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Engine Rules Full

Page history last edited by Bruce Mason 12 years, 7 months ago

B5:CCG Engine Rules v1.2

January 9, 2005

 

This is an unofficial rewrite of the Babylon 5:CCG rules. It is not endorsed by Precedence nor does it challenge any copyright holders. These rules are referred to as "Engine Rules." Differences in this version of Engine Rules from the last published (official) version of the rules are marked in red font. Differences in this version of Engine Rules from the previously published version of Engine Rules are underlined.

 

This document will not teach you how to play the game but instead lays out the rules for the game in a structured manner for easy reference.

 

This is version 1.2. It is intended to be an authoritative document. It is considered to be in continual open playtesting. Any B5:CCG Engine Rules documents overrides all such documents with an earlier date or lower version number.

 

Which Rules

Before playing Babylon 5:CCG, decide which rules set you will play by. The options are:

 

  1. Precedence “Casual” Rules. These are the rules printed in the last published rules book (Psi Corps expansion) along with the rules and errata sheets published in the subsequent expansions. All of the published expansions plus the Unpublished Masterpiece Collection are legal for play.
  2. Precedence Tournament rules. This includes the last published rule book plus the last published set of tournament rules (which can still be found on the web). The major changes in this format are that the Masterpiece Collection Cards are banned, your deck size minimum is increased from 45 to 60 and your ISA card reserve has a maximum of 20 cards.
  3. Engine Rules. This format uses the rules found in the latest version of this document. The Masterpiece Collection is banned in this format. The unpublished expansions (Anla'Shok and The Vorlons) are legal in this format.
  4. Your Rules. This is only a game. If playing with friends, use whatever rules you like.

 

Babylon 5 is TM & © 2008 Warner Bros. Babylon 5:CCG Game Design © 2000 Precedence Publishing.

 

Changes since last Published rules

This section details the basic changes to the Published rules in this version of Engine Rules. Changes can include additions, deletions, revisions and alterations to terminology. These rules are intended to be used as a whole, not as a pick and mix. A small number of rules may be marked as optional. These can be adopted as you see fit or not. That said, it is your game. When playing with friends use whatever rules you like best.

 

  • Races and Factions. Clarification. Terminology. The orginally published factions have been termed “Babylon Project” factions. The relation between races and factions has been codified more thoroughly. The terms “Shadow-tainted” and “Vorlon-tainted” have been added. Factions and allergic cards have been codified.
  • Power Bonus has been capped at +5 for cards other than Drakh agendas and Major agendas. Drakh and Major agendas have been capped at +10.
  • Ambassador’s Assistant. Terminology. The Ambassador assistant special ability has been termed “assistance.”
  • Corporate Faction. Addition. The Corporate Faction from the unpublished Anla’shok expansion has been added.
  • Victory during the Shadow War. The requirement to win by a major victory during the Shadow War has been removed. Other major changes include the triggering of automatic wars between Shadow and Vorlon Tainted when the Shadow War starts. The Shadow War can no longer be ended unless it is in progress.
  • Dual Race games. The rules for dual race games have been totally replaced.
  • Unconditional Surrender. It is no longer possible for an ambassador to seek asylum.
  • The rules for Crusade Piles have been integrated.
  • Keywords. “Bold-face” text terms (occasionally referred to in previous rules as titles) have been termed “keywords”.
  • The term “disloyalty penalty” is used to refer to extra cost and/or restrictions for playing cards of different races to your faction’s race.
  • Modifying abilities. Multiplication and division now always takes effect first.
  • Events are now discarded immediately after being played.
  • The process for resolving conflicts has been more thoroughly outlined.
  • What happens in terms of multiple conflict participation has been codified.
  • Babylon 5 votes have been extended to deal with the increasing number of non-Babylon Project factions.
  • Mercenaries have been simplified and no longer act after the action round ends.

Changes for Version1.2

1. Transfers. This has been reversed to clarify that transfers do not cause gains and losses. This applies to influence, power and marks. This makes the Engine rules consistent with Precedence rules.

2. conversion. Specificially noted that converting marks does not gain or purge marks. This conforms to Precedence rules.

 


 

Game Overview

The Babylon 5 Collectible Card Game ("B5 CCG") is a game for two or more players. Each player chooses to play a faction of a Race (Narn, Centauri, Minbari, Human or the League of Non-Aligned Worlds). By building your faction’s resources and accumulating Power, you will lead your faction to a position of dominance and win the game.

Races and Factions

Races

There are 5 playable races in the game: Centauri, Human, Minbari, League of Non-Aligned Worlds and Narn. Every player must choose to play just one of the listed races. There can be multiple players all playing the same race but only if the faction restrictions below are followed. In addition to the races just mentioned, there are cards of Shadow and Vorlon races as well as a few other miscellaneous racial types. These are not races that can be chosen for play though. Finally, many cards in the game are neutral indicating that they have no racial affiliation (neutral is not a race) and work equally well with every race.

Factions

Each race has one or more possible faction designations that define your general alignment within your race. There are currently five faction designations: Babylon Project, Home Faction, Corporate, Drakh and Psi Corps. You must start play as one of the factions with the exception of the Drakh faction - you cannot start play as Drakh faction but must convert to them during the game. In addition, each faction has some special restrictions and abilities.

Babylon Project Faction (limit one per race)

Babylon Project factions view the Babylon Project as central to building a better future. With the exception of the Non-Aligned there can only be one Babylon Project faction of each race in the game. Non-Aligned players may have multiple players all playing Babylon 5 factions. With the exception of the Non-Aligned, a Babylon Project faction’s starting ambassador will be marked with the bold-face text “Starting Race Name Ambassador.” or “Starting race name Babylon Project Ambassador.” Any Non-Aligned character with the boldface text “ambassador” can be chosen as a starting ambassador for a Non-Aligned Babylon Project faction (see the Non-Aligned rules for more details).

Home Faction (limit one per race)

There can only be one Home faction of each race in the game unless the optional Home Faction ambassador rule is used. There is no Home Faction for the Non-Aligned race. A Home Faction ambassador will be marked with the keyword “Starting Race Name Home Faction Ambassador”

Corporate Faction (multiple)

There can be multiple corporate factions of the same race in a game. Corporate factions have a wide choice of starting ambassadors as detailed later.

Drakh Faction (multiple, cannot be a starting faction)

There can be multiple Drakh factions of the same race in a game, however you can only become a Drakh faction during a game. Consequently a Drakh faction will retain its original faction designation as well as gaining the Drakh designation. Example: you start play as a Centauri Babylon Project faction and then later convert to Drakh. You are now a Centauri Babylon Project Drakh faction. Your race is still Centauri but you now have two faction designations.

Psi Corps (limit one per game - Human Only)

There can only be one Psi Corps faction in the game and only Human players can choose to play a Psi Corps faction. If two players both want to play Psi Corps faction you will have to decide via some mutually agreeable method how to handle the situation.

Race

Factions Available

Centauri Babylon project Home Corporate Drakh    
Human Babylon project Home Corporate Drakh Psi Corps
Minbari Babylon project Home Corporate Drakh    
Narn Babylon project Home Corporate Drakh    
Non-Aligned Babylon project n/a Corporate Drakh  

Race specific Rules

League of Non-Aligned Worlds

Most Non-Aligned cards have a species designated in boldface or in the card title. So for example the fleet "Drazi Sunhawk" is a Non-aligned fleet of the Drazi species as it has "Drazi" in the card title. Species is not the same as race. The list of Non-Aligned species keywords consists of: Brakiri, Castor, Drazi, Gaim, Golian, Grome, Hurr, Hyach, Ipsa, Live Eaters, Llort, pak'ma'ra, Markab, Sh'lassan, Vree, Yolu. Not all of these have been printed on cards.

Unlike the other playable races, there is no single "ambassador" for the League. Each species has their own representative to the rest of the League. Therefore, a Non-Aligned player does not have any single specific starting ambassador. Instead, the player chooses a character listed as an ambassador for one of the Non-Aligned species, and that character becomes his starting ambassador for play.

Due to the diversity of the Non-Aligned Worlds, a Non-Aligned player begins with a second species ambassador in his starting hand (in addition to the normal starting hand of 3 cards).

Species' Ambassador versus Faction Ambassador. Ambassador, in the card text, is a specific game term which refers to the leader of a faction. There will usually be more than one Non-Aligned character in play who is labeled as an ambassador for a species. Cards which refer to an ambassador apply to a FACTION's ambassador only, not to Non-Aligned characters who happen to be the ambassador for a species. Think of the faction ambassador as the spokesman for the rest of the faction. For example, the conflict Psi Attack cannot target an ambassador. If a faction's ambassador is She'lah, then She'lah cannot be targeted. But, Vlur/Nhar, who was sponsored later, is still a valid target despite having the title "Pak'ma'ra Ambassador".

Non-Aligned Ambassador's Assistant. A Non-Aligned ambassador's assistant can provide the ambassador's assistant bonus (ambassadorial aid) to any species' ambassador, but only within the same faction. This is different to the other Babylon project factions.

There can be multiple Non-Aligned Babylon Project factions in the game.

Babylon 5 Votes. The League as a whole has one vote on the Babylon 5 council, which can only be cast to break a tie. If the voting is ever tied after the five council members (including the Vorlons) have cast their votes or abstained, the League vote must be called. Each player casts one vote for each Non-Aligned character in their faction who is a "Species Ambassador". If the vote is a tie, the League abstains. Otherwise, the League vote is cast in accordance with the majority vote of the species' ambassadors. Note that this overrides the usual rules pertaining to Babylon Council votes.

