are overlapping or behind terrain tiles, as follows (the white lines indicate the shortest distance between them):

A vs. B: The Sabre Fighter can attack the Scarab Attack Striker. Since both ships overlap the ice cloud, the tile does not provide the soft cover bonus on the attack. Sabre will hit on rolls of 5 or better. Similarly, Scarab can attack Sabre without cover because it also overlaps the ice cloud.

A vs. C: The Sabre Fighter can attack the Scarab Light Fighter. As with A-B, Sabre overlaps the ice cloud between them and ignores it. However, the asteroid field between them provides hard cover. Sabre will hit on rolls of 5 or better, but will reduce the total damage dealt by 1. This Scarab can also attack Sabre, but in this case Sabre will benefit from both soft cover (+2 to hit) and hard cover (-1 total damage) from the two different types of terrain tiles because both are in the way and Scarab does not overlap either of them.

A vs. D: The Sabre Fighter can attack the Scarab Interceptor. The shortest distance in arc between the two ships passes through both a gravity rift and an ice cloud, both of which would provide soft cover. However, ships only benefit from each type of cover once during an attack, so the terrain only adds +2 to hit. Sabre will hit on (2+3+2) 7 or better. This Scarab can also attack Sabre. It ignores the ice cloud it overlaps, but the gravity rift between them will still provide soft cover on Scarab's attack.

A vs. E: Locust is outside of the firing arc for the Autocannon. However, no part of the ice cloud that Sabre overlaps is between the Sabre and the Locust, so the ice cloud would have no effect on an attack from either of them.

Gameplay Example

A couple of turns have passed in this 1v1 game between Jessica (flying the Sabre Fighter) and Chris (flying the Scarab Interceptor).

1. At the start of Jessica's turn, she activates the Sabre and resets the evasion dial on the Ship Status tracker to 2. Then she can vent up to 5 cubes from her Part cards. Jessica wants to use her Missile Pod, so she vents the remaining 2 heat from that part, as well as 2 power from her Jump Engine, and 1 power from her Maneuvering Fins. This leaves 2 power on her Autocannon, so she won't be able to use it this activation.

2. Jessica now must do the movement portion of the Sabre's chassis action. She rotates the Sabre 1 increment (Rotate 1 icon) away from the Scarab and performs a long move straight ahead (Move Long icon). This brings her to the Asteroid field, but it has no effect right now.

3. With her chassis action complete, Jessica can perform part actions. Jessica activates her Maneuvering Fins, taking 2 power from her chassis card and placing it on the Maneuvering Fins. She places the movement tool against the Sabre's base, rotating the base two increments (90 degrees).

4. Next, Jessica declares she's launching missiles. She confirms that the target is in her firing arc and within the missile pod's range of 2-3. Jessica takes 1 power from the Sabre's chassis and places it on the Missile Pod part card, also adding 3 heat from the supply. After paying to activate the part, Jessica takes 4 light missile tokens from the supply and hands them to Chris, who places them on the Scarab's chassis card.

5. Jessica still has 2 power, but her options are limited. She places 1 power on the bottom action of her XF-25 Wings to increase her Evasion to 3 and be harder to hit. She keeps the final 1 power on her ship's chassis card and declares her turn done.

6. Now it's Chris's turn to activate the Scarab. He begins with the Scarab's chassis action: resetting his evasion and venting 5 cubes. He decides to vent the 1 power and 2 heat from his cockpit, and 2 power from his Mantis Laser. This leaves 1 power on the Maneuvering Fins and 2 on the Tri-Thruster, so they can't be used this activation.

7. Next, Chris decides to go on the offensive and uses the movement from his chassis action to rotate toward the Sabre before moving short.

8. On to part actions. Chris confirms that the Sabre is in range and the firing arc of his Gatling Gun. He assigns 2 power to the card and adds 1 heat from the supply. The weapon's accuracy is 2 and the Sabre's current evasion is 3, so he needs to roll 5s or better to hit. Chris rolls 6 dice and gets 1, 2, 5, 7, 7, critical: 4 hits to the Sabre, each of which does 1 damage! Jessica decreases the total damage by 1 because of hard cover from the asteroid field and reduces the Sabre's hull value by 3. Then there is the matter of the critical hit. Since the Sabre has no disabled parts, its chassis ability allows Jessica to choose the location that is disabled. She chooses the Maneuvering Fins, flipping the card and returning the 2 power there to her chassis.

Play continues with Jessica activating her Sabre again.

Your Second Game and Beyond

The rest of this rulebook expands on your first game with rules for building your own ships, other parts, playing with more than one ship on each team, automated (AI) ships, and different game formats. When playing with any of these, follow the rules for Custom Setup on page 25 to set up your game.

Custom Ships

Build to Battle! Instead of following the preset part list on the back of a Chassis card, you may construct your own ship variant using the Chassis and Part cards. Follow the steps below:

1. Choose a Chassis card.
2. Choose parts of the number and type shown on the Chassis card's part slots.
3. Build or adjust your ship model to match the parts chosen.

1. Choose Chassis Card

Select a Chassis card to use as your base. This determines your ship's basic statistics, chassis ability, and power pool. See Chassis Card Anatomy, below.

The Ship's point cost and part slots in the row of icons along the bottom of your Chassis card indicate the relative strength of the ship and how many of each part type you must equip.

Example: This Sabre must equip 6 parts: 1 cockpit, 1 thruster, 1 wing, and 3 systems. It costs 4 points to include in your squadron.

Chassis Card Anatomy

Card Front:

1. Name
2. Ship Preset Art
3. Faction
4. Hull
5. Power Cubes
6. Size and Type
7. Chassis Ability text
8. Chassis Action bar a. Default Evasion b. Cubes Vented c. Chassis Movement
9. Part Slots
10. Point Cost
11. Set ID (and Faction icon)

Card Back:

12. Chassis Build Shape
13. Preset Part Cards

Tip: The list of Part cards shown on the back of each Chassis card is a suggested build for the first time you fly the ship, intended to showcase how certain parts can work together.

2. Choose Part Cards

You must fill each part slot on your Chassis card with a part of that type that belongs to the same Faction as your chassis. You can lay those Part cards beside your chassis in any order.

Parts in this set come in four types, indicated by icons on your Chassis card and in the top left corner of each Part card.

