Overview

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is a semi-cooperative game of hidden loyalty. Players take on the roles of characters from the TV series, working together to guide the human fleet to safety – but some players are secretly Cylons intent on destroying humanity. Through skill checks, crises, and political maneuvering, players must determine who to trust while managing dwindling resources and fending off Cylon attacks. Humans win by jumping the fleet enough distance to reach Kobol; Cylons win by depleting any resource to zero, destroying Galactica, or invading with centurions.

Components

• 1 Game Board
• 10 Character Sheets and Tokens with stands
• 4 Resource Dials (Food, Fuel, Morale, Population) with plastic connectors
• 70 Crisis Cards, 16 Loyalty Cards, 17 Quorum Cards, 5 Super Crisis Cards
• 1 President Title Card, 1 Admiral Title Card
• 128 Small Cards: 21 each of Leadership/Tactics/Politics/Piloting/Engineering Skill Cards, 22 Destination Cards, 1 Kobol Objective Card
• 8 Vipers, 4 Raptors, 16 Cylon Raiders, 4 Heavy Raiders (plastic)
• 2 Nuke Tokens, 4 Piloting Tokens, 12 Civilian Ship Tokens
• 2 Basestars, 4 Centurion Markers, 4 Basestar Damage Tokens, 8 Galactica Damage Tokens
• 1 Fleet Marker, 1 Current Player Token, 1 Eight-sided Die

Setup

1. Place the game board centrally. Set Food and Fuel dials to 8, Morale to 10, Population to 12.
2. Place vipers and raptors in Reserves. Place fleet token on Jump Preparation start.
3. Randomly choose first player; give them the current player token.
4. Starting with first player (clockwise), each player chooses a character, ensuring the most plentiful type is chosen first. Receive character sheet, token, stand, and piloting token if applicable. Place token on starting location.
5. Distribute President title (priority: Roslin > Zarek > Baltar) and Admiral title (priority: Adama > Tigh > Helo). Admiral gets 2 nuke tokens; President draws 1 Quorum Card.
6. Create and distribute Loyalty deck (see below).
7. Shuffle and place Quorum, Crisis, Super Crisis, and Destination decks. Separate Skill Cards into 5 decks by type.
8. Each player except the starting player draws 3 Skill Cards from their available types.
9. Create Destiny deck: deal 2 cards of each skill type facedown, shuffle.
10. Place 1 basestar and 3 raiders in front of Galactica, 2 vipers below, 2 civilian ships behind.

Loyalty Deck Creation

Players	Cylon Cards	Not a Cylon Cards	Sympathizer
3	1	5	No
4	1	6	Yes
5	2	8	No
6	2	9	Yes

Add 1 extra “Not a Cylon” card for each Baltar or Sharon in play. Deal 1 Loyalty Card to each player. If 4 or 6 players, add Sympathizer card to remaining deck.

Turn Structure

Each player’s turn consists of these steps in order:

1. Receive Skills

Draw Skill Cards as listed on your character sheet. Multi-skill entries let you split draws between listed types.

2. Movement (Optional)

Move to a different location. Moving between Galactica and Colonial One costs 1 discarded Skill Card. Viper pilots may move to adjacent space areas, or discard a card to return to a ship location.

3. Action

Choose exactly one action:

• Activate Location: Perform the action at your current location
• Skill Card Action: Play a card with “Action:” text
• Character Action: Use ability on character sheet
• Activate Viper: Move or attack if piloting
• Title/Quorum Card Action: Use a title card or Quorum Card ability
• Reveal as Cylon: Reveal a “You Are a Cylon” Loyalty Card
• Do Nothing: Skip the action step

4. Crisis

Draw and resolve the top Crisis Card. Three types:

• Cylon Attack: Follow the steps on the card (deploy ships, activate ships)
• Skill Check: Resolve using the skill check procedure
• Event: Follow the card’s instructions immediately

5. Activate Cylon Ships (if in play)

Activate Cylon ships based on the icon on the Crisis Card.