Drakh Race Rules

Although the Drakh are not a playable race there are some rules pertaining to the Drakh race that are relevant here (they are repeated in the section on Drakh Factions for completeness sake). To clarify: you never play a Drakh race rather you play one of the 5 ‘normal’ races and can, during the game, become a Drakh Faction.

1. Drakh Rule 5: Drakh characters cannot sponsor any card that is loyal to a race other than the Drakh. Drakh cards can only be sponsored by Drakh characters. Drakh cards which can be sponsored cannot enter play by any other means, including Conscription, Soul Hunters, New Priorities, etc. Drakh cards that are not sponsored (e.g. Events) can only be played by a Drakh faction/player. If a Drakh card is controlled by a non-Drakh faction, discard it immediately.

2. Drakh Rule 8. Drakh cards cannot have their racial loyalty changed.

3. Drakh Rule 9. The Drakh, as a race, cannot be targeted, named, or referred to in any way by another card.

Faction Specific Rules

Babylon Project Factions

These factions are committed to the ideals of the Babylon Project and are consequently the only factions that have votes on the Babylon 5 council.

Babylon Project Ambassador’s Assistant. A Babylon Project faction can use their ambassador’s assistant’s special ability (the ambassadorial aid ability) even if the character is controlled by a different player and/or is in a different faction. This does not apply to the Non-Aligned Race.

Home Factions

These factions are isolationists who are interested in advancing their race’s interests above all else. There are no additional rules relevant to this faction.

Corporate Factions

These factions place the pursuit of riches above racial loyalty. The following rules are relevant to playing the corporate faction.

• Corporate Rule 1. A Corporate faction is a faction of a race just like any other faction. To play a corporate faction reveal a corporate character who is neutral or loyal to your race, using the restrictions on who can be a corporate ambassador below.

• Corporate Rule 2. Any corporate character you could sponsor with a printed cost of 10 or less and who isn't an ambassador's assistant can be chosen as a corporate ambassador. Examples: Lise Hampton Edgars cannot be chosen as an ambassador as she can only enter play through replacement. CEO Garibaldi cannot be chosen as his printed cost is greater than 10. Elizabeth Trent can be chosen as an ambassador. CEO Lise Hampton Edgars can be revealed as an ambassador as she can enter play through replacement OR sponsoring normally.

• Corporate Rule 3. A card with the keyword "corporate" or that has the word corporate in its Card Name is a corporate card that can be played by any faction. A card with the "corporate only" keyword is a corporate card that can only be played by Corporate factions.

• Corporate Rule 4 - . Corporate factions can sponsor and promote Corporate cards at normal cost regardless of the card’s racial loyalty.

• Corporate Rule 5. Corporate factions must apply 3 additional influence when sponsoring, promoting, playing or revealing any non-corporate card that is loyal to their race as an additional requirement. Corporate Factions cannot play, reveal or control agendas that are loyal to their race.

• Corporate Rule 6. Several corporate cards make reference to 'credit tokens.' There are no additional rules for credit tokens (unlike, for example, Chaos tokens).

Psi Corps Faction

This faction exists to promote the interests of teeps above all else.

Psi Corps is an additional alternate faction available to the Humans. To reflect the enormous schism between Human telepaths (teeps) and non-telepaths (mundanes), the sponsoring of Psi Corps cards by non-Psi Corps factions as well as the sponsoring of non-Psi Corps cards by the Psi Corps faction is governed by special rules involving Conspiracy Marks. The Psi Corps faction cannot sponsor non-Psi Corps cards loyal to any race unless it currently controls fewer such cards than it has Conspiracy Marks. This restriction does not apply to Neutral cards. Example: If Psi Corps has 2 Conspiracy Marks and controls the Human Homeworld Fleet, it could sponsor another non-Psi Corps card such as Earth, John Sheridan, the First Battle Fleet, or Na'Toth (paying double for Na'Toth because she is loyal to another race besides Human). After that, the faction will have 2 Conspiracy Marks and 2 non-Psi Corps cards, and therefore cannot sponsor any more non-Psi Corps cards. They could still sponsor Neutral cards, and cards such as groups, enhancements and agendas which are not restricted to a race, though not Human groups which are non-Psi Corps groups. If the faction gains more Conspiracy Marks or comes to control fewer non-Psi Corps cards, it can again sponsor additional non-Psi Corps cards. Also, if the faction loses a Conspiracy Mark it does not have to discard any of its non-Psi Corps cards; these rules only apply to the sponsoring of cards.

Reciprocal rules apply to other factions that want to sponsor Psi Corps cards: they must have more Conspiracy Marks than Psi Corps cards. In addition, non-Human factions must follow all the usual requirements for sponsoring cards not loyal to their race (such as double costs).

Drakh Faction Rules

This faction is interested in remaking the galaxy in the image of their former masters. All the rules pertinent to playing Drakh factions are included here, including copies of the rules already referred to above in the race rules. These rules are often referred to by shorthand as “Drakh Rule X” where X refers to one of the Drakh rules. Although no one starts the game as a Drakh faction, any faction may become a Drakh faction during a game.

  1. Drakh Rule 1. You do not begin a game as the Drakh, but as one of the standard races, with a regular ambassador. You may switch to the Drakh later in the game using Drakh rule #2.
  2. Drakh Rule 2. Your first Drakh Ambassador can be sponsored by a non-Drakh character at printed cost, and is immediately promoted to your Inner Circle and becomes your faction Ambassador. He cannot be targeted by Taunts and Games. Your previous ambassador remains an Inner Circle character and can never be demoted. All Drakh race cards are Shadow Tainted.
  3. Drakh Rule 3. Once you sponsor a Drakh Ambassador, you are now a Drakh Faction and may play Drakh cards as if you were the Drakh race. However, your actual race remains as it was originally. You also retain any other special designations for your faction, such as Home Faction or Psi Corps. If your new (Drakh) ambassador leaves play, you immediately lose the game.
  4. Drakh Rule 4. A Drakh faction's ambassador cannot be targeted or affected by any effect that would change his position as ambassador.
  5. Drakh Rule 5. Drakh characters cannot sponsor any card that is loyal to a race other than the Drakh. Drakh cards can only be sponsored by Drakh characters. Drakh cards which can be sponsored cannot enter play by any other means, including Conscription, Soul Hunters, New Priorities, etc. Drakh cards that are not sponsored (e.g. Events) can only be played by a Drakh faction/player. If a Drakh card is controlled by a non-Drakh faction, discard it immediately.
  6. Drakh Rule 6. The Drakh can only win if they fulfill the special victory conditions on a Drakh Agenda, or if all other players are eliminated.
  7. Drakh Rule 7. Many Drakh cards generate and/or use Chaos Tokens. Chaos Tokens are all identical, no matter which card created them. After each of his actions, including a pass action, a Drakh player may move any number of Chaos Tokens from any one card he controls to any one Drakh card he controls.
  8. Drakh Rule 8. Drakh cards cannot have their racial loyalty changed.
  9. Drakh Rule 9. The Drakh, as a race, cannot be targeted, named, or referred to in any way by another card.

 

Political Relations

Every player has a tension towards each other player based on their races. The lower the tension rating the more peaceful the relationship. All tensions have a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5. At the start of the game each race has the tension settings summarized in the table below.

In addition each player has a starting unrest based on their racial background. The minimum unrest is 1 and the maximum unrest is 5.

 

Starting Racial Tension Settings Centauri Human Minbari Narn Non-Aligned Unrest
Centauri 2 1 2 4 2 1
Human 1 2 3 2 2 1
Minbari 2 3 2 2 2 1
Narn 4 1 2 2 2 1
Non-Aligned 2 2 2 2 2 2

 

Influence and Influence Rating

Each player has an Influence Rating which represents the raw strength of their faction. It starts at 4 and can rise without limit over the period of a game. No player’s Influence Rating can ever be reduced to less than 3.

Each point of Influence Rating counts towards the Power total needed to win the game (see "Victory").

Influence rating is tracked through two pools: spent influence and unspent influence. Your Influence Rating thus equals the total of influence tokens in your spent and unspent pools combined.

Influence may be permanently gained or lost through game play.

• To gain 1 influence, add 1 influence token to your unspent pool. This is a permanent gain.

• To lose 1 influence, remove 1 influence token from either your spent or unspent pool.

During each turn, each player can apply influence up to the total of their Influence Rating to play cards, take actions and pay for effects. Some game effects may allow you to apply more influence than your Influence Rating or prevent you from applying all of your influence in a turn.

To apply an amount of influence move the appropriate amount of influence tokens from your unspent pool to your spent pool. If you have no influence tokens in your spent pool you cannot apply influence.

Influence applied during a player's turn is restored from the spent pool to the unspent pool at the beginning of the following turn. Card effects may also allow you to restore influence that you have applied during the turn. You can not restore influence however unless you have some in your spent pool to restore.

Some card effects directly alter your Influence Rating without causing you to gain or lose influence (e.g. Kha’Mak). Such cards state that your Influence Rating is increased or decreased by a certain amount while they remain in play. In addition the action of building influence directly changes your influence rating rather than being considered to be a gain.

Transferring Influence. Some card effects cause to transfer influence to another player or non-player faction - such transfers are direct changes to the relevant influence ratings and therefore do not count as a gain or lose of influence as explained above. Consequently, effects which are triggered by gains or losses of influence are not triggered by transfers of influence.