• Cockpit (where your pilot sits)
• Thruster (parts that move the ship forward)
• Wing (parts that provide maneuverability)
• Systems (maneuvering fins, weapons, armor, batteries, and a variety of other utility parts)

Snap Ships Tactics includes a wide range of parts with many different kinds of effects, some of which you have already encountered in your first game. For details on how specific Part Actions and abilities work, see Part Abilities on page 22.

Part Card Anatomy:

1. Part Artwork
2. Name and Type
3. Part Slot
4. Repair Cost
5. Ability
6. Set ID (and Faction icon)
7. Disabled side with broken appearance
8. Repair Action (if the part can be repaired)

Tip: This is the number of power cubes needed for the Repair action on the disabled side. A dash (-) means this part cannot be repaired. This way, you don't have to flip a Part card to check its Repair action.

Tips for Choosing Parts

You can equip whatever parts you like following the slot limitations. Just remember that powerful parts that may be effective on larger ships may not perform as well on chassis with fewer power cubes or a lower vent value.

Also, don't forget about your Chassis card's ability! Many chassis abilities change how various icons on Part cards work. Equipping parts that take advantage of your chassis ability can be an effective strategy.

Don't be afraid to experiment! Build different types of ships to discover their strengths and weaknesses.

3. Build Your Ship Model

Your physical plastic ship model should visually represent its associated chassis and Part cards. This can be fairly freeform and expressive, but for the sake of communicating gameplay information to other players, follow these guidelines:

• Build the chassis configuration chosen, rearranging 1-2 cubes or potentially adding a cube if necessary.
• Each Part card you use on your ship must be represented by at least one matching plastic component. For Part cards that show artwork in pairs, you must mount two matching pieces, but for other parts such as weapons, mounting a pair is an artistic choice.
• Limit the number of identifiable parts that have their own Part cards in your build, so as not to cause confusion about the capabilities of your ship, such as its maneuverability (by putting extra or incorrect wings), or its firepower (by putting extra or incorrect weapons).

Explore mixing and matching chassis and parts from different ships! A custom Sabre Fighter can use Part cards from the Sabre, Falx, and Lance kits.

Part Abilities

The abilities of Part cards are organized into boxes. Some abilities are actions that need to be activated by assigning power, while others have free, ongoing effects. Abilities all have the following elements:

Ability Type

The header describes in general terms what the part does.

• Black — Actions: These are Actions you must assign power and/or heat cubes to use, such as "Move", "Attack", or "Repair". Note that Part cards with multiple actions offer a choice — you can only use one ability box on a card each time you assign cubes. Actions cannot be used if the part card has any cubes on it.

• Yellow — Reactions: These are Reactions that can only be used in response to a specific situation. The required condition is listed in bold, followed by the effect. Reactions cannot be used if the part card has any cubes on it.

• Gray — Passive: These are Passive abilities that allow you to do something whenever the listed condition is met, or change how other actions or reactions resolve. The required condition is listed in bold, followed by the effect. Passive abilities can be used even if a part already has cubes on it. Passive abilities do not apply if the part is disabled, unless the passive ability also appears on the disabled side of the part.

  Some Passive abilities have the "Setup:" condition. These modify your ship's chassis or start of game setup in some way. Apply their effects once at the start of the game; it doesn't matter if this part is later disabled.

Part Card Text

Many actions also have text that describes or modifies how they work. This text applies whenever you perform the part's action, unless it says otherwise.

Part Ability Anatomy

1. Ability Type
2. Cost
3. Icons
4. Card Text

Action and Effect Timing

Many abilities in Snap Ships Tactics apply at specific times. Whenever two or more effects apply to the same roll or situation, the current player resolves all of their effects first. They resolve these in any order they choose. Once they have finished, their opponent resolves all of their effects in any order they choose. Each effect can only be applied once per situation.

Special Actions

These actions have a variety of support effects. Common effects are shown as icons, while unique effects are written out in text. Pay the cost to activate them and follow their instructions.

Some of these actions are not included in the base game, but they are described here for the sake of completeness. These actions are available in expansion content.

Vent Blue

Remove up to the number of power cubes listed from any combination of other parts and return them to your chassis. You may use the cubes again immediately.

Vent Red

Remove up to the number of heat cubes listed from any combination of other parts and return them to the supply.

Vent Blue/Red

Remove up to the number of cubes (power or heat in any combination) listed from any combination of other parts. Power cubes are returned to your chassis while heat cubes are returned to the supply. You may use vented power cubes again immediately.

Target Action (Expansion Content)

When activated, an action with this icon allows you to decrease the Evasion of a ship within the range and firing arc listed. The action indicates how much to reduce the target's Evasion. This can reduce a ship below the Evasion rating printed on its Chassis card, but cannot reduce it below zero.

Example: The Wasp Cockpit's Special action targets a ship directly ahead of you at Range 1-4 and reduces its evasion by 1, to a minimum of 0.

Attacking Multiple Targets (Expansion Content)

The Wasp's Grenade Cluster makes a separate attack against each target within range. When making this attack, perform steps 3-8 of Making an Attack on page 11 for each target.

Mount (Expansion Content)

Mounts change the way another part on your ship works. Symbolize this on your control panel by placing the mount to the left of the Part card that is mounted on it. In this case, the layout of your Part cards matters. As long as the mount is not disabled, it changes how the mounted part works. Some mount effects are actions with costs (Mounts) and others are passive modifiers (Passive Mounts).

Example: The Falx Wings mount improves the hit number of the weapon mounted to it — when you perform an Attack action against a target at Range 1, reduce the hit number by 1.

Torpedoes (Expansion Content)

Torpedoes are specialized missiles with unique cardboard missile tokens. When a ship launches a torpedo, the corresponding cardboard missile token is placed on the Chassis card belonging to the defending ship. Torpedoes have unique missile impact effects described on their Part cards and tokens.

Torpedoes are considered missiles for the purposes of all game effects. They follow all of the same rules as missiles, including missile impacts and anti-missile actions.

Torpedo Card Anatomy:

1. Launch action, with range and firing arc requirements (this generic icon refers to the corresponding unique missile token)
2. Torpedo icon and special ability
3. The Torpedo's unique missile token, with stats

Example: The Mark 48 Shipbreaker torpedo launches 1 torpedo token. Its missile token rolls 2 dice, hits on 0+, deals 4 damage, and converts all hits to critical.

