Flight school / How to play

Welcome aboard, Commander.

Your first flight
starts here.

Build a fleet. Choose your targets. Turn a daring dodge into a comeback. In Fleets: Galactic Warfare, you command the cards—and the battle they create.

Start your first mission See the four-step turn

Two forces. Countless decisions. Tap a card for a closer look.

60+

Cards in your fleetThe deck you bring to battle.

20

Starting lifeTrack each player’s total.

7

Cards in your opening handYour first set of possibilities.

Before the first shot / Build your position

01 / Your strategy starts here

Build your Fleet.

Your fleet is your deck of cards. Combine the forces, resources, and tactics you want to command. Will you swarm the enemy, build toward a powerful ship, or use clever effects to disrupt their plans?

Start with at least 60 cards. Bring Resource cards to fuel your plays, combat cards to fight, and support cards that make your strategy work.

You may include up to 4 copies of a card. Common Resources are exempt, and a card can state its own exception—Horde Drone does exactly that.

Build around a plan

Fuel your playsBring the firepowerCreate surprises
Pick cards that help one another—and a play style you’ll enjoy.
02 / Take your position

Set up the battlefront.

Shuffle your fleet and draw 7 cards. Each player begins with 20 life. Keep your hand private and leave space in front of you for the cards you’ll deploy.

Your draw pile is your fleet. Cards you play enter your side of the battlefront. Destroyed and discarded cards go to their owner’s scrapyard.

Have a way to track life and your Reserve, plus a Dodge Die for those make-or-break evasive maneuvers.

Your side of the table

20 life
FLEET / DRAW PILE
Your battlefrontSpace for the cards
you’ll put into play.
SCRAPYARD

YOUR HAND / 7 CARDS

Suggested layout. Your battlefront begins empty.
03 / Fuel your next move

Generate Resources.

Play Resource cards onto your battlefront during Deployment. On your turn, use a ready Resource’s resource-producing ability and exhaust it to add what it generates to your Reserve.

Picture a mining operation powering your next launch. The Resource card stays on your battlefront; the resource it produces becomes spending power.

A Resource is a card. Your Reserve tracks the resource you’ve generated and have yet to spend.

Example / On your turn

+1To Reserve
Use Obsidian’s ability and exhaust it to add 1 resource to your Reserve.
04 / Make today’s choices count tomorrow

Build your Reserve.

Your Reserve is your saved spending power. Track it with a Reserve Counter. Add to it when you generate resource; subtract from it when you pay a cost.

Unspent resource stays in your Reserve. It carries across steps and turns, so saving now can set up a bigger play later.

On your turn, you can bank resource or keep Resources ready. On an opponent’s turn, ready Resources can be exhausted to pay for a card or ability, but cannot be exhausted just to add savings to your Reserve.

Try it / An example turn

2In your Reserve
2Already saved
+3Generate
−3Pay a cost
2Keep for later

Start with 2 saved. Generate 3, spend 3, and keep the remaining 2 for later.

05 / Turn your plan into a presence

Deploy cards.

During Deployment, pay a card’s resource cost to play it. Bring in Vessels to fight, Commanders to lead, Stations to support your forces, and other cards that advance your plan.

Choose between building your battlefront now and saving for a stronger follow-up. Look for abilities that work together—the right support can make an ordinary ship a serious threat.

Eager Cadet costs 3 resources. Her Warp Speed ability lets her attack on the turn she enters the battlefront. New Vessels normally need to wait.

RES · 3
The resource cost
you pay to play it.
ATK · 2
The combat damage
it can deal.
DEF · 2
Damage at or above
this value destroys it.
Read the cost, combat stats, and ability. You’re ready to start making decisions.

The Dynamic Battle System

Every attack starts
with a choice.

Pick apart a formation. Protect a crucial ally. Gamble on an escape. Your opponent has decisions to make even when you’re the one launching the assault.

06 / Choose your target

Attack.

Choose which eligible Vessels and Commanders will attack, then choose a target for each attacker: an opposing player, Vessel, Station, or Commander.

Focus several attackers on a dangerous threat, break a support piece, or put pressure on the opposing player. The target you choose shapes the fight that follows.

Targeting an enemy combatant also ties it up: a Vessel or Commander under attack cannot defend something else.