Additional Influence. Some card effects allow you to spend “additional” influence during your turn. Such additional influence does not count towards Power and cannot be restored.

Temporary Influence. Some card effects allow you to spend “temporary” influence during your turn. Such temporary influence does not count towards Power and cannot be restored.

Non-Player Influence. In addition to the players, there are other forces in the galaxy that may accumulate influence: the galaxy's two most pivotal elder races (the Shadows and the Vorlons) as well as the Babylon 5 station itself. The Influence Ratings of these non-player forces represent how much impact they currently have on galactic affairs.

Power

A player's Power is calculated from three different sources: his or her current Influence Rating, plus any raw Power (which may be positive or negative) and plus any Power Bonuses (which again may be positive or negative) from cards in play.

Gaining and losing Power. Some effects may cause you to lose or gain power. Such changes in power are permanent. This is not a Power Bonus. Examples: The event card Conscription causes you to lose 1 Power when played. For the rest of the game you have -1 raw Power. If you later gain +1 Power (e.g. by winning a conflict) then that would cancel out the negative Power from Conscription, leaving you with 0 raw Power.

Power Bonuses. Some cards instruct you to “count +X Power.” This is a power bonus and can be positive, negative or zero depending on the context. No single card, except for Major Agendas and Drakh Agendas can provide a Power Bonus that is greater than +5 Power. Major Agendas and Drakh Agendas can provide a maximum Power Bonus of up to +10.

Transferring Power. Some card effects cause to transfer power to another player or non-player faction. To transfer power, you lose the appropriate amount of power and the target gains it.

Negative Power: Any card that refers to only counting influence as power cannot affect any player whose power is lower than his influence.

Examples: John has an Influence Rating of 11, +2 raw Power and has a Power Bonus of +2 from an agenda. His total Power is 11+2+2=15. Mike has an Influence Rating of 15, -2 raw Power and +6 Power Bonuses (+3 from his agenda and +3 from an event “The Wealth of Planets”). His total Power is 19.

Initiative

Each player has an initiative score that is calculated at the beginning of each turn that is equal to their Influence Rating. The person with the lowest initiative acts first, followed by the person with second lowest and so on. If there is a tie for initiative it is won by comparing ambassador abilities - the ambassador with the highest Diplomacy wins the tie. If Diplomacy is tied then compare abilities in the order: intrigue, Psi and then leadership, If there is still a tie then it is resolved randomly.

Victory

Standard Victory

At the start of the game, each player is eligible to win by scoring a Standard Victory. To score a Standard Victory, a player must either:

• Have 20 Power, and more than any other player; or

• If Babylon 5 has an Influence Rating of 20 or more at the end of a turn, the Shadow War is not in effect and one player eligible to win a standard victory is leading in Power, then that player wins.

Some card effects may make a player ineligible to win a Standard Victory (e.g., playing a Major Agenda or converting to a Drakh faction, in particular). In such cases a player must score a Major Victory to win.

Major Victory.

To score a Major Victory, a player must either:

• Have at least 20 Power, and at least 10 more than each other player; or

• Fulfill other requirements on a "Major Agenda" card he has brought into play or

• Be the only player left in the game after all other players have been eliminated or

• If playing Drakh, fulfill the requirements on a Drakh Agenda.

Reducing Power Needed to Win.

If a card reduces the amount of power you need to win (such as the agenda Steal Babylon 4), and you have sufficient power under that new power requirement, you can win the game even if you do not have more power than any other player. You can thereby circumvent part of the Victory requirements outlined above. Example: During the check for victory step of the Draw Round, Londo has 20 power and is thereby eligible to score a standard victory. However, John has the Steal Babylon 4 agenda and John's faction is targeted by 5 aftermaths that have Babylon 4 in their effect text, which reduces the power John needs to win by 5. Under normal conditions, John would require 21 power to win (at least 20 and more than any other player, including Londo), but his agenda reduces that number by 5, to 16 power. If John has 16 or more power, he and Londo each score a standard victory this turn.

Other Victory Conditions. Some cards change the victory conditions for individual players (e.g. the agenda Master of All). These do not affect other players unless the card specifically states otherwise.

Elimination from the game.

It is possible to become eliminated from the game through certain effects or by choosing to commit unconditional surrender. If you are eliminated from the game you must take all your cards off the table - even if they are Irrevocable. Any cards in your faction that do not belong to you are placed in the appropriate discard pile. Any conflicts you have initiated are canceled. Any cards that you caused to be removed from the game remain removed from the game and can not re-enter play. Any unique cards that you played are still considered to have been played and can not be played again.

Unconditional Surrender

During the discard round, any player at war may surrender unconditionally. You must surrender to a player of a race with whom you are at war. If you do this, the player to whom you surrender gains +3 influence and you are eliminated from the game. Some card effects can force players to unconditionally surrender.

 

Game Elements

Decks and Piles

Your deck is placed face down and shuffled at the start of the game. You cannot look at cards in your deck or any other player’s deck unless a card effect allows you to do so. Once the game begins you cannot shuffle or rearrange your deck unless a card effect allows you to do so. If during the game a card effect lets you search through your deck for a card you must shuffle your deck afterwards unless the card says otherwise.

Your discard pile is where all cards that are discarded from play or after being played are placed. The cards in your discard pile are placed face up. Each player can look at each other player’s discard pile. You cannot rearrange the cards in your discard pile unless a card effect allows you to do.

Each player may have one optional “Crusade Pile.” A Crusade pile is not a deck. If any card effect allows you to draw cards from your deck you cannot choose to take cards from your Crusade Pile. The Crusade Pile is shuffled and placed face-down at the beginning of the game. You cannot look at cards in your Crusade Pile or any other player’s Crusade Pile unless a card effect allows you to do so. Once the game begins you cannot shuffle or rearrange your Crusade Pile unless a card effect allows you to do so.

Removed from Play Area. The Engine play area has a place in which cards which are removed from play (or from the game) are placed. This is separate from the discard pile. Any player can examine any removed from play are at any time.

Reserve/sideboard/ISA Pile and the Engine

Babylon 5 tournament rules allow each player to have a reserve (sometimes known as a sideboard) of up to 20 cards. When playing on the Engine it is a common convention to use the reserve as place to hold ISA cards - hence it is often known as an ISA pile. Regardless, it cannot exceed 20 cards and you cannot break the deck construction limits with it. A small number of cards allow you to retrieve cards from “outside of the game”. When playing on the Engine such cards are retrieved from your reserve.

 

 

Cards

Cards used in the B5 CCG are grouped into Ten Card Types:

1. Character cards: e.g., "John Sheridan" or "Delenn".

2. Group cards: e.g., "Psi-Corps Intelligence" or "ISN".

3. Fleet cards: e.g., a "Grey Council Fleet".

4. Location cards: e.g., the planet "Earth".

5. Enhancement cards: e.g., "Mass Drivers", which improves a fleet's combat effectiveness.

6. Agenda cards: e.g., "Revenge", which rewards the Narn for damaging the Centauri.

7. Event cards: e.g., "Underworld Connections", which temporarily boosts Intrigue abilities.

8. Conflict cards: e.g., "Limited Strike", which initiates a small military engagement.

9. Aftermath cards: e.g., "War Hero", which improves a militarily successful ambassador.

10. Contingency cards: e.g., "Lost Opportunities."

Each type of card has a different background, making it easier to distinguish cards of that type and to sort them from one another as necessary. In addition, character card types have different backgrounds based on their race.

Card Anatomy

All cards share the same basic anatomy as follows (for more detailed information about different card types see the section on Card Type Details.):

Card Diagram

1. Card Name: The Card Name tells you who or what a card represents.

2. Influence Cost: The amount of influence required to bring a card into play. A card without an orange influence bubble has an undefined cost.

3. Card Type: The card type (character, fleet, location, etc.) is listed here. Any racial affiliation (e.g. Minbari, human) and other designators will also be listed here. A card with no racial affiliation listed here is neutral.

4. Abilities: Character, fleet and location cards may have Ability ratings. Characters may possess Diplomacy, Intrigue, Psi or Leadership abilities. Fleets and locations possess Military ability. Characters and fleets with no listed rating in a particular ability have a rating of zero (0) in that ability. On the cards, Diplomacy is Green (Top), Intrigue is Blue (Upper Middle), Psi is Purple (Lower Middle) and Leadership is Orange (or Military, which is Red, for fleets and locations) at the Bottom of the cards. Some characters may have the Military ability instead of the leadership ability. Some fleets and locations may possess abilities other than Military.

5. Effects: Any special rules and game effects for a card are detailed here. Some cards may also possess bold-face text keywords. Multiple keywords on the same character are separated by periods. Generally keywords have no inherent effects with a small number of exceptions. Example, the keyword “ambassador’s assistant” indicates that the character can use certain special actions. In addition to bold-face keywords, a card may possess information indicating whether it is Multiple, Limited or Unique. These terms and keywords are irrevocable - i.e. if the card is blanked they are not blanked.

6. Caption: Captions are intended to provide information and insight into the Babylon 5 universe. They have no effect on game play.

7. Marks: Some characters are "Marked"; their lives inextricably linked with great forces in the universe in a way and for purposes that may defy normal comprehension. Any card which has any marks is considered to add those marks to the faction’s total. A player's faction cannot possess both Shadow and Vorlon marks at the same time (these marks are mutually "allergic"). Otherwise a faction may possess any number of marks in any combination. Any marks initially possessed by a character will be shown here. There are 6 different types of marks, as shown below. See the section on marks for further information.

