Game Objective

In Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, players are divided into two opposing factions. The Human players must successfully jump the fleet enough times to reach Kobol to win the game. Conversely, the Cylons aim to destroy the fleet by depleting its resources, invading the ship, or destroying the vessel itself.

Setup

Follow these steps to prepare the game board and components:

• Dials: Set Food and Fuel to 8, Morale to 10, and Population to 12.
• Ships: Place 8 vipers and 4 raptors in the Viper and Raptor Reserves. Place 1 basestar and 3 raiders in front of Galactica, 1 viper in each space below Galactica, and 2 civilian ships behind it.
• Tracks and Tokens: Place the Fleet token on the start space of the Jump Preparation track. Place all other tokens facedown next to the board.
• Character Selection: A randomly chosen first player takes the Current Player token. Proceeding clockwise, players choose a character of the most plentiful type (political leader, military leader, or pilot). Support characters may be chosen at any time. Place the character token on the location specified on their character sheet.
• Titles: The President title card is given to the first available player in the order: Laura Roslin, Gaius Baltar, and Tom Zarek. The Admiral title card is given to the first available player in the order: William Adama, Saul Tigh, and Helo Agathon. The Admiral receives 2 nuke tokens, and the President shuffles the Quorum deck and draws one Quorum card.
• Loyalty: Remove the You Are a Sympathizer card from the Loyalty deck. Separate the deck into You Are Not a Cylon and You are a Cylon piles. Shuffle the You Are a Cylon pile and deal the appropriate number of cards based on player count:
  • 3 players: 1 Cylon / 5 Not Cylon
  • 4 players: 1 Cylon / 6 Not Cylon
  • 5 players: 2 Cylon / 8 Not Cylon
  • 6 players: 2 Cylon / 9 Not Cylon
  Add 1 extra You Are Not a Cylon card for each Gaius Baltar or Sharon Valerii playing. In 4 or 6 player games, add the You Are a Sympathizer card back into the deck. Shuffle and deal 1 Loyalty card facedown to each player.
• Decks: Shuffle the Quorum deck, Crisis deck, Super Crisis deck, and Destination deck. Separate Skill cards into 5 decks by type and place them below the matching colored regions on the board. Place the Kobol Objective card faceup next to the Destination deck.
• Initial Skills: Each player (except the starting player) draws 3 Skill cards they are eligible for. The starting player draws at the start of their turn. Deal 2 Skill cards of each type facedown onto the Destiny deck space and shuffle.

Game Flow

Players take complete turns in clockwise order. A turn consists of the following steps:

1. Receive Skills: Draw the number and types of Skill cards listed on your character sheet. Revealed Cylons draw 2 Skill cards of any type.
2. Movement: Move to a different location. Moving between Galactica and Colonial One requires discarding 1 Skill card. Human characters cannot move to Cylon locations, and revealed Cylons may only move to Cylon locations.
3. Action: Choose one action from your location, character sheet, Skill cards, Title or Quorum cards. Revealed Cylons may reveal a You are a Cylon card as an action.
4. Crisis: Draw and resolve the top card of the Crisis deck. These are either Cylon attacks, skill checks, or events.
5. Activate Cylon Ships: If any are in play, activate them based on the icon on the Crisis card.
6. Prepare for Jump: If the Crisis card has the prepare for jump icon, advance the fleet token one space up the Jump Preparation track. If it reaches the end, the fleet jumps.
7. End of Turn: Pass the Current Player token to the left. Discard down to 10 Skill cards if necessary.

Note: Revealed Cylons do not participate in the last three steps (Activate Cylon Ships, Prepare for Jump, and Crisis drawing) unless specifically stated otherwise in expansion rules.

Actions and How to Play

Available Actions

• Activate Location: Perform the action listed on your current location.
• Skill Card Action: Play a Skill card with an "Action:" text.
• Character Action: Perform an action listed on your character sheet.
• Activate Viper: If piloting a viper, you may move or attack a Cylon ship.
• Title and Quorum Cards: Perform an action on a Title or Quorum card you possess.

Skill Checks

When a skill check is triggered, follow these steps:

1. Read the card; the current player, President, or Admiral may make choices if required.
2. Deal 2 cards from the Destiny deck into a common pile.
3. Players (starting left of the current player) may play any number of Skill cards facedown into the pile.
4. Shuffle the pile and divide into matching (required color) and non-matching piles.
5. Subtract the total strength of the non-matching pile from the matching pile.
6. If the final strength equals or exceeds the difficulty, it is a pass. Otherwise, it is a fail (or a partial pass if that number is met).

Piloting Vipers

Characters with piloting skills can move to the Hangar Deck and use the action there to launch a viper. While piloting, the player moves the viper during the Movement step and may activate the viper (move or attack) during the Action step. If a viper is damaged or destroyed, the character is sent to the Sickbay.

End of Game and Scoring

Human Victory

Humans win if they successfully jump the fleet enough times to reach Kobol. When the total distance on Destination cards equals or exceeds 8 for the first time, the Kobol Objective card instructions are followed. The humans win the next time they jump, provided all their resources are above 0.

Cylon Victory

The Cylons win immediately if any of the following occur:

• Resource Depletion: Any resource (Food, Fuel, Morale, or Population) is reduced to 0 or less at the end of a player's turn.
• Centurion Invasion: At least one centurion token reaches the end of the Boarding Party track.
• Galactica Destroyed: 6 or more locations on Galactica have damage tokens simultaneously.

Tips for Winning

• Manage the Jump: Use the FTL Control location to force a jump if the marker is on a blue space, but be aware that rolling a 6 or lower on a D8 will result in population loss.
• Viper Coordination: Use the Command location to launch and move vipers to protect civilian ships, as raiders will prioritize attacking vipers before targeting civilians.
• Skill Contribution: During skill checks, discuss the need for specific colors without revealing the exact strength of your cards to coordinate the best chance of success.