Choose a target / See the decision

Your attacker
Enemy Vessel

Take a dangerous ship out of the enemy formation.

07 / Protect what matters

Defend.

When your opponent attacks, an eligible Vessel or Commander that isn’t itself being targeted can defend the attacked player or card.

Send one ally to help, or commit several defenders to the same target. Those defenders engage the attackers, keeping normal combat damage away from the protected target unless an effect changes that.

Ask yourself: is this the card worth protecting, and which allies can you afford to commit?

An ally steps into the fight

AttackerDefenderCommanderProtected targetThe defender engages the attacker.
Combat can involve multiple attackers and defenders around the same target.
08 / Risk the evasive maneuver

Dodge.

If an eligible, unexhausted Vessel or Commander is targeted and that attack is undefended, it may attempt a dodge instead of facing the attack head-on.

Roll the Dodge Die. A success escapes the attack. A failure takes the hit without striking back. A critical evades the attack and hits the attacker back.

A target cannot dodge an attack that is being defended. Stations and Utility Vessels cannot dodge. Card abilities can also change what’s allowed.

Try a practice dodge

One roll. A new outcome.

An eligible, undefended target makes its move.

Success2 of 6 facesEvade. Neither card deals combat damage for this attack.
Failure3 of 6 facesTake the attacker’s damage. Deal no return damage.
Critical1 of 6 facesEvade, then deal your ATK back to the attacker.
Illustrates the standard die results. Specific card effects can change the outcome.
09 / Make the opening count

Destroy the enemy.

Damage adds up during the turn. When damage on a Vessel, Commander, or Station reaches its DEF or higher, it is destroyed immediately and goes to its owner’s scrapyard.

Break an enemy’s key ship, disrupt a powerful combination, and push attacks through to the opposing player’s life total. Use every opening to bring your opponent closer to defeat.

Non-lethal damage clears during Aftermath. Time your attacks and effects together to finish a threat before that cleanup.

Damage accumulates / One turn

2Damage
2Damage
4DEF reached
Destroyed owner’s scrapyard
Lethal damage destroys a card as soon as that damage event resolves.

Now put it all together

One turn. Four steps.

The journey above shows what playing feels like. These four steps give each turn its rhythm: recover, develop your position, fight, and clear the aftermath.

Ready/Replenish
& Draw

Ready your exhausted non-Resource cards and replenish your exhausted Resources.

Then draw a card from your fleet. Your next option is in hand.

Deployment

Play the cards allowed during this step. Build your battlefront, add support, and prepare your next move.

Decide what to spend now and what to keep available.

Combat

Choose attackers and targets. Your opponent assigns defenders, then eligible targets make dodge attempts.

Resolve combat damage. Watch the battlefront change.

Aftermath

Resolve end-of-turn effects and remove non-lethal damage.

If you hold more than 7 cards, shuffle the excess back into your fleet. Your Reserve carries forward.

Your turn ends. The next player takes command. Keep thinking between your turns: you still have defensive choices, and some cards and abilities can be used when timing permits.

A few things before you launch

Small details.
Better first battles.

Can I attack with a Vessel I just played?

Normally, a new Vessel cannot attack on the turn it enters the battlefront. Warp Speed lets it attack or activate its abilities that turn. Eager Cadet is one example. Follow any additional permissions or restrictions printed on the card.

How do defending and dodging differ?

Defending commits an eligible ally to protect the attacked player or card. Dodging is an attempt by the attacked Vessel or Commander to evade an attack for which it is undefended. An exhausted card cannot dodge. Some abilities bypass defenders; an otherwise eligible target can still dodge those attacks.

Can I save resource during an opponent’s turn?

Resource already in your Reserve stays there until you spend it. To add savings from ready Resources, do so during your own turn. On an opponent’s turn, you may exhaust ready Resources only to pay for a card or ability. Once the cost is fully paid, you cannot exhaust extra Resources as part of that payment.

What do the different card types bring to my fleet?

Vessels and Commanders fight and support your strategy. Stations provide a lasting presence. Resources fuel your plays. Constants create ongoing effects, Events create one-time effects, and Upgrades attach to eligible cards to change what they can do. Each card’s text gives you its particular role.

Fleets: Galactic Warfare is in development. This first-flight guide introduces the experience; card text and the full rules cover special interactions.