Ready, Rotated and Neutralized cards

Any card may be in one of three positions: ready, rotated or neutralized. Although a neutralized card can be in either a ready or rotated position it is never considered to be ready except for the specific purpose of determining whether it can be healed.A Ready card is one that is standing upright on its long axis. Such cards are considered to be “ready to act.” A ready card can be rotated to take an action.

A rotated card is one that is placed on its side. A card is usually rotated after it has taken some sort of action. A rotated card not be rotated again while it is rotated. Therefore it is generally only possible to use each card once per turn.

Neutralized. A card that is flipped face-down is neutralized. A card which has been neutralized on this turn cannot take any further actions on that turn even if it somehow becomes unneutralized and ready. A neutralized card that has not been neutralized this turn cannot take any actions except to heal itself. If such a card does become un-neutralized and ready then it can be rotated to take an action.

Playing Cards and Card Details

Characters, groups, fleets, locations, enhancements and agendas are all brought into play by being sponsored during the action round or by replacing a card that is currently in play. Such cards generally remain in play. Events and contingencies are played during the action round and are usually placed in the discard pile after they have been played. Conflicts are played during the conflict round and are discarded after they resolve in the Resolution round. Aftermaths are played during the resolution round. If an aftermath states to discard it after play it is discarded immediately after the conflict it was played during is discarded, otherwise it stays in play.

A card is played whenever it enters play by being sponsored, through replacement or by being played. Any effects which trigger on being played will trigger in all of those methods of playing. Conversely if an effect triggers when a card is sponsored it only triggers if the card entered play through being sponsored.

Every card is either multiple, limited or unique. Characters, groups and locations are limited unless specified otherwise on the card. Fleets are limited within a race. All other cards are multiple unless otherwise specified.Any number of copies of a multiple card may be in play at any one time. If a copy of a multiple card is removed from the game then other copies of the multiple card can still be played normally.

Only one copy of a limited card may be in play at any one time. If a limited card is discarded from play then a new copy of the limited card can enter play. If a copy of a limited card is removed from the game then no other copies of the limited card can ever enter play again.

If a card is unique it can only ever enter play once. If a unique card leaves play no copies of it can ever again enter play.

Agenda Cards

An agenda enters play by being sponsored or by replacing an agenda in play. If a race name is part of an Agenda’s Card Type, then the card is loyal to that race. Only a player controlling the race listed as part of the Card Type may bring into play or control an Agenda that is loyal to that race. You can have only one agenda in play at a time.

Major Agendas

Some agendas are noted as Major Agendas as part of their card type. Major agendas cannot leave play unless caused to do so by a card effect which specifically allows you to cause a major agenda to leave play. However, you can replace your major agenda with another major agenda. If you have a major agenda in play, you cannot score a standard victory (see "Victory").

Drakh Agendas

Drakh agendas can only be played and controlled by Drakh factions. Note that Drakh factions can only win the game by meeting the victory conditions on a Drakh agenda. Drakh agendas can only be sponsored by Drakh cards.

Character Cards

Character cards are either Loyal to a race or are Neutral. Loyal characters have their race listed as part of their card type. Example, Lennier is a “Minbari Character.” "Neutral" is not a race, and Neutral characters are not loyal to any race. Characters that are loyal to a race can be sponsored and promoted by factions of different races but those factions must apply double normal cost to do so. This is a disloyalty penalty.

Character ability ratings

• Characters with no listed rating in a particular ability have a rating of zero (0) in that ability.

• No ability can ever be reduced below zero once all modifiers have been applied.

• Psi cannot be raised from a base of 0 unless a card specifically increases Psi. Cards which raise "any one ability or "all abilities" do not increase Psi from a base of 0.

• During play an ability may change, consequently there are three different values of every ability:

• Printed ability refers to the actual number printed on the card.

• A card’s current ability ratings are equal to the printed ability plus any modifiers.

• A card’s base ability score is equal to what its ability would be at the beginning of a turn if all cards in play were readied and all characters in play were fully healed.

• Any reference to ability on a card is to current ability unless the card (or a rule) states otherwise.

• Modifying abilities. It is possible to alter abilities. When calculating the current ability of any character (or other card with ability) first calculate any changes that are specifically changes to printed ability and then calculate all other abilities. In addition you must always calculate multipliers (and divisors) before addition or subtraction. Example. A character has 3 printed diplomacy. He is targeted by three cards. One subtracts 1 from his printed diplomacy, another doubles his diplomacy and the third adds 1 to his diplomacy. His ability now is: printed diplomacy of 3-1 = 2. This is then doubled (4) and then 1 added it to it for a total of 5. Consequently the character’s current diplomacy is 5. If the same character was participating in the conflict Trade Pact which doubles his Diplomacy when the conflict resolves then his Diplomacy would be calculated as follows. Printed Diplomacy 2. His Diplomacy is then doubled twice to 8 and then 1 subtracted from it to leave him with a Diplomacy of 7.

Ambassadors and Ambassadorial Immunity

Since your starting ambassador is the leader of your faction, it is always considered a member of your faction's Inner Circle. Your ambassador card can never leave play, either voluntarily or otherwise except through a specific card effect. Likewise, your ambassador can never be Demoted from your faction's Inner Circle to the level of your Supporting Cards. While your ambassador may never be demoted or leave play, it can be Replaced by another card (which then becomes your ambassador). Cards with effect text that specifically allow an ambassador card to be "Replaced" are the only allowable means for an ambassador card to discontinue as an Inner Circle character card in play. Note that any card which is designated as a Starting Ambassador cannot be sponsored by any player. These rules are known as “ambassadorial immunity.” If a card already in play becomes your ambassador, and your previous ambassador remains in play, you must transfer to the new ambassador all cards which must target an ambassador.

Ambassador's Assistant and Assistance

Each ambassador's assistant has the ability to enhance one ambassador's ability to function. Every card which is an ambassador’s assistant will state which ambassador it can assist. If a card reads “Race Name’s Ambassador’s Assistant” it refers to the ambassador of that race’s Babylon Project faction. As an action, you may rotate your assistant to give your ambassador +1 to Diplomacy, Intrigue and Leadership while the assistant remains rotated, or to allow your ambassador, later that turn, to apply 1 influence less than usual when sponsoring a card. These two effects are known as “assistance.” An ability bonus conferred by an ambassador's assistant (though not the cost reduction) through use of “assistance” may be sustained.

Fleet Cards

• Fleets are limited unless otherwise specified, though only within the same race. Example: This means two races may each have a "Homeworld Fleet" in play, but there cannot be 2 copies of a "Homeworld Fleet" of the sam race in play at the same time. So, the Centauri Homeworld Fleet and the Narn Homeworld fleet could both be in play at the same time but there cannot be two copies of the Narn Homeworld Fleet in play at once.

• Fleets are Supporting cards and cannot be promoted to a faction's Inner Circle.

• If a race name is part of a fleet’s Card Type, then the fleet is loyal to that race. Only a player controlling the race listed as part of the Card Type may play a fleet that is loyal to that race. This is a “disloyalty penalty.” Some fleets have racial loyalties other than the standard 5 playable races. In those cases the card will give information about how and when it can be sponsored.

Group Cards

Groups usually represent a large number of minor characters, or an organization. Groups are Supporting Cards and cannot be promoted to the Inner Circle. Groups are limited unless otherwise stated.

If a race name is part of a group's Card Type, then the card is loyal to that race. Only a player controlling the race listed as part of the Card Type may play a loyal group. This is a “disloyalty penalty.

Location Cards

Locations represent a wide variety of settings in the game. Locations are limited unless otherwise specified and are Supporting cards which cannot be promoted to the Inner Circle.

Although Locations generally have a rating for military ability, they cannot participate in conflicts except to oppose a conflict that targets that location. Many locations have this printed on them as a reminder. Even if the location does not have that reminder text it still cannot participate in conflicts except to oppose a conflict targeting it unless the location has text on it which specifically overrides this instruction.

If a race name is part of a location’s Card Type, then the location is loyal to that race. Only a player controlling the race listed as part of the Card Type may play a location that is loyal to that race. This is a disloyalty penalty.

Locations without a race name in the card type are neutral and may be played by any player. Some locations specifically have the term neutral in their card type. Consequently, any location with no printed racial loyalty or which has the designation neutral in the card type box is a neutral location.

Homeworlds

Each race has a specific limited location loyal to that race, termed a homeworld. Each race may only have one homeworld for that race in play at any given time (the homeworld card's name is irrelevant). However, several species of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds have their own homeworlds, these are not racial homeworlds therefore there could be several different Non-aligned species homeworlds in play. Zhabar, the Drazi homeworld, is considered to be the racial homeworld of the Non-Aligned. The five racial homeworlds of the playable races are: Centauri Prime, Earth, Minbar, Narn and Zhabar.

There are a small number of multiple locations that can replace limited homeworlds and then become the homeworld for that race.

Enhancement Cards

Enhancements are cards that alter the basic capabilities or effects of other cards. Some enhancements may be played to modify an entire faction, or even the entire game, rather than an individual card. The card type area of the enhancement will tell you what the enhancement can be played on. E.g. A “character enhancement” must be played on a character, similarly an “agenda enhancement” must be played on an agenda. In addition to being played on cards, the following types of enhancements exist:

Faction enhancements. Are played on an entire faction and affect that faction.

Global enhancements. Affect the entire game.

Babylon 5 enhancements. Affect Babylon 5 and, therefore, the entire game.