Playing Games with Multiple Ships

With more than the contents of a single Starter Box, Snap Ships Tactics can be played with more than one ship on each side.

For each ship, you will need to insert an ID token into the model's stand, and put a matching Activation token on its control panel. This helps you tell similar ships apart, and matches each ship model to its control panel. You will also use the Initiative token to keep track of which team may go first each round.

Round Sequence

Larger games are played in rounds. During each round, each side takes turns activating one ship at a time until all ships have activated once. After all ships have activated once, the ships are refreshed and play proceeds to the next round. It is not possible to activate the same ship multiple times in a single round.

Beginning with the team that has the Initiative token, they choose one of their ships to activate. They can activate any ship that has not yet been activated this round; they do not activate in order of their ID tokens. The order that ships on a team are activated can also change from one round to the next.

Exceptions

• You may pass if the opposing team has more unactivated ships.
• If a team has no more ships to activate this round, they must pass.
• A team cannot activate the same ship more than once per round.
• The last ship to activate at the end of the round cannot be the first ship to activate on the next round, unless that team has no other options.

Tracking Activations

When that ship has finished its activation, flip its Activation token to the "Done" side. Repeat this process until all ships have been activated this round. When all ships have activated, the round ends. Flip all activation tokens to the "Ready" side and begin a new round.

Claiming Initiative

Whenever a ship is destroyed, the team that lost the ship claims the Initiative token. If that team already has the Initiative token, or if ships from opposite teams are destroyed at the same time (such as during a collision), the Initiative token stays where it is.

Games with AI Ships

In cooperative games against a team of AI ships:

• Whenever it is the AI team's turn to activate a ship, roll to randomly select one that hasn't gone yet. See AI Ship Activation Order on page 26.
• When an AI ship is destroyed, the AI team never claims initiative.

Custom Setup

Use these setup rules when you play with custom ships, more than one ship on each side, or other formats. The first two steps can be done in advance, prior to setting up the game.

1. Determine Format: Players choose a format to play. See Formats on page 31. This will determine the total points available, play area size, deployment areas, and number of terrain tiles used.
2. Construct Squadrons: Players construct their squadron of ships using Chassis and Part cards and build the corresponding ship models. Alternatively, players may choose to use the Preset Ship cards for default combinations of chassis and parts. See Custom Ships on page 20. All ships in a squadron must belong to the same faction.
3. Create Play Area: Clear a flat play area, with a size determined by the chosen format.
4. Form Supply: Place all of the range rulers, movement tools, dice, red heat cubes, and other tokens to the side of the play area, forming a common supply.
5. Create Control Panels: Players reveal their ships and set up their control panels with the following components for each ship, laying them out as shown. a. The Chassis card and Part cards chosen in step 2. b. A Ship Status tracker, setting the Hull and Evasion values to match the ones shown on the Chassis card. Remember these may be modified by parts with passive abilities. c. A number of Blue power cubes as shown on the ship's chassis, placing them on top of the Chassis card.
6. Assign ID Tokens: In games with more than one ship on each side, for each ship: a. Insert an ID token into the ship's stand. b. Place a matching Activation token on that ship's Chassis card with the "Ready" side face-up.

The following steps are if you are not playing with AI opponents:

7. Determine Initiative: One player on each team rolls a die. The player with the highest result decides which team will claim the Initiative token. For this roll, treat blanks as 0 and critical hits as 9. Reroll any ties.
8. Determine Deployment Areas and Terrain: a. The first team chooses a side of the map as their deployment area. The second team uses the opposite edge or area. b. Starting with the second team and alternating teams, each team chooses one terrain tile and places it anywhere in the play area with either side face-up. Terrain tiles must be at least 1 base width from any other terrain tile and from the edge of the play area. Continue placing terrain until all tiles required by the format are in the play area. Return the remaining tiles to the box; they will not be used.
9. Start the Game: The team with initiative begins the game by choosing a ship to deploy and activate (or pass if the opposing team has more unactivated ships).

AI Ship Setup

The following steps are if you are playing with AI opponents:

7. AI Ship Setup: For each individual AI ship, take a Ship Status tracker and the corresponding deck of four AI cards. Shuffle these cards and place them beside the corresponding Ship Status tracker.
8. Determine Initiative: The AI ship (or team) always goes second.
9. Determine Terrain and Deployment Areas: Refer to the terrain setups under Preset Terrain Layouts on page 38 to create the terrain and deployment areas for the match. Players will deploy from one edge, and the AI team will deploy from the opposite edge.
10. Start the Game: The human player team must deploy first.

Solo and Cooperative Play

This Snap Ships Tactics Starter Box can also be played solo, where you pilot one ship against an AI opponent controlled by the game. With additional kits, it can also be played cooperatively with a team of several human players against a team of AI ships.

Automated (AI) Ships

The majority of rules and processes for AI-controlled ships are the same as for player-controlled ships, except that AI ships do not use Part cards, power cubes, or heat cubes to perform actions. Instead, their AI cards provide instructions for which actions to take. All of the previous rules in the rulebook apply, except where superseded by the AI-specific rules in the following sections.

AI Ship Activation Order

Whenever it is the AI team's turn to activate a ship and there are multiple AI ships that have not yet activated this round, randomly determine one to activate. Roll a die for each unactivated ship, and activate the one with the highest roll.

AI Ship Deployment

Just like player ships, AI ships begin the game outside the play area and deploy the first time they activate. When deploying an AI ship, roll a die and consult the deployment diagram to determine where it is placed along the AI Team Starting Edge (reroll blanks): a roll of 1, 2, or 3 deploys at the position nearest the left edge, 4, 5, or 6 deploys at the center position, and a roll of 7, 8, or a critical hit deploys at the position nearest the right edge.

Deploying an AI ship cannot cause an overlap. If it overlaps because there is already a ship in that position, deploy the new ship range 1 away, in whichever direction is still within the play area and closest to a player ship.

Regardless of where the AI ship is deployed, rotate it to face the nearest player ship before activating it.

AI-Specific Icons

Most icons and actions that appear on AI cards are the same as those on part and Chassis cards. There are a few new icons that provide more specific instruction for how the AI should resolve them when performing those actions.

