📖 HOW TO PLAY

Playing on ALPHASIDE

• Deploy: your first activation puts the unit on your Base. You cannot end an activation on the Base — move at least one hex first (Core Rulebook p.12).
• Advance: click your unit, then a hex — or press the Advance button (W). It is a free move, so you can Advance before or after your Primary Action.
• Primary Action: Attack, Dash, Energize or Rescue — one per activation. The group greys out once you've used it.
• Area weapons: pick the weapon, then sweep the board — the area follows your cursor and targets light up. Click to fire, X to cancel.
• Tactics cards: unplayable cards are greyed out with the reason written on them. Click a card in a squad listing to see everything it does.
• Shortcuts: W Advance · A Attack · D Dash · E Energize · R Rescue · C Command · T Tactics · V Emotes · X Cancel · M Menu · Space End turn.
• Tables: public or private with a code. Ranked needs a Discord account and 10 placement games. Solo vs AI is unranked and adapts to your level.

Goal of the game

A game lasts 2 Phases of 10 rounds each (the host can choose a different number of Phases). You score victory points (VP) by defeating enemy units and Garrisons, rescuing your own Garrisons and controlling Objectives at the end of each Phase. The player with the most VP at the end wins. If the scores are tied, the last player to act wins.

Squad & Tactics deck

• Squad: 3 or 5 units, depending on the table. You cannot take two copies of the same unit (same name and title) unless it is Mass Produced.
• Tactics deck: exactly 9 cards for a 2-Phase game, +3 cards per extra Phase (12 for 3 Phases, 15 for 4…). One copy of each card.
• Signature cards need the matching unit in your squad; faction cards (Zeon, Earth Federation…) need at least one unit of that faction.
• You draw 3 cards at the start, and 3 more at the end of every Phase except the last.

The Timeline

Each unit has a token on the Timeline track (spaces 1 to 10). Play goes space by space: every unit on space 1 acts, then space 2, and so on. Empty spaces are skipped.

• Almost every action has a TL cost: your token moves forward that many spaces, paid as soon as you declare the action.
• Moving past space 10 wraps around to space 1 of the next Phase.
• Several of your units on the same space form a stack: the top one acts first, and a token that arrives later goes underneath. You choose which unit deploys first when several start on the same space.
• When both players have units on the same space, they alternate, and the player who acted most recently goes last.
• A Phase ends when no token is left in it. Objectives then score, and everyone draws 3 Tactics cards.

Activating a unit

Units start in your Reserve. The first time a unit activates it deploys on your Base, and it must leave the Base before the end of its activation. During an activation you:

You may also Advance once (free move of 3 hexes + Speed), use each Command ability once, and play one Tactics card.

Movement

• Move hex by hex. You cannot end where you started, and you cannot stop on a unit, a Garrison or a Base.
• You can move through allies, but not through enemy units, Garrisons or Bases.
• Engaged: adjacent to an enemy unit or Garrison at the same elevation. A move that starts while Engaged has −1 hex. An Engaged unit must include an Engaged enemy in any attack.
• Speed Upgrades only add hexes to Advance, never to Dash or other moves.

Elevation & terrain

Hover ignores terrain and elevation movement penalties.

Attacking

Each weapon shows TL cost ⏱, Range and Strength (number of dice). An attack goes:

1. Declare the weapon and the target (range and Line of Sight are checked).
2. Pay the TL cost.
3. [Before Attack Roll] responses.
4. Roll the dice.
5. [After Attack Roll] responses (Disarm is resolved last).
6. Critical effects.
7. Damage = hits − Shields (Fracture triggers here). A unit at 0 HP is defeated.
8. [After Combat Damage] responses.

Line of Sight

Needed for any attack or ability at range 2+ (not for adjacent targets, nor for effects "within X hexes"). Draw a line between hex centres. It is blocked by:

• terrain higher than both units;
• when the two units are at different heights: terrain at the height of the higher unit;
• enemies of the attacker (units, Garrisons, Bases) at the height of the higher unit. Your own allies never block, and you can shoot over enemies standing lower.

If the line runs exactly between two hexes, the attacker picks the more favourable one.

Dice, Accuracy & Crits

• Dice are d10. A die hits on 4+.
• Accuracy adds to or subtracts from each die, except that a 1 always misses.
• 9–10 are critical hits: they always hit and trigger the weapon's critical effect (once per attack). Some abilities also count 7–8 as crits.

Damage, Shields & defeat

• Each hit deals 1 damage. Damage+X effects add to that combat damage.
• Each active Shield blocks 1 damage, then flips off. Shields come back at the start of the unit's next activation. They also block collision and ability damage.
• A defeated unit goes back to the Reserve, its token moves +2 TL, it recovers full HP and loses its status effects. It keeps its Energy and Upgrades. The opponent scores its VP value.

Area of effect

Weapons with a pattern hit every enemy in the chosen hexes (range and Line of Sight still apply, but units do not block the Line of Sight of an area attack). There is one roll for the whole attack, and hits are worked out target by target. While Engaged, the pattern must include an Engaged enemy.

Abilities & Tactics cards

Some responses let a unit act during the opponent's turn (e.g. Return Fire). The opponent waits until the reaction is over. "Can't" effects always beat "can" effects.

Status effects

🐌 Slow

The next time the unit Advances, it moves 0 hexes. Then Slow is removed. Dash is not affected.

🔥 Fracture

The next time the unit takes 3+ combat damage from one attack, it takes 3 more. Then Fracture is removed.

🚫 Disarm

On its next attack, the unit re-rolls every hit and cannot trigger critical effects. Then Disarm is removed.

A unit can only have one of each status at a time.

Push & Pull

• Push: each hex must take the target further from the source. Pull: each hex must bring it closer. An enemy already adjacent at the same height cannot be Pulled.
• Neither can move a target onto higher ground. If the target runs into terrain, a unit or a Garrison, it stops and everyone involved takes 2 damage (Shields apply).

Upgrades & Energy

• Upgrades and Energy on the map are collected by ending a move on them.
• Strength: +1 die to all attacks. Speed: +1 hex when Advancing. Shield: see above.
• Energy pays for abilities marked ⚡. It is not an Upgrade.

Objectives & Garrisons

• A unit that ends its activation on or next to an Objective contests it. If your side has more units around it, you take a neutral Objective, or turn an enemy one back to neutral.
• Capture effects take control immediately.
• Garrisons have 1 HP. Destroy enemy ones (+2 VP) or Rescue your own (+2 VP). Enemy Garrisons block movement and Line of Sight, and cause Engagement.

Victory points

Glossary

Adjacent

Touching hexes. Adjacent attacks and abilities do not need Line of Sight.

Advance

The free move of an activation: 3 hexes + Speed.

Capture

Take control of an Objective at once, ignoring the contest rules.

Combat damage

Damage from hits, Damage+X effects and Fracture. Everything else is non-combat damage.

Engaged

Adjacent to an enemy unit or Garrison at the same elevation.

Hover

Ignores terrain and elevation movement penalties and can cross Impassable terrain.

Mass Produced

Can appear several times in the same squad.

Move X

A movement granted by an ability. It is affected by terrain and enemies, and is not an Advance.

Range X / within X hexes

"Range" needs Line of Sight; "within X hexes" does not.

Reserve

Units not on the board (not yet deployed, or defeated). They cannot be targeted.