Loyal enhancements with a specific race listed as part of their card type may only be brought into play using a sponsoring character of the same specified race, and must enhance a target of that race. E.g., a “Narn Character enhancement” could only be sponsored by a Narn Character and it must target a Narn Character; a “Narn Faction enhancement” can only be sponsored by a Narn character can only be played on a Narn player's faction. This is a disloyalty penalty.

You may play an enhancement on another player’s card or on another faction unless the enhancement specifies otherwise.

Enhancement cards remain in play so long as the game entity they target remains in play. They are discarded if the card they target leaves play. For example: if Na'Toth was given the "Book of G'Quan" but later she was discarded, removed from play or returned to a player’s hand, the Book would be discarded at the same time. Enhancements on a location that is captured (“conquered”) are discarded.

No two copies of the same enhancement card can target the same card or other game entity at the same time. This is true for the game itself, so there can be only one of any given "global enhancement" in play at a time. (A global enhancement, or a Babylon 5 enhancement, is an enhancement that affects the entire game.) Example: The card “We Are Not Impressed” is a global enhancement, therefore if one copy of it is in play no other copy can enter play.

Event Cards

Event cards are played during the Action Round for the effect written on the card. Playing an event is an action. Its effect is immediate upon playing of the card. Unless a card specifically states otherwise, any effect produced by an event which modifies the abilities of another card lasts only until the end of the current turn and then expires. E.g., The "Decisive Tactics" card adds a +2 bonus to a character's Leadership ability, but only for the remainder of the turn. Event cards may be played on any appropriate target, regardless of which faction controls the target. So, while a card which "adds +1 to a Narn character's Leadership" must be played on a Narn Character, the target character can be any Narn in play. Regardless of when (if ever) an event’s effects expire, it is placed in your discard pile as soon as you have finished playing it.

If an event is limited then only one copy can be played each turn. If the event becomes reversed it has still been played and no more copies can be played this turn. If the event is cancelled before it resolves, e.g. with Ja’Doc, then it has not been played so another copy can be played this turn.

 

If an event is unique then only one copy of it can be played during each game. Even if the event becomes reversed it has still been played and no more copies can be played this game. If the event is cancelled before it resolves, e.g. with Ja’Doc, then it has not been played so another copy can be played this game.

If an event is loyal to a race then only players of that race can play it. This is a disloyalty penalty.

Contingency Cards

Contingencies are played face down beneath a target card during the Action Round. Each contingency card lists its valid targets. Contingencies may list a card type or race as part of their type, for example a character contingency must be played on a character card. Contingencies with a race type may only be played on targets of that race (not necessarily on cards within a faction of that race). This is a disloyalty penalty. Contingencies can only be played on cards you control, unless the contingency specifies otherwise.

Only the player who played the contingency can examine it while it is in play. Each contingency has a "trigger"; for example, a character contingency could be triggered when the character is attacked. Whenever the trigger condition is met, the player of the contingency may reveal it, and apply its effects. Revealing a contingency is optional, not required. This may have the effect of preventing or altering an action which is taking place (which is generally the trigger condition), providing a lasting or temporary effect, or any other effect. Read the instructions on the card and carry them out. Once the instructions on a contingency have been carried out it is placed on the discard pile. For example: "Vicious Blow" is a Character Contingency which reads “Reveal when the character neutralized his target in an attack. The attacked character suffers 2 additional severe damage." When the targeted character attacks and neutralizes an opponent, you may at your option, reveal the contingency If you do, your character inflicts more severe damage than usual to his target. You then place the contingency in your discard pile.

Only one copy of a given Contingency may be revealed per each trigger.

If a contingency is limited then only one copy of it can be revealed each turn.

If a contingency is unique then only copy of it can be revealed each game.

 

Conflict Cards

Conflicts represent pivotal dramatic struggles in the Babylon 5 universe. By initiating and winning conflicts, factions seek to gain some advantage and progress towards victory. Each player may normally initiate only one conflict per turn. Conflicts are played during the Conflict round. Conflicts are multiple unless otherwise stated.

If a card can generate an additional conflict then that conflict can be initiated in addition to any other conflicts. Example: A player may initiate the additional Psi Conflict printed on the Psi Corps card along with the additional conflict printed on the card King Arthur as well as a normal conflict such as Trade Pact.

A conflict with a race name in its card type is loyal to that race and can only be initiated by players of that race. This is a disloyalty penalty.

If a limited conflict is initiated no other player may initiate any copies of it while it is in play. If multiple copies of a limited conflict are revealed during the conflict round then the first one declared is initiated and all of the others are discarded when they are revealed. The same is true of unique conflicts.

Characters and fleets may rotate to either support or oppose a given conflict during the action round with their abilities. If a conflict receives more support than opposition, then the faction which initiated it "wins" the conflict. If a conflict receives the same amount or more opposition than support, then the faction which initiated it "loses" the conflict.

There are five major types of conflicts. Each conflict type is resolved (either supported or opposed) by applying the corresponding abilities:

Diplomatic Conflict Resolved using Diplomacy ability.

Intrigue Conflict Resolved using Intrigue ability.

Military Conflict Resolved using Military ability.

Psi Conflict Resolved using Psi ability.

Leadership Conflict Resolved using Leadership ability.

Once the outcome of a conflict has been determined, the result of the conflict takes effect as stated on the card. The effects of a conflict are applied, and then Aftermath Cards may be played. After all aftermath cards are played for the conflict, the next conflict is resolved. Note that none of the effects of a conflict card take place until it resolves unless the conflict specifies otherwise.

Some conflicts provide additional benefits if won by a certain amount. If a conflict states that something happens if it is “won by 5" (or some other amount) then provided that it was won by at least that amount then those effects occur in addition to any effects which are stated to occur if the conflict is simply won. A conflict that provides an effect if won will read either “Won:...” or “If Won...”. A conflict that provides an additional effect if won by a certain amount will read “If won by X” or “Won by X:”

Some conflicts provide additional problems if lost by a certain amount. If a conflict states that something happens if it is “lost by 5" (or some other amount) then provided that it was lost by at least that amount then those effects occur in addition to any effects which are stated to occur if the conflict is simply lost. A conflict that provides an effect if lost will read either “Lost:...” or “If Lost...”. A conflict that provides an additional effect if lost by a certain amount will read “If lost by X” or “Lost by X:”

Some conflicts provide effects regardless of whether they are won or lost. Such conflicts will read “At resolution...” or simply “Resolution:...” In general all the effects printed on a conflict card only occur once the conflict starts to resolve. This can occasionally seem counterintuitive - especially on older cards. For example the conflict Euphrates Treaty gives Narn and Centauri characters +2 ability while participating. Despite what seems to be the logical interpretation, this effect only occurs at resolution therefore the characters do not receive the ability bonus during the Action Round. Similarly, the conflict “Border Raid” raises tensions between the two players but this does not occur until the conflict resolves.

There may be an attempt to reword certain older cards on the Engine to make this more obvious.

Example: a conflict could read:

Resolution: This effect always happens when the conflict resolves.

Won: This good effect happens.

Won by 5: This very good effect happens as well.

Lost: This bad effect happens

Lost by 5: this very bad effect happens as well.

Conflicts with multiple “sides.”

Some conflicts specify that "any player may be supported in this conflict.” This allows each player faction to represent their own "side" in the conflict. In such cases, each faction may only apply ability to support any side or to attack other participants. No ability may be applied in opposition. Consequently such conflicts when printed on newer cards have the keyword unopposable to remind all players. Each faction may apply ability in support of any side they choose. They are not required to support their own side and may support different sides with each card that supports the conflict After ability totals have been determined for all sides, the results are determined in accordance with the text of the conflict card. If the player that initiates the conflict has a higher ability total than any other player, then that player has "won" the conflict for purposes of playing aftermath cards, otherwise that player has "lost" the conflict. Note that for purposes of Aftermath card play, when a conflict calls for a "Vote" - voting characters are neither supporting or opposing the conflict itself and therefore are not considered to be Participants in the conflict.

Example: “The Immortality Serum” conflict card allows all players to vie for control of the secret to immortality Whichever player has the highest total ability supporting its side in the conflict gains influence. For this conflict, each faction is considered a "side" and generates a separate ability total. Any player may rotate characters to support any faction. If the player who initiated the conflict generates the highest total then the conflict was ~ If he did not then the conflict was "lost". Regardless of whether the conflict was "won" or "lost," a side with more total support than any other may benefit from the card's effect.

 

Aftermath Cards

Following resolution of a conflict, all players may play any number of valid aftermath cards. Aftermath cards reflect the change and growth of characters resulting from their choices and experiences. They are used to tell a character's story, showing how their life has been affected as a consequence of their actions.

Many aftermath cards act like enhancements and modify the card they are played on. Like enhancements, they are discarded if the card they modify is discarded. Some aftermath cards cause an immediate effect, such as adding damage to a character or altering a tension level but are discarded at the end of the resolution round.

Only one copy of any given aftermath card may affect a given target at the same time.

Each aftermath card lists Play Conditions and may only be played when these conditions are met. If a race name appears as part of the card type, then the aftermath is restricted to being played on targets in a faction of that race.

Aftermath play conditions

Unless an aftermath card specifies Participant as part of its Play Conditions, it may only target the cards of the faction which initiated the conflict it is being played in response to. Play Conditions for aftermath cards are defined as follows:

• If the player who initiated the conflict won the conflict then aftermath cards that list "Won" may be played.

• If the player who initiated the conflict lost the conflict then aftermath cards that list "Lost" may be played.