Rotation

Instead of normal rotation icons, AI ships have rotation icons with one or more arrows that show an intended orientation relative to the target. The arrow(s) on the icon correspond to the arc lines on the AI ship's base. Rotate the AI ship the smallest angle possible, up to the rotation number shown, so that the corresponding line on the AI ship's base points toward the target. In all cases, the AI ship only rotates until the intended arc line is lined up to the target's center; any remaining rotation provided by the icon is ignored.

• A red arrow on top means the AI ship will rotate its front to face the target ("Rotate to face target").
• Red arrows on the left and right means the AI ship will turn away from the target, so that its left or right arc line is pointing at the target ("Rotate to align the target to your left or right"). Choose whichever side of the AI ship will rotate it the least.
• A blue arrow on the bottom means the AI ship will turn away from the target, so that its rear arc line points at the target ("Rotate away from target").

U-Turns

When resolving a U-Turn icon, the AI ship will U-turn if doing so places the target in its front 180º arc ("U-Turn to face target"). Otherwise, the AI ship will skip the U-Turn icon.

AI Card Anatomy

Each ship's AI card has the following sections:

Card Back:

1. Ship Name: The name of this ship chassis.
2. Ship Art: An image of the plastic ship chassis with all of the associated preset parts attached.
3. Basic Stats: a. Faction: Which faction this ship belongs to. b. Hull: The total amount of damage the ship can take before being destroyed. c. Size and Type
4. Point Cost: Use this to play against AI ships of similar strength, or for a greater challenge, play against AI ships worth more points.
5. Chassis and Passive Abilities: These are chassis abilities and passive part effects included in the AI ship. They have been rewritten to provide more specific instructions for how the AI should resolve them when applicable.
6. Critical Hit Table: When the AI ship suffers a critical hit, this table determines the effect. "B" means the blank face of the die.

Card Front:

7. Chassis Action, performed at the start of the AI ship's activation: a. Evasion: Reset the AI ship's Evasion to this number. b. Conditional Logic: This chassis movement row will be performed if the target ship meets this criteria, such as being in a specific range or direction. c. Movement Icons: The rotation and/or movement the AI ship must perform.

   Note: Not all AI cards have conditional logic for their chassis movement. If a card only has one row it simply performs that movement.

8. Number of Part Actions: The maximum number of rows on this card that the AI ship can execute each activation.

9. Part Actions: Each possible action the AI can perform during its activation is listed here. In abstract terms, each of these rows represents a different part equipped to the ship. Each action box contains the following sections, left to right: a. Conditional Logic: This action row will be performed if the target ship meets this criteria. Usually, this is an attack, or a range, or a direction. See Conditional Logic Icons on page 28. b. Action icons: These function the same way as those on Part cards, with a few variations that provide more detailed instructions. See AI-Specific Icons, above. c. Bonus ability text: Text that changes how these icons should be resolved. d. Part Image: This has no effect, other than communicating to players which part on the ship the AI is using.

Activating AI Ships

Many of the rules and processes for moving an AI ship are the same as player ships, but some of the details are different. When an AI ship activates, it performs the following steps in order:

1. Determine Target
2. Perform Chassis Action
3. Perform Part Actions
4. Resolve End-of-Activation Effects
5. Discard AI Card

AI Ship Golden Rules

• Whenever a game situation has an unclear outcome, such as a firing arc being too close to definitely measure, rule in favor of giving the AI the advantage.
• AI ships never perform an action that will provide no benefit to them. See Performing Actions, below for details.

1. Determine Target

If there is only one player ship, it will be the target.

If there is more than one player ship, determine which player ship will be the target during this activation. Once determined, that ship remains the target for all further actions during this AI ship's current activation. To determine the target, you may need to measure the direction and range from the AI ship to various player ships. Choose the player ship that:

a. Does not have its base touching the base of the AI ship. b. Is in the front 90º arc of the AI ship. c. Is physically nearest to the AI ship. d. Has the lowest Evasion rating.

2. Perform Chassis Action

This step is almost the same as for a player ship.

a. Draw an AI card from the deck. b. Reset the ship's Evasion to the value shown on the AI card. c. Remove all heat cubes from the AI ship. d. The AI ship performs a chassis move.

• If one row is shown, perform that row.
• If two rows are shown, perform the row that corresponds to the target's current range or direction, by rotating and moving. See Conditional Logic Icons, below. Use the target ship's position as the reference point for rotate toward/rotate away instructions in this sequence.

3. Perform Part Actions

The AI card lists the number of Part Actions the ship will perform this activation, if able. Each action row begins with a conditional logic icon that you need to check to determine if an action can be performed.

The AI ship may only resolve each row once during its activation. Skip rows that have already been performed during this activation.

Conditional Logic Icons

Blank (no icon): No restriction. Always perform this action.

Crosshair: Perform this attack if the target is within the weapon's range and firing arc.

Anti-Missile (with damage threshold):

• If there are missile tokens assigned to the AI ship, count the total damage they will inflict if they all hit. If that total is equal to or greater than the number shown, use this part to perform an anti-missile roll and shoot them down. If there is a modifier as part of the anti-missile icon, apply it to the roll.
• Otherwise, treat this icon like a Crosshair icon, described above.
• If neither of the above are true, skip this row.

Missile: Perform this action if there are missile tokens assigned to the AI ship.

Range: Perform this action if the target ship is currently within this range of the AI ship. Some range icons have a plus at the top, which includes any distance beyond Range 4.

Arc: Perform this action if any part of the target ship is currently within this arc of the AI ship. Note that a target only has to be partially within an arc required to be considered (e.g. a target that is on a line between two possible arcs, such as the front 90º arc and side 90º arc, is considered to be in both arcs).

Performing Actions

For each action, check the conditional logic icons for each part action row, starting from the first row and proceeding down the card. Perform the first part action whose criteria are met.

After performing an action, check to see if the AI ship has part actions remaining. If it does, begin again with the first part action at the top of the card, checking the conditional logic and continuing down the card. Repeat these steps as many times as the number of part actions on the AI card allows, and realize that the conditional logic may apply differently each time.

For instance, after a ship moves and/or rotates, it may now be in range and arc to attack.

Activating AI Ships — Example Turn

An AI Scarab Interceptor activates. Players draw the following card from the top of its deck and resolve its actions.

