Overview

Jedi Knights is a trading card game set in the Star Wars classic trilogy era. Players control either the Rebel Alliance or the Empire, deploying characters, starships, and weapons to battle over four planets. Win control of three planets to win immediately, or if neither side achieves that, fight a Final Conflict on the fourth planet where the last player with characters standing wins. The game features a unique Force card system that simultaneously determines initiative, spending power, and card draw each turn.

Components

• Draw Deck: At least 40 cards (typically 60-80), containing characters, starships, weapons, and events
• Setup Cards (per player):
  • 1 Theme card (determines deck identity)
  • 1 Hero card (named on the Theme card)
  • 4 Location cards (one from each of four different planets; each has a site on one side, system on the other)
  • 8 Force cards (numbered 1-8, same color)
• Card Types:
  • Characters: Have deploy cost, power, defense, and possibly leadership icons
  • Starships: Have deploy cost, power, defense, and possibly leadership icons
  • Weapons: Personal (for characters) or Shipboard (for starships); some have deploy costs
  • Events: Free to play; have game text and a tactical bonus (use one or the other)
  • Force Cards: Determine credits, Force number (initiative), and draw number each turn
  • Locations: Site side (ground battles) and system side (space battles)

Setup

1. Place your Force deck face down to your left.
2. Place your Theme card face up in front of you. Find your “starting Hero” and any cards allowed by the Theme card’s game text in your draw deck; show them to your opponent, then place them in your Theme pile (stacked face up under the Theme card).
3. Build location stacks: the player with the highest Theme number chooses a site first, placing it in the center. The opponent places the matching system beside it. Alternate choosing sites and stacking systems until all 4 planets are arranged (stack of 4 sites, stack of 4 systems).
4. Shuffle your draw deck, let your opponent cut it, then draw your starting hand (number specified on your Theme card).

Turn Structure

Each turn has six phases. Both players participate in every phase (there is no “your turn” / “my turn”):

1. Force Phase – Both players secretly select a Force card from their Force deck and reveal simultaneously. The higher Force number becomes Player 1. The Force card sets credits (spending power) and draw number for the turn.
2. Deploy Phase – Players alternate playing characters, starships, and weapons from hand, paying deploy costs with credits.
3. Starship Battle Phase – Players alternate initiating starship battles at the system.
4. Blockade Phase – Players may intimidate opponents’ characters or shuttle characters from starships to the site.
5. Character Battle Phase – Players alternate initiating character battles at the site.
6. Draw Phase – Control Check (on the second turn at a planet), draw cards, ready all rotated cards.

Actions

Deploying Cards

• Play characters to the site (or aboard starships if allowed by game text).
• Play starships to the system.
• Play weapons under characters (Personal) or starships (Shipboard).
• Pay deploy cost in credits from your current Force card. Cards with a different Theme icon than your deck cost +1 credit.
• Players alternate actions starting with Player 1; phase ends when both pass consecutively.

Initiating a Battle

• Select one of your ready characters/starships as the attacker; rotate it. Select an opponent’s character/starship as the defender.
• Battle has three steps:
  • Support Step (defending player acts first): Add ready leaders to support attacker or defender. Supporting cards share the fate of the card they support.
  • Weapons Step (attacking player acts first): Fire weapons at targets. Draw destiny (top card of draw deck) – if destiny number exceeds target’s defense, the target is hit and discarded. Each character/starship fires only once per battle. You cannot target the attacker/defender while it has support.
  • Power Step (attacking player acts first): Compare power of attacker vs. defender (not supporters). Ties go to the attacker. Losing side’s participating cards are all defeated and discarded.

Transferring Weapons

• During the Deploy Phase, transfer a weapon between your characters (both at site) or between your starships. No credit cost, but each weapon can only be deployed or transferred once per turn.

Blockade Actions

• Intimidation: Rotate one of your ready capital starships to force your opponent to rotate one of their ready characters (not their Hero).
• Shuttling: Move one of your characters aboard a starship at the system down to the site (ready that character immediately).

Events

• Deploy Phase Events: Played during Deploy Phase; remain in play indefinitely unless they say otherwise.
• Battle Phase Events: Played during a Battle Phase (not while a battle is in progress); discarded at end of phase.
• Weapons/Support/Power Step Events: Played during that step; discarded at end of battle.
• Response Events: Played when a specified condition occurs; usually discarded after use.
• Tactical Bonus: Instead of game text, play any Event face-up under your attacker/defender during the Weapons Step to add its tactical bonus to that card’s power for the rest of the battle. One tactical bonus per attacker/defender per battle.

Control Check

• Performed at the start of the Draw Phase on the second turn at each planet.
• Total the power of all your characters at the site. Double your total if your Hero is there.
• Higher total controls the planet. Ties mean no one controls it.
• If one player controls three planets, they win immediately.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

• Standard Victory: Control three of the four planets.
• Final Conflict: If neither player controls all three planets after three planets are resolved, a Final Conflict occurs on the fourth planet:
  • One final Force Phase (two remaining Force cards to choose from).
  • One final Deploy Phase with bonus credits from controlled planets. Players may also play cards from their Theme piles.
  • One Starship Battle Phase and Blockade Phase.
  • Then repeating cycles of Character Battle Phase and Draw Phase until only one player has characters at the site. That player wins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Allegiance: Your deck must be entirely Alliance or entirely Empire cards (plus Independent cards). Alliance must play against Empire.
• Theme Cost: Cards matching your deck’s Theme cost normal deploy. Cards from a different Theme cost +1 credit.
• Uniqueness: All characters, starships, and weapons are unique unless marked “Typical.” If your opponent has a unique card in play, you cannot play your version. If you already have a version in play, you may replace it with a different version (different subtitle) from your hand. Events are not unique.
• Force Card Restrictions: Once you play a Force card, it goes on top of the previous one. You cannot reuse Force cards from the used pile – plan ahead across all 8 turns.
• Credits: Cannot be saved between turns. Unspent credits are lost at the end of the Deploy Phase.
• Empty Draw Deck: You do not lose. Draw as many cards as you can. Destiny draws with an empty deck automatically result in zero.
• Maximum Copies: No more than 5 copies of any individual card in your draw deck (some cards say “limit one per deck”).
• Multiplayer (4-player): Two players per side with different Heroes. Each player has their own Force deck and credits. During battles, sides act as teams. Control Check occurs after only one turn per planet (not two). Hero bonus applies if either Hero on your side is at the site.

Player Reference

Phase	Player 1 Goes First?	Key Action
Force	Simultaneous reveal	Choose Force card
Deploy	Player 1 first	Play cards, pay credits
Starship Battle	Player 1 first	Initiate space battles
Blockade	Player 1 first	Intimidate or shuttle
Character Battle	Player 1 first	Initiate ground battles
Draw	Player 1 first	Control Check, draw cards, ready all

Battle Step	Who Acts First	Key Action
Support	Defending player	Add leaders to support
Weapons	Attacking player	Fire weapons, draw destiny
Power	Attacking player	Compare power, determine winner

Key Numbers	Value
Force deck size	8 cards
Min draw deck size	40 cards
Max copies per card	5
Planets to control for win	3
Turns per planet before Control Check	2 (1 in multiplayer)