Type of Conflict. If a Play Condition gives a Conflict Type (Military, Diplomatic, Intrigue, or Psi), then aftermath cards may only be played following the resolution of a conflict of the appropriate type.

If Participant is one of the Play Conditions then appropriate aftermath cards may target cards in play for any card that either Supported, Opposed or Attacked during the conflict regardless of which faction that card is in. If a card specifies a "Participant Fleet", then a fleet must have supported, opposed or attacked during the conflict to be a valid target. If a card specifies a "Participant Character", then a character must have supported, opposed or attacked during the conflict, or led a fleet that participated in the conflict. Remember: Aftermaths can only be played on the initiating faction unless the card specifies "Participant". In general it is necessary to read the aftermath carefully to determine upon whom or what it can be played.

Detailed Aftermath Example. John Initiates a military conflict, and supports it with two fleets. Dave Supports the conflict with one fleet. Paul Opposes the conflict with two fleets. Ran attacks both Dave's fleet and one of Paul's fleets (using 2 different fleets). John eventually wins the conflict. Which aftermath cards can be played on which players?

• Military Aftermath :John

• Military Participant Aftermath: any card in any faction that participated in that conflict.

• Won Aftermath: John

• Won Participant Aftermath: any card in any faction that participated in that conflict.

• Won Military Aftermath: John

• Won Military Participant Aftermath: any card in any faction that participated in that conflict.

• Lost (anything): none

If the specific aftermath type is "Won Military Participant", but the effect text states it may only be played on "participating characters who led a fleet that opposed the conflict"; it could be played on any character leading one of Paul's fleets (only). If it specifies "Any Participant" but says it can only be played on "participating fleets who attacked" then only Ran's fleets are valid targets.

Keywords

Explain keywords.

 

Playing the Game

Deck construction rules

Your deck must contain at least 60 cards, not counting your starting hand and any cards which start in play - such as your ambassador.

If you are playing with a Crusade Pile your deck must contain at least 70 cards, not counting the cards that will be put in your Crusade Pile, your starting hand and any cards which start in play - such as your ambassador.

You cannot have more than 3 copies of the same card in your deck. A card is considered to be the same card if it shares the same card name, card type and racial loyalty. Example: The 1st Battle Fleet (Human) is not the same card as The 1st Battle Fleet (Minbari).

If you are playing with an ISA pile (reserve) then these deck limits still cannot be exceeded. Example, if you have two copies of John Sheridan in your deck you can put one more in the ISA pile for three in total. You cannot however have 2 or more copies of him in your ISA pile in addition to the two copies in your deck.

Preparing to Play

Choose a race and faction

Select a race and faction of that race to play and inform all other players. If more than one person wishes to play the same race you will need to agree on which factions of that race to play. The Babylon Project, Home Faction and Psi Corps faction are one per game per race. That means there can only be one Human Babylon Project player in the same game. There can be multiple corporate and home factions of the same race in play. Rules that are specific to races and factions are presented later.

Reveal your ambassador

All ambassadors are revealed simultaneously. See the table for a list of potential ambassadors.

Race

Faction

Babylon Project

Home

Corporate

Drakh

Psi Corps

Centauri

Londo Mollari or Vir Cotto Lord Refa Special Special n/a

Human

Jeffrey Sinclair or Captain Sheridan William Morgan Clarke Special Special Bester

Minbari

Delenn Neroon Special Special n/a

Narn

G’Kar Ta’Lon Na’Far Special Special n/a

Non-Aligned

special Special Special Special n/a

Ambassador Clashes. Sometimes, especially if there are multiple corporate factions or Non-Aligned race players in the same game, it is possible that more than one player will reveal the same limited ambassador. In this case all players who have revealed the same ambassador place that card to one side and choose a different ambassador - who cannot be an ambassador that has already been revealed. All players then reveal their new ambassador choices. This continues until all players have different ambassadors.

When playing on the Engine, if there is an ambassador clash, the Engine will not pick it up automatically. To resolve it, all players involved should pick a card from their deck who could be their ambassador, play it face down in the middle of the screen (where the conflict markers are) and, once all cards are placed, reveal them. Because this might impact your choice of starting hand, you can now swap cards between your starting hand, deck, ISA and/or Crusade Pile. Check afterwards though that you haven’t inadvertently made an illegal deck. Although this all sounds rather awkward, in practice it rarely actually occurs.

Construct your Crusade Pile if you have one.

See the rules for Crusade Piles for further information. All the rules relevant to A Crusade Pile is printed on one of the four A Crusade.... cards but some clarifications are give later.

Select Your Starting Hand

This usually consists of three cards but some ambassadors may allow you to pick more (or fewer) cards. The cards cannot be of the same type - you may not have more than one additional character, one fleet and one agenda, for example.

Shuffle & Cut

All players shuffle their decks thoroughly and allow an opponent to cut their deck. Same with their Crusade Piles. When playing on the Engine, the Engine will do this for you.

The Playing Field

The row with your Ambassador is known as the Inner Circle of your faction. Any new characters Promoted to the Inner Circle should be placed to the right of your Ambassador to signify their status. Agenda cards should be played to the left of your ambassador, and any other cards that are played with lasting effects (usually faction enhancements and aftermaths), should be played to the left of each player's agenda.

New character, group, location, and fleet cards are played to the row below your ambassador. Cards in this row are called Supporting Cards. Such cards are considered part of your faction. However, characters in this second row are not considered to be part of your faction's Inner Circle. Supporting character cards may, in the course of game play, be Promoted to the Inner Circle.

When playing on the Engine, your Inner Circle cards are placed towards the top of the screen next to the conflict area. The area below that is used for supporting cards.

Set Tension Ratings

Set your tension and unrest ratings based on your race. Some starting cards may later the initial tension setting. Although the tension of two races toward each other begin at the same level, during the course of the game these tensions may diverge (therefore, Human tension toward the Minbari may or may not remain the same as Minbari tension toward the Humans). Some cards refer to "mutual tensions" in which case the tension of each race toward the other is considered. Others only raise, for instance, your tension toward another race; in this case your race's tension toward another race will change, but theirs toward your race will not.

When playing on the Engine your starting tensions and unrest will usually be set automatically dependent on your choice of race - as indicated by your choice of ambassador. Sometimes though you will need to set tensions and unrest manually - usually when playing with a corporate faction. The space to the right of the screen holds all your tension settings. You can right click on them to change them. You can also right click there to generate racial markers.

Set Influence Tokens.

Each player starts with an Influence Rating of 4 (unless modified by a starting card). At the start of the game take four tokens and place them just above your Ambassador to create an unspent pool. Whenever you apply influence during a turn, the influence applied should be moved to a spot just below the ambassador - this will be your spent pool.

On the engine the unspent and spent pools are placed on the left of the screen. At the start of the game the Engine will create 4 tokens for you. You can right click in the pools to create or remove influence tokens of various different types. It is a general convention to use different color tokens once you exceed 10 influence to help indicate to other players how well you are doing.

Set Influence Tokens for Non-player Forces.

Place 4 tokens in the Babylon 5, Shadow and Vorlon Influence sections of the table.

The Engine will do this for you at set up. The Influence rating is tracked in the middle of the screen where it can be seen at all times by all players.

Beginning Play

Play now begins in initiative order Since all cards are "Ready" and no one has applied any influence, start with the first Conflict round. The player with the lowest initiative may declare a conflict first.

Playing "Fast and Loose" and Resolving Timing Disputes

Fast and Loose

If all players agree, the current round need not be performed in initiative order; instead, players can declare conflicts, or take actions, or play aftermath cards simultaneously. When playing in this fashion, only proceed from one round (or step) to the next once all players declare they wish to take no more actions.

When playing on the Engine, never assume that you can play fast and loose. It is good convention to only suggest fast and loose play at the end of the conflict round if no conflicts have been declared.

Timing Disputes.

Any time during the game that a timing dispute arises (e.g., one player feels that he was not given sufficient time to react to an opponent's play), whether playing "fast and loose" or not, all players must halt play. (A player may preemptively stop play if he feels a timing dispute is about to arise.) Play then proceeds by initiative, beginning with the lowest player in Initiative Order. Each player is given a chance to act (in whatever manner is appropriate, whether that is to declare a conflict, or play an aftermath, or reveal a contingency) or pass. This continues until all players pass in a row (unless otherwise specified, for example during the "declare conflicts" round). At that point, normal play resumes (if playing "fast and loose", the fast and loose rules are restored).

On the engine there is a WAIT button which you can press to ask everyone to stop immediately.

 

Game Sequence

The game is played in turns. Each turn is sub-divided into rounds. Each round may be subdivided into steps. Within each step of each round every player acts simultaneously unless otherwise specified. This means that each player may perform any and all allowable game activities within that round before anyone may proceed to the next round. In those rounds that actions do not occur simultaneously they occur in Initiative Order.Within the Action round, as well as certain steps in other rounds, all players act, but play proceeds in initiative order - see initiative for further description of how to calculate initiative order.

Turn Sequence

Each turn, play progresses through the following rounds:

• READY

• CONFLICT

• ACTION

• AFTERMATH

• DRAW

Each game turn ends after all players have checked for victory in the Draw round. If no one has won the game then a new turn then begins with the Ready round until one player claims victory. Note that some rounds are further broken down into individual steps (see below). As with rounds, all players must complete all activities within a step before play progresses to the next step.

The Ready Round

The ready round consists of the following steps:

1. Ready Cards

2. Restore Influence

3. Determine Initiative

Step 1. Ready Cards.