Chassis Action: Scarab resets its evasion to 3, then does its Chassis movement by rotating 1 toward Sabre and moving Short. Next, Scarab will perform 2 part actions.

The AI will not perform actions that provide no benefit. Skip those rows. For example, an AI ship that has 6 Evasion will not perform an action that only provides Evasion, or an AI ship that is already facing its target precisely will ignore further instructions to rotate toward that target.

If the AI ship has any Special Damage tokens, its actions will be limited. See Special Damage Token Effects on page 30.

If no rows have conditional logic that matches, or it has already performed those rows, the AI ship performs no further part actions. If the AI ship still has remaining actions, spend them all as follows:

1. If the ship has any Critical Damage tokens, spend actions to remove them, 1 Critical Damage token per action.
2. If the ship has any heat cubes on its chassis, spend actions to remove them, 1 heat cube per action.
3. If the AI ship has no Critical Damage tokens or heat cubes, the remaining actions have no effect and are ignored. They do not carry over onto future activations.

First Part Action: Starting at the top of the list, there are no missiles currently assigned to the ship and no target within range to attack. Similarly because there are no missiles assigned to Scarab, it also skips the second row. For the third row, Sabre is within the left/right 90º arc requirement, so Scarab will use its rotate 2 to align itself directly toward Sabre.

Second Part Action: Starting at the top of the priority list again, players check to see if Sabre is now within the firing arc and range — it is! (If it wasn't, Scarab would end up performing the 4th row instead). Players determine the target number for the attack to be 4 (2 for this weapon, plus Sabre's evasion of 2). The AI rolls the attack, getting a 3 and a 6: 1 hit for 2 total damage.

The AI has performed 2 part actions. Resolve end-of-activation effects, then discard the AI card.

4. Resolve End-of-Activation Effects

This step is exactly the same as for a player ship, and is commonly used for resolving missile impacts.

5. Discard AI Card

Place the AI card in a discard pile beside its deck. If only one card remains in the AI deck, reshuffle the remaining card with all of the discarded AI cards for that chassis and form a new deck.

AI Ship Movement Exceptions

AI Ship Collisions

When an AI ship is involved in a collision with another ship, it is always positioned on the opposite side of the other ship's base, in a straight line along the direction it was currently traveling. If the AI ship cannot be placed there because it would fly off a board edge or overlap another ship base, place it as close as possible to the intended location.

If an AI ship collides with an opposing ship, roll for damage as usual. AI ships do not roll for damage when colliding with other AI ships on their team.

Example: Scarab's Long Move will overlap the Sabre. Scarab AI chooses to be placed in a straight line, on the far side of Sabre.

AI Ships Leaving the Play Area

AI ships avoid leaving the play area if it's reasonable for them to do so. When an AI ship performs a Chassis movement or rotation that will cause it to leave the play area, first check to see if that action can be performed in a way that does not leave the play area. If it can, the AI resolves the action that way. For example:

• The AI is adjacent to an edge and performs a "turn away" icon as part of its chassis move. This rotation should be limited to an angle that keeps the AI parallel to the edge.
• The AI has a move icon with three possible directions. The direction it is instructed to perform will cause it to overlap the edge of the play area, so it must choose one of the other options if doing so will not overlap the edge of the play area.

If the only option for resolving an action still causes the AI ship to overlap the edge of the play area, it follows the same steps as a player-controlled ship: It stops at the edge, reduces Evasion by 1, and rotates 2 increments (90º) if doing so will align its forward facing more toward its target.

AI Ship Heat and Damage

AI Ships Dealing Critical Hits and Disabling Parts

When an AI ship attacks a player ship and inflicts a critical hit, roll for the location as usual. If the AI would choose the location, it selects a part to disable based on the following criteria:

1. The part with the most heat cubes.
2. If tied, the part with the fewest power cubes.
3. If tied, any part that cannot be repaired.
4. If still tied, the defender chooses between the tied parts.

AI Ships Suffering Critical Hits

Since AI ships do not use Part cards, their AI decks include a critical hit table to determine the effects of critical hits. For each critical hit, roll for the location and check the table on the back of the AI's deck to determine the effects of the roll. "B" means a blank die result.

• -1 Action icon: Place a Special Damage token beside the AI ship, with the -1 Action side face-up.
• Critical Damage icon: Place a Special Damage token beside the AI ship, with the critical damage side face-up.
• Damage icon(s): The AI ship suffers this much additional damage. This is an abstraction of the heat it would have onboard from performing its actions during its last activation.

Example: The critical damage table on the Scarab Interceptor deck. Location rolls of blank, 1, 2, or 3 apply a -1 Action token, results of 4-8 also apply damage, and critical hit results apply a Critical Damage token.

Special Damage Token Effects

• Each -1 Action token reduces the number of actions the AI ship performs the next time it activates. If an AI ship gains one during its activation (for example, due to a collision), apply its effect immediately. At the end of the AI ship's activation, remove all of these tokens.
• Each Critical Damage token allows players to selectively prevent AI actions. Whenever the AI would resolve a part action, players may remove 1 of these tokens to prevent the AI from performing that action. This row is still considered to be resolved and must be skipped on future actions for this activation. An AI ship's chassis action row cannot be prevented. Critical Damage tokens remain assigned to an AI ship until players choose to remove them, or until the AI ship has actions remaining and no further Part Actions to perform.

AI Ships Gaining Heat

Whenever an AI ship gains heat through any means, those heat cubes are placed with its AI deck. If the AI ship suffers any critical hits before its next activation, remove all of those heat cubes and deal it one additional damage for each heat cube. When the ship is next activated, remove any heat cubes next to the AI deck and place them back in the supply. For every 2 heat removed, assign the AI ship a -1 Action token. Removing a single heat cube has no effect.

AI Ships Dealing Heat

When an AI ship attacks a player ship with a weapon that places heat, such as with the Wasp's DB8-Proton Cannon, place the heat on the part that:

1. Does not currently have any heat cubes (if no such part exists, this effect is ignored and does not add any further heat).
2. Has the most power cubes currently on it.
3. If there are still multiple options, the affected player chooses between the tied parts.

Formats

Duel

Two ships meet on the battlefield to see which will triumph.