6. Prepare for Jump (if applicable)

If the Crisis Card has the jump preparation icon, advance the fleet marker one space. If it reaches the auto-jump space, the fleet jumps.

Actions

Key Location Actions

• Command (Galactica): Launch up to 2 unmanned vipers
• FTL Control (Galactica): Risk an early jump (roll die; on 6-8 jump normally, on 3-5 lose 1 population, on 1-2 lose 3 population)
• Weapons Control (Galactica): Attack a Cylon ship (roll die)
• Communications (Galactica): Look at back of 2 civilian ships; may move them
• Admiral’s Quarters (Galactica): Attempt to send a player to the brig
• Armory (Galactica): Attack a centurion on the boarding track
• Hangar Deck (Galactica): Repair 1 damaged viper if a pilot is here
• Sickbay/Brig (Galactica): Hazard locations; reduced skill draws, no actions or movement
• Press Room (Colonial One): Draw Quorum Card (President only)
• Administration (Colonial One): Gives president title to another player

Skill Checks

1. Read the Crisis Card aloud.
2. Players discuss strategy (without revealing card details).
3. Shuffle 2 Destiny deck cards into the check face down.
4. Starting left of current player, clockwise, each player adds cards face down.
5. Shuffle all contributed cards, then reveal.
6. Cards matching the check’s color types add their value; non-matching cards subtract.
7. If total meets or exceeds difficulty, the check passes; otherwise it fails.

Combat

• Vipers attack raiders: Roll die; 3-6 destroys raider, 7-8 also destroys raider.
• Raiders attack vipers: Roll die; 1-4 miss, 5-6 damage viper, 7-8 destroy viper.
• Weapons Control: Roll die against target (varies by target type).
• Nuke: Admiral plays to destroy up to 2 basestars or all ships in one area.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Human Victory

Travel at least 8 units of distance (shown on Destination Cards), then jump one final time.

Cylon Victory (any of these)

• Any resource (Food, Fuel, Morale, Population) reaches 0
• Galactica is destroyed (6+ damage tokens without unfilled locations)
• Centurion marker reaches the end of the boarding track

Sleeper Agent Phase

At the halfway point (distance 4+), deal another Loyalty Card to each player from the remaining deck. Players who now hold a Cylon card may choose to reveal immediately or continue as a sleeper agent.

Sympathizer Card

When dealt, if humans are behind (any resource at half or less), the Sympathizer stays human. If resources are fine, the Sympathizer becomes a revealed Cylon (sent to brig, plays for Cylons).

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Revealed Cylons: Move to Cylon locations; draw 2 Skill Cards of any type; take Cylon actions (use crisis, activate ships); receive 1 Super Crisis Card on reveal.
• Jumping: Admiral chooses from 2 Destination Cards; distance and possible crises vary.
• Galactica Damage: Damage tokens destroy locations; characters in destroyed locations go to Sickbay.
• Resource Zero: If any resource reaches 0 at the end of a player’s turn, humans lose immediately.
• Sickbay: Draw only 1 Skill Card on your turn. Cannot move to another location or take actions.
• Brig: Draw only 1 Skill Card. Can only attempt a skill check to escape (difficulty 7, politics/tactics).
• Civilian Ships: Destroyed civilian ships lose the resources shown on their backs.

Player Reference

Turn Sequence

1. Receive Skills (draw per character sheet)
2. Movement (optional; discard 1 card to change ships)
3. Action (choose one)
4. Crisis (draw and resolve)
5. Activate Cylon Ships (if Crisis Card icon)
6. Prepare for Jump (if Crisis Card icon)

Resource Starting Values

| Resource | Start | |———-|——-| | Food | 8 | | Fuel | 8 | | Morale | 10 | | Population | 12 |

Skill Check Colors

| Type | Color | |——|——-| | Leadership | Purple | | Tactics | Red | | Politics | Yellow | | Piloting | Orange | | Engineering | Blue |

Key Thresholds

• Distance to win: 8+ then final jump
• Sleeper agent phase: at distance 4+
• Boarding track end: Humans lose
• Resource at 0: Humans lose