Any cards which are rotated (set on their side, to show that they acted during the last turn) are now made ready (set upright) again.

Sustained Actions. A player may choose to leave a card he controls rotated, to show that it is continuing the same action. This is known as Sustaining an action. This is usually done with a card which may rotate to provide a bonus to another card. E.g., a player may rotate a character with Leadership to increase the Military rating of one of his fleets. If he wishes to leave that character in charge of that fleet, he need not ready the character, and the fleet continues to receive the boost to its Military rating (possibly keeping it from being discarded). For convenience, you may wish to place cards that are sustaining with the cards they modify (or vice versa).

A card can only sustain its action if it is rotated and not neutralized. If through card effects a card has managed to generate more than one sustained action then you can only choose one action to be sustained.

If a card which provides a bonus until the end of the turn sustains its action, there is no "gap" during which the bonus expires before being renewed (this is occasionally relevant for determining whether or not a card becomes neutralized).

To determine whether an action can be sustained, there are a few guidelines. To be sustainable, an action must have no other cost besides rotating a card - there should be no influence cost, no marks need to be purged, etc. In addition, the action should provide a bonus to a card's ability. However, any effect which states that it lasts while a card remains rotated can be sustained.

 

Step 2. Restore influence.

Each player restores influence up to their influence rating. Card effects may alter the amount that can be restored. At this point you will also need to determine if you have any additional or temporary influence to spend this turn.

 

Step 3. Determine Initiative.

Initiative order for the turn is now determined. Players are ranked by Influence Rating. The player with the lowest Influence Rating must act first during each round, followed by the second lowest, and so on. Thus, the player with the most influence acts last in the turn, letting him see the initial actions of his opponents before making his decisions. The person who acts first has the lowest initiative, the person who acts last has the initiative.

 

The Conflict Round

This round consists of two steps:

Declare Conflicts

Reveal and Initiate Conflicts

Step 1. Declare Conflicts.

During this step, each player in initiative order may declare one conflict. To declare a conflict, place a conflict card face down. Players with the option to declare conflicts by other means, such as by using an agenda, may do so now. To do this, indicate clearly which card(s) is being used to generate the conflict (e.g Psi Corps Intelligence or an agenda such as Knowledge is Power).

Step 2. Reveal and Initiate Conflicts.

After all players have decided whether or not to declare a conflict, reveal all face-down conflicts again in initiative order. The conflicts are now initiated in initiative order. To do so, any requirements to initiate the conflict (such as rotating a character or applying influence) are met, then any further required details (such as the target of the conflict) must be declared at this time. E.g., the "Kidnapping conflict" targets a specific character who must be named when the conflict is revealed. Not all conflicts have targets. A conflict “targets you” if it targets you, your faction or any card in your faction. Finally, if the conflict has any effects that occur “when initiated” those effects occur.

 

The Action Round

A player may only perform one action at a time. The player with the lowest initiative acts first. Then the player with the next lowest initiative becomes eligible to perform one action, and so on, until all players have acted once. The player with the lowest initiative is then eligible to take a second action and the cycle repeats as many times as necessary. A player may pass as his action at any time. Play continues in this fashion until all players have passed consecutively. A player who passes may act later in the action round, unless the round has ended. Once every player has passed in a row, the action round ends immediately.

Performing an action consists of doing anything that requires you to play or rotate a card, or to apply influence. Actions that may be taken include:

• Sponsor a Supporting Card.

• Promote a Supporting Character to the Inner Circle.

• Rotate to Build Influence.

• Use an Effect on a card in play.

• Lead a Fleet.

• Support a Conflict

• Oppose a Conflict.

• Attack a Conflict Participant.

• Play an Event

• Play a contingency face-down.

• Discard, Replace, Reveal or Sponsor an Agenda.

• Heal a Character.

• Repair a Fleet or Location.

• Offer Influence to or use a Mercenary card.

• Pass.

For details concerning how each type of action may be performed see the “Action Details” section of the rules.

 

The Resolution Round

The conflict(s) initiated by the player with the lowest initiative order are resolved first, then any conflict initiated by the next player, and so on. If one player initiated more than a single conflict (which is possible through use of some cards) then he designates which of his conflicts will be resolved first. In addition to the rules below, see also the rules given under Conflict and Aftermath cards.

 

Step 1. Resolve Current Conflict

When resolving a conflict there are several steps and that need to be taken in the following order.

Resolve all the effects on the conflict card (or card that initiated the conflict) which occur regardless of whether or not the conflict succeeds in the order they are printed. Example: the conflict Euphrates Treaty reads: “Narn - Centauri tension drops by 1. Narn and Centauri characters gain +2 Diplomacy while participating in this conflict.” Therefore, during this step, reduce the Narn-Centauri tension (permanently) and then add +2 diplomacy to all participating Narn and Centauri characters until this conflict finishes resolving. In more recent wordings, the conflict card will explicitly state “resolution:” to make this more obvious. Generally conflicts have no effects until they resolve unless the conflict states otherwise with a phrase such as “when initiated...”.

Total the current ability (as modified by any cards, damage, or effects currently in operation) applied in support and compare it with the total applied in opposition. If total support exceeds total modified opposition then the conflict succeeds and is a won conflict; otherwise it fails and becomes a lost conflict. In the case of unopposable conflicts that have multiple sides, then the conflict succeeds if the person who initiated it has the single most support of all sides and fails otherwise. Remember: a character or fleet whose ability changed over the course of the turn (e.g., due to an event card or by suffering damage through an attack) applies his modified ability, not the ability he had when he originally supported the conflict. Neutralized characters apply no ability toward the conflict.

Once resolved, apply any effects determined by the success or failure of the conflict as written on the card.Each such effect is independent. E.g. if a conflict has an effect if won and another effect if won by 5 or more then both effects occur if you win by 5 or more.

 

Step 2: Triggered Effects

After the conflict is completely resolved any cards whose effects are triggered by a conflict resolving (for example, some contingency cards or homeworlds) have their effect applied immediately after resolving the conflict. As usual, if there is a timing conflict it is resolved in initiative order.

 

Step 3. Play Aftermath Cards

After the effects of the current conflict have been applied and all triggered effects have been resolved, all players have the opportunity to play any valid aftermath cards they may have in their hands. If more than one player wishes to play aftermaths, play proceeds in initiative order, with each player having an opportunity to play one aftermath or pass, until all players pass consecutively. See the rules for aftermaths for more detailed explanations of playing aftermaths at this time.

 

Step 4. Discard Conflicts and Aftermaths

If the conflict was initiated through the use of a conflict card, the card is now placed on the discard pile. Aftermath cards which are to be discarded after play are also discarded at this time. If any unresolved conflicts remain, after all players have played all of the aftermath cards they wish to, return to step 1 and resolve the next conflict. If not, then play proceeds to the Draw round.

 

The Draw Round

Step 1. Discard Neutralized Supporting Cards

Discard all neutralized supporting cards. Reminder: do not discard neutralized Inner Circle cards.

 

Step 2. Discard Cards from Hand

All players may discard as many cards as they wish from their hand. All discards must be placed face-up next to a players draw deck. Players may examine each other's discard piles at any time.

 

Step 3. Draw Free Card

All players who are not forbidden from doing so must draw a free card. Players who draw through their entire play deck are considered to be out of new options and cannot not reshuffle their discards or draw. If a player's draw pile is empty when he or she must draw at least 1 card, he must instead discard 1 Inner Circle character. If a player cannot discard an Inner Circle character, that player is immediately eliminated from the game. Note: your faction’s ambassador cannot be discard. Thus, if you have no Inner-Circle characters other than your ambassador and have no cards remaining in your deck when you try to draw one then then you are eliminated from the game.

 

Step 4. “Buy” More Cards

All players with influence remaining may draw another card for each 3 influence they apply for this effect.

 

Step 5. Check Victory Conditions

All players check to see if they have fulfilled the requirements for victory. If no one has won then start a new turn.

 

Action Details

All of the following are the rules-based actions that may be performed during the Action round each turn. Note that any action which requires a card to rotate, or to be ready, requires the card to be both ready and unneutralized, unless otherwise specified.

 

Sponsor a Supporting Card

A supporting card must be brought into play by being sponsored. Characters, Enhancement, Groups, Locations and Fleets are all supporting cards. The cost to sponsor a supporting card is equal to the influence cost of the card to be sponsored. In addition, you are normally required to rotate an Inner Circle Character. The Inner Circle character is considered to have sponsored that card. When a card is sponsored it enters play ready in the player’s supporting row and may be used for actions. Exception: Enhancements might be placed in either the Inner Circle or the Supporting Cards Row depending on their target. With the exception of enhancements you can only sponsor cards into your own faction.

Requirements

Some cards have additional requirements to be sponsored. E.g. if a card says “requires 2 Shadow Marks” then you must have at least 2 shadow marks in your faction in order to be able to sponsor that card. Some requirements may be passive (i.e. you must have 2 shadow marks) or be active and require you to do something in order to sponsor that card. E.g. you may have to rotate another card in order to sponsor the card. Finally some cards may have restrictions on what can sponsor it. E.g. if a card reads “Can only be sponsored by a Shadow Character” or “must be sponsored by a...” then you must obey this restriction.

“Sponsor for free”

Some effects let you “sponsor for free”. This means that you do not need to rotate an Inner Circle character nor do you need to apply influence equal to the incoming card’s influence cost. You must still meet all requirements and obey all restrictions however.