• Players: 2. You can play this format solo by having the AI control one ship. See AI Ship Setup on page 25.
• Objective: Destroy your opponent's ship.
• Build Points: Both sides use one ship with equal point cost. Recommended at 3, 4, or 5 points.
• Play Area: 3x3 feet (90x90cm).
• Deployment: Ships deploy from opposite edges.
• Terrain: Any 5 tiles.

Scenario

Choose one of the scenarios on pages 32-37. Each Scenario has its own supported player count and setup.

Dogfight

Two squadrons clash in a test of overall balance and synergy between their ships. This format can be played by two players or potentially two teams of any size as long as each player controls at least one ship. Some additional rules apply with larger squadrons; see Playing Games with Multiple Ships on page 24.

You can also play these formats cooperatively by making one team entirely AI ships, and working together to defeat it. See AI Ship Setup on page 25.

• Players: 2-4
• Objective: Destroy all ships in the opposing squadron.

There are two recommended sizes for this format:

Small Dogfight

• Build Points: 8 or 12 points per team.
• Play Area: 3x3 feet (90x90cm).
• Deployment: Teams deploy from opposite edges.
• Terrain: Any 5 tiles

Large Dogfight (requires more than 1 Starter Box)

• Build Points: 16 points per team.
• Play Area: 4x4 feet (120x120cm) or 6x3 feet (180x90cm)
• Deployment: Teams deploy from opposite edges (use long 6' sides).
• Terrain: Any 9 tiles

Scenario: Asteroid Scramble

Briefing: "Attention pilots! Command has confirmed valuable materials in the Signus sector after a… ...reported contact on long range sensors. These materials are on R&D's wishlist and could be a tremendous asset to develop some new tech. Be warned! They're going to be a challenge to recover due to their super-heated and unstable nature. Not to mention the threat of… . You've got mere minutes until solar flare activity in the sector makes this retrieval impossible! Scramble!"

Play Modes

• Solo
• Cooperative
• 1v1 Head-to-Head
• Teams Head-to-Head

Objective

In order to be victorious, one team has to have more resources in their possession, either on their ships or in their stockpile, when the end of game is triggered. The game ends either at the end of round 6 or when one team has no ships remaining. If both teams are tied when the game ends, the player or team with the most remaining hull points wins.

Setup

Follow the steps under Custom Setup on page 25, with the following changes:

• Terrain: Players create a play area using exactly 3 asteroid fields and 2 debris fields, following the standard procedure with the following exception: the asteroid fields must be placed first, and they must be at least range 2 from either team's deployment edge.
• Heat Cubes: After placing terrain, place a die on each asteroid to track its available supply of superheated resources (heat cubes). The number of superheated resources on each asteroid depends on the total point value of the ships for each team:
  • 3-5 points per team: 5 resources per asteroid
  • 6+ points per team: 7 resources per asteroid
• Game Length: This scenario lasts a maximum of 6 rounds. Create a stack of 6 beacon tokens and remove 1 each round to keep track.

Scenario Special Rules

Near-Solar Orbit

In this scenario, heat cubes are not placed on ship parts when using them. This close to the sun, heat build-up is hazardous to ships. For each heat cube you would place one of your ship parts, immediately roll a die instead of placing heat. Each result of 5 or more (including a critical hit) deals your ship 1 hull damage. A critical hit rolled this way does not disable a part.

Mining Resources

Superheated resources (heat cubes) are buried deep within asteroids. You'll have to use Attack actions to extract them; no other means of dealing damage (ramming, launching missiles, etc) will mine resources.

Asteroids have 0 Evasion and unlimited hull. They can be targeted by Attack actions, but only by ships that do not already overlap the tile. Missiles cannot be used to mine asteroids.

Asteroids reduce the total damage taken from each attack by 1. Each remaining point of damage decreases the asteroid's supply die by 1 and places 1 heat cube on the asteroid tile. After the supply die is reduced to zero, no further resources can be mined from this asteroid; you can never mine more resources than the number remaining on the supply die.

Asteroid Fields — Gathering Resources

When a ship enters an asteroid tile, it must choose: Apply the normal effect of the asteroid, OR collect any number of resources from that tile. Place the collected resources on its chassis card. There is no limit to the number of resources a ship may carry.

Carrying and Stealing Resources

Carrying unstable resources poses a great risk. Whenever a ship carrying resources takes damage (except by heat cubes per Near-Solar Orbit above), check for any critical hits. Resolve critical hits normally, then apply the following two effects for each critical hit:

1. The ship must transfer 1 heat cube resource it is carrying to the attacking ship (or to the other ship, in the case of a collision).
2. The ship suffers damage equal to the number of resources it currently carries.

Destroyed Ships

When a ship is destroyed, it must transfer all resources it carries to the ship that destroyed it. That ship is either the attacker, the other ship involved in a collision, or a ship responsible for launching missiles that caused the damage. In the rare case that the destroying ship is no longer in play (i.e. it was already destroyed by missiles), all resources on the destroyed ship are returned to the box instead.

Debris Fields — Stockpiling Resources

When a ship overlaps a debris field, it transfers one resource it carries from its chassis card to its team's stockpile. This is in addition to the normal effect of the debris field. Place the resource in a pile on your edge of the play area. Stockpiled resources are now locked in your possession for the rest of the scenario and cannot be stolen.

AI Ships

When determining their target for any action, AI ships look at the total number of resources held by asteroids (shown on its supply die + resources on the tile) and resources carried by opposing ships. The AI ship targets the asteroid or ship with the highest resource total. It will never target an asteroid it overlaps.

If an AI ship overlaps a debris field, it will stockpile one resource if possible.

Scenario: Beacon Rush

Briefing: "Alright, listen up you hotshots! Here's your chance to test your reflexes by dashing through a little obstacle course our techs set up. You think you have what it takes to outfly the rest of the squad? Each beacon is worth some points, but let me warn you - these are slippery little targets and they'll jam your ship's systems. You gotta overlap 'em to score points, but you won't know what each beacon is worth until you grab it, or until you take a shot at it. When all beacons have been scooped up, the pilot who tags the highest point total wins!"

Play Modes

• Solo
• Cooperative
• 1v1 Head-to-Head
• Teams Head-to-Head
• Multiplayer Free-For-All

Player and Ship Count

For up to 4 total ships (up to 4 players free-for-all, or 2 teams of 2). Use a play area of 3x3 feet (90 x 90cm), 5 terrain tiles, and 8 beacon tokens.

With a second Starter Box, you can play with up to 8 total ships (2 teams of 3, or 4 teams of 2). In this case, use a play area of 4x4 or 3x6 feet (120x120cm or 90x180cm), 9 terrain tiles, and two sets of beacons (16 beacons total, with two copies of each number).

Objective

You win by collecting beacons and accumulating the highest score. The scenario ends immediately when all Beacons have been collected.

Setup

Follow the steps under Custom Setup on page 25, with the following changes:

• Players or teams should field an equal number of ships, but may field ships worth unequal points. At the end of the scenario, each team subtracts the total point value of their ships from their final score.
• Choose one corner of the play area to be the deployment area for all ships. When a ship activates for the first time, it deploys touching both edges in that corner.
• After placing terrain, place the beacons. a. Take the numbered beacon tokens and mix them with the number face-down. b. Starting with the second player and proceeding clockwise, each player places a beacon touching any edge of a terrain tile (but not overlapping it). Beacons must be at least one base-length apart, and may not be within a base-length of the edge of the play area.

Scenario Special Rules

Collecting Beacons

A ship can only collect a single beacon per activation. After you vent cubes from your ship during your chassis action, you may spend 1 power to collect a beacon you overlap:

1. Pick up the beacon token, look at it, and place it beside your ship's chassis face-down. You may always check the value of your own beacons.
2. Place the power cube spent to collect the beacon on top of the collected token. This power cube cannot be used for the rest of the scenario.

Attacking Beacons

You may attack beacon tokens within your weapon's range and firing arc that you do not overlap. Beacons have 3 Evasion. If at least one die is a hit, the attacker peeks at the number on the back of the beacon token and returns it face-down to the same position.

Non-Lethal Weapons

Ships cannot suffer hull damage during this scenario, and all critical hit results are ignored. Any time a ship would suffer one or more hull damage from an attack, it disables a single part instead (roll a critical hit location). If this disables a part with one or more heat cubes, disable an additional part. This effect can repeat, resulting in a chain of disabled parts.

Non-Lethal Weapons vs. AI Ships

For damage against AI ships, roll on the critical hit table but ignore all damage icons. An AI Ship can only receive a maximum of 1 special damage token from each attack.

AI Ships

AI ships treat beacons as their target instead of player ships for everything but attacks. Whenever an AI ship evaluates an Attack action, it will make that attack against the nearest opposing ship within range and arc (if there is one) regardless of where the nearest beacon is.

In addition, AI ships treat all "Rotate away from target" icons as "Rotate to face target" icons during this scenario.

Final Scoring

Each beacon is worth the points printed on the token. Each player or team adds up the value of the tokens they've collected and subtracts the point total of their ship(s). The player or team with the highest point total wins. If the scores are tied, the tied player or team holding the lowest-point token wins.

Scenario: Last Stand

Briefing: "The Komplex did everything they could to steal from us, harvesting technology from our ships to build better killing machines constructed specifically to foster our destruction. It's time to turn the tide and see what we can steal from them. The Komplex tech is difficult to integrate, but not impossible. And if it might give us a fighting chance against those demons, we have to take it."

Play Modes

• Solo
• Cooperative

Objective

In this scenario, players must survive against three waves of Komplex AI ships.

• If all Komplex ships in Wave 3 are destroyed, all players win.
• If any player is destroyed before the third wave, all players lose.

Setup

This scenario follows the Custom Setup on page 25 for a cooperative or solo game against the AI, with the following changes:

1. Player Ship Setup: Each player builds a Forge ship following standard build rules. The point value of your chosen chassis card determines the difficulty level of the Last Stand scenario. Players may field ships of different point values if desired. a. 3-points: hard b. 4-points: normal c. 5 points: easy d. 6+ points: training
2. Determine First Wave: a. Each player rolls a die and refers to the Wave 1 table (see Scenario Special Rules, next page). Note: You can play this scenario with only the contents of the starter box using the first 3 rows of the table. If your roll on the Wave table results in a ship you don't have, reroll. b. For each die result, gather the listed AI deck and build the corresponding ship.
3. Salvage Deck: Take all the Komplex Part cards in your collection and shuffle them to form a deck. Place this Salvage deck beside the play area.

Scenario Special Rules

Waves

Some ships in the table below have a variable amount of hull points. When you set up this ship, alter its starting hull points by the value shown.

Die Roll	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3
1	Scarab KLAW Interceptor, -4 hull	Scarab KLAW Interceptor	Scarab KLAW Interceptor, +4 hull
2	Scarab KLAW Attack Striker, -4 hull	Scarab KLAW Attack Striker	Scarab KLAW Attack Striker, +4 hull
3	Scarab KLAW Light Fighter, -4 hull	Scarab KLAW Light Fighter	Scarab KLAW Light Fighter, +4 hull
4	Locust KLAW Stealth Craft	Locust KLAW Stealth Craft, +3 hull	Locust KLAW Stealth Craft, +6 hull
5	Locust KLAW Close Support Fighter	Locust KLAW Close Support Fighter, +3 hull	Locust KLAW Close Support Fighter, +6 hull
6	reroll	reroll	Wasp KLAW Heavy Fighter
7	reroll	reroll	Wasp KLAW Deep Recon
8	reroll	reroll	Wasp KLAW Fighter Bomber
Blank or Critical	Player choice	Player choice	Player choice

Salvaging Destroyed Komplex Ships

After all Komplex ships in a Wave are destroyed, each player salvages by performing the following steps:

1. Gain 6 hull points. This can exceed your ship's starting hull.
2. Choose one of the following:
   • Increase the power stat of your ship's chassis by 1. Take 1 power cube from the supply and add it to your ship's chassis card.
   • Increase the vent stat of your ship chassis by 1. Place 1 beacon token on your ship's chassis card as a reminder.
3. Draw 5 Komplex part cards from the salvage deck and choose one to add to your ship's console, ignoring slot restrictions. Return the unchosen part cards to the bottom of the salvage deck.

Ending a Wave

When all Komplex ships in the current Wave have been destroyed and salvaged, players finish the current round before determining the composition of the next Wave.

Roll a die but use the Wave column that corresponds to the number of the new Wave (Wave 2 or Wave 3). Once all Komplex ships for the next Wave are ready, players begin a new round. All player ships will already be in the play area, but the new AI ships deploy normally as they activate.

Preset Terrain Layouts

When playing solo or cooperatively against an AI opponent, you will need to randomize the terrain setup by following the procedure below. This is instead of alternating placing terrain with a human opponent. Alternatively, players may agree to use this process instead of the terrain setup rules presented in the Custom Setup instructions.

Tip: These terrain diagrams are divided into thirds. Each third of the map roughly corresponds to the length of a Range-2 ruler, but don't worry about placing the tiles with perfect accuracy.

Randomized Terrain

Roll a die to select a random terrain setup from those shown (numbered 1 through 8, with a critical hit result giving a ninth layout, and a blank result rerolled) and set up the tiles as shown in the corresponding preset diagram. Then, roll a second die to randomly determine which edge your team deploys from — a result of 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, or 7-8 selects one of the four edges. The AI team (or second player) will deploy from the opposite edge.

Important Terms

Action: Paying a part's cost to do something, such as Move or Attack. AI ships have a set number of actions to perform on their cards each time they activate.

Blank: Dice face that counts as a miss. Abbreviated as "B" on AI critical hit tables.

Control Panel: A term that refers to a ship's set of Chassis card, Part cards, power cubes, and Ship Status Tracker.

Chassis: Large square card representing your ship's basic capabilities.

Collision: When two ship bases would overlap.

Cost: The power and/or heat cubes required to perform a Part's action.

Critical Hit: A Hit that also disables a part.

Disabled: The backside of a part card with battle-damage artwork.

Evasion: A rating that indicates how difficult it is to hit a ship. The minimum value is 0 and the maximum value is 6.

Flank: When the attacker's base is completely within the rear 180º arc of the defender's base.

Hard Cover: A defensive bonus from terrain tiles that provides -1 total damage per attack.

Heat: Red cubes stored in the game's supply. These are not token-limited; use a substitute if you run out.

Heat Cost: The number of red cubes shown on a part's cost.

Hit Number: The lowest number an attacker needs to roll to count as a hit.

Hit: A successful die result in an attack. It deals damage. Some weapons have effects that trigger for each Hit.

Hull: Represents a ship's durability. Ships are destroyed when their hull reaches 0.

Part: Narrow cards that represent the plastic pieces attached to your ship and give it actions or passive abilities.

Power: The number of blue cubes a ship has available to perform actions.

Power Cost: The number of blue cubes shown on a part's cost.

Range: The shortest distance between two ship bases, measured using one or more Range Rulers. For attacks, the range must be measured within the weapon's firing arc.

Rear: When the attacker's base is completely within the rear 90º arc of the defender's base.

Size: An abstract representation of how large your ship is. Referenced during collisions and by some parts.

Soft Cover: A defensive bonus from terrain tiles that provides +2 to the hit number for the defender.

Special Damage Token: Token used by the AI to indicate it has suffered -1 action or critical damage.

Vent: The act of clearing a cube from a part. Power cubes are returned to the chassis and are freed up for future use while heat cubes are returned to the supply.

Quick Reference

Ship Activation Steps

1. Chassis Action (left to right): a. Reset Evasion Step: Reset Evasion to base rating. b. Vent Step: Vent Power and/or Heat cubes from parts. c. Movement Step: You may Rotate but must Move.
2. Part Actions: Spend available power to activate parts.
   • Only one action box per card.
   • Actions and Reactions on parts with any cubes cannot be used again until vented (Passives can still be used).
3. End-of-Activation Effects (Missile Impacts, page 14)

Collisions: Overlapping Other Ship Bases

1. Place your ship in any position touching the blocking ship, do not change facing. Lose remaining icons in your current action.
2. Both ships roll dice equal to their size. Each result of 5 or more inflicts 1 damage to the other ship (critical hits still apply).
3. Resolve abilities that affect collision results.
4. Resolve Terrain overlap effects.

Collisions: Leaving the Play Area

1. Place the ship's base fully within the play area, touching the edge, closest to the point where it overlapped the edge. Lose remaining icons in your current action.
2. Reduce the ship's Evasion by 1.
3. You may Rotate your ship exactly 2 increments (90º) left or right.

Making Attacks

1. Determine Target(s)
2. Pay Cost
3. Determine Hit Number
4. Roll Dice
5. Reroll & Modify Dice
6. Deal Damage
7. Apply Hit Effects
8. Resolve Critical Hits

Attack Modifiers

• Flank (-1 to hit): Attacker is fully within target's rear 180º
• Rear (Flank & +1 total damage): Attacker is also fully within target's rear 90º
• Soft/Hard Cover: If a terrain tile is between ships (along the shortest line within arc), and the attacker does not overlap it.

AI Conditional Logic Icons

• Blank (always do this)
• Crosshair (attack if able)
• Anti-Missile (if assigned missiles will do this much damage or more) or Crosshair otherwise
• Missile (if any assigned missiles)
• Range (if target is at this range)
• Arc (if any part of target is in this arc)

Icon Reference

• Power cube (from chassis)
• Heat cube (from supply)
• Vent 1 Power
• Vent 1 Heat
• Vent any 1 cube
• Hull
• Evasion
• Target loses Evasion
• Variable cost
• Missile Quality
• Rotate up to 1 increment (45º)
• Rotate 0 or 4 increments (0º or 180º) (U-Turn)
• Move Short (straight ahead)
• Move Long (either direction)

Attack Icons

Firing Arc, Range, Hit Number, Dice, and Damage.

Ranges

Range 1 only, Range 1-3, Range 2-3.

Missile Types

Light, Heavy, Heat, Torpedo.

Anti-Missile

Roll 1 die per missile token on you or another ship at Range 1. Destroy it if you roll equal to or greater than its missile quality.

Firing Arcs

Line, 45º, 90º, 180º, 270º, 360º, Rear 180º, Rear 270º, Side 90º.

Terrain Tile Effects

• Soft Cover: +2 To Hit
• Hard Cover: -1 Total Damage
• Ice Cloud — On overlap: Vent 1 Power or Heat cube.
• Debris Cloud — On overlap: gain +1 Evasion.
• Asteroid Field — On overlap: make a free Anti-Missile roll.
• Tycho's Rift — On overlap: Do an immediate Long move in the same direction of travel.