Sponsor effects

Some cards (e.g. Telepath Recruiters, the aftermath Cult of Personality) allow you to sponsor cards. This means that you do not need to rotate an Inner Circle character but must still pay the card’s influence cost. Such cards will sometimes include the clause “as if this card were an Inner Circle character” to remind you of this. The agenda build Infrastructure allows you to sponsor cards without rotating an Inner Circle character in which case no card is considered to have sponsored the incoming card. Otherwise the card that generated the sponsoring effect is considered to have sponsored the new card unless it states otherwise. Note that this may prevent it from sponsoring some types of cards. E.g. an enhancement with a racial loyalty can only be sponsored by a card of that race. Therefore any card which can sponsor enhancements must be loyal to the appropriate race in order to sponsor enhancements.

 

Replace a Card

Some effects allow you to “Replace" one card with another - usually as an action. When you replace a card, the card being replaced is removed from play. When you replace one card with another you do not transfer any marks, attached cards or contingencies unless the card states otherwise. You can replace another player’s card unless the card specifically disallows it but, if you do the card remains in the same faction and, control of that card passes to the player who controlled the card was replaced. The new card enters play ready and undamaged and is not the target of any effects that might have been targeting the card it has just replaced. The new card is considered to be a different card to the one that it just replaced. Cards which replace other cards tend to act in a wide variety of ways and often override these rules so it is important to read the card carefully.

If a card can enter play through replacement and reads “must replace” or simply “replace” then it cannot enter play through being sponsored. If a card reads “may replace” then it can enter play through replacement or being sponsored. Any card with no printed cost cannot enter play through being sponsored (unless it states otherwise) and must enter play through some special mechanism printed on the card.

 

Promote a Character to the Inner Circle

To promote a supporting character, rotate a ready Inner Circle character and apply influence equal to the supporting character's influence cost (again, doubled if the character is loyal to a different race) plus one additional influence for each character that is already a member of your faction's Inner Circle. E.g., if your faction has an ambassador and one other member in its Inner circle, then to promote a character with an influence cost of three would require a total of five influence to be applied. The character that rotated is considered to have promoted the supporting card. Characters are the only type of supporting card that can (normally) be promoted to the Inner Circle. Note that a discount to the cost to sponsor a character does not apply to promoting the character unless specifically stated otherwise.

Promote Effects.

Some cards will allow you to promote characters in non-standard ways. If a card says “promote for free” then you do not need to apply influence or rotate an Inner Circle character. If a card merely says promote then you must still apply the appropriate amount of influence. (Note some older cards which promote outside of the action round - e.g. the Minbari aftermath “Approval of the Grey” - read simply “promote” but this is still a ‘free’ promotion.)

 

Rotate to Build Influence.

Any faction with an Influence Rating of 9 or less may increase its Influence Rating by 1 by rotating a member of its Inner Circle and applying 3 influence. A new influence token is immediately added to the available influence above that faction's ambassador card. Factions with an Influence Rating of 10 or greater may not use this action. Though a one-time occurrence, this is a protected action, not an influence "gain."

 

Use a card’s action

Many cards have actions that they can take. Most times this will require that the card be rotated to do something. Other times it may have another cost required. E.g. some characters may have an action which requires you to neutralize them. If a card can take an action it will state something like “You may rotate this card as an action to...” or, newer cards, will state “Action: ...”

 

Lead a Fleet

A character with Leadership greater than zero may rotate to add their Leadership ability to the Military ability of one of your faction's fleets. The fleet's Military ability is increased by an amount equal to the character's Leadership ability for as long as the character leads the fleet. Each fleet can only be led by one character at a time. This action can be sustained.

Leading a fleet does not automatically make a character a participant. A character leading a fleet becomes a conflict participant only when the fleet itself becomes a participant. Example: John Sheridan rotates to lead the Human First Battle Fleet. The fleet is ready and not currently participating in a conflict therefore John Sheridan is not participating. Later, the fleet rotates to support a military conflict and when it does so, John Sheridan becomes a participant character. Conversely, if the First Battle Fleet was already participating in a conflict when Sheridan rotated to lead it then Sheridan would have immediately become a conflict participant.

If a character is leading a fleet and then becomes ready, because leading is a sustainable action then the character stops leading the fleet. If the fleet was a participant then the character is no longer a participant - he has been reassigned. As usual, some cards override the rules. For example, the card Hour of the Wolf readies a character but doesn’t cancel the effect of any actions. If hour of the Wolf is played on a character leading a fleet then that character remains leading the fleet even though he is now ready.

 

Support or Oppose a Conflict

Characters and fleets (and, in some cases, locations) may rotate to either support or oppose a conflict that has been initiated. Only cards with a non-zero ability of the appropriate type may rotate to support or oppose a conflict. E.g., a character with 2 Diplomacy, 3 Intrigue, and no listed Psi ability (0 Psi) could neither support nor oppose a Psi conflict. However they could support or oppose a Diplomatic or Intrigue conflict. See the rules on conflicts for more in-depth information.

A character, fleet or location which supports or opposes a conflict becomes a Participant in the conflict. A character who supports or opposes a conflict must designate the ability he is using in the conflict (if there is any doubt).

 

Participating in conflicts

If a character or fleet rotates to participate in a conflict and then becomes ready it is not automatically removed from that conflict - unless some card effect specifies that this is the case. Example: Delenn is supporting a conflict when she is readied by a player using the event card “Service” which readies her. Delenn is still supporting the conflict.

If a participant becomes ready then it is possible for it to participate further in the same or other conflicts unless a card specifies otherwise. The results of doing so vary, however. If a character is supporting a given conflict and then later rotates to support the same conflict again then it does NOT apply any additional support. Basically when a conflict resolves it does not matter how many times a participant has supported that conflict - it only applies its ability once. The same is true of a participant that opposes a conflict.

If a participating is supporting a conflict then it cannot at a later point oppose that conflict unless something has removed it from that conflict. The same is true in reverse.

If a participant has attacked during a conflict and then becomes ready it could support, oppose or attack again as its controller see fit.

Finally, if a participant becomes ready it could also participate in other conflicts.

“Sides” in conflicts

If a card is supporting an opposable conflict then it is said to be on the same side as all other cards supporting that conflict. Similarly, if a card is opposing an opposable conflict then it is on the same side as all other cards opposing that conflict. Unopposable conflicts (e.g. Prey on the Weak) have more than one side, all of which are supporting their respective sides. Any card which is supporting a side in such a conflict is on the same side as all other cards supporting that side. Cards which attack during a conflict are not considered to be on any particular side. This may seem odd but there are times when it is either impossible or far too complex to figure out which side an attacking character is aiding.

 

Attack a Conflict Participant

Cards (characters and fleets generally) may rotate to attack another card that is either supporting or opposing a conflict, or that attacked during a current conflict (but not a character who participated by leading a participant fleet). This is called “attacking during a conflict.” Some card effects also allow characters (and fleets) to attack independent of conflicts. It is possible under rare circumstances for characters to attack fleets and vice-versa.

When an attack is declared, the attacking card becomes (and must be eligible to become) a Participant in the conflict. E.g., if a conflict is restricted to Minbari characters, no Narn character could attack any participant involved in the conflict. The attacking card must attack with the same ability the target has applied within the current conflict (e.g., Intrigue must be used to attack a character who supported a conflict using Intrigue). Cards cannot attack if the ability that will be used to make the attack is zero. Neutralized cards (see "The Effects of Damage" below) cannot be attacked. You cannot attack a card in your own faction.

Resolving Attacks. Both cards (the attacker and the target) simultaneously apply Damage to each other equal to their current ability rating. Any card with a Strife Mark adds two points to the amount of damage it inflicts during an attack for each such mark possessed. Each point of damage inflicted to a card should be marked by placing a damage token on top of the affected card. Some cards state that they apply their damage first. If two such cards attack each other then the damage is applied simultaneously, otherwise the damage caused by the card which applies its damage first is calculated before the damage applied by the other card(s).

The Effects of Damage

For each point of damage on a target, all the target's abilities are reduced by one. Remember, no ability may be reduced below zero after all modifiers have been calculated.

Neutralization

If a card’s highest ability has been reduced to zero and it has at least one damage token on it then it becomes immediately neutralized. Note that any character with a highest ability of zero but no damage tokens on it is not automatically neutralized.

When a card becomes neutralized follow the following procedure. Calculate what the character’s highest ability would be if the character were undamaged and then remove that number of damage tokens from play. Then flip over the card. Any remaining damage tokens are then placed on the back of the card where they become Severe Damage tokens. The only time normal damage is converted to severe damage is in the act of neutralizing a card. Additional normal damage which is somehow applied to an already neutralized card has no additional effect.

A card with abilities that are improved by other cards in play might become neutralized or severely damaged at any time that such bonuses expire. Note that cards which sustain their action from a previous turn provide a continuous bonus, i.e., their bonus does not expire between turns.

Whenever a fleet is neutralized, any character who has rotated to add their Leadership ability to that fleet is also automatically neutralized (flipped over). However, characters neutralized in this fashion do not receive any severe damage as a result of damage applied to the fleet they modify.

Any card which is neutralized during a turn cannot take any more actions during that turn, even if it is somehow unneutralized and readied during the turn. Supporting cards will be discarded towards the end of the turn if they are still neutralized.

If a card has an ongoing effect on game play, or provides marks, the effect is not interrupted by neutralization, and the marks are still present in that card's faction. A neutralized card is not blanked automatically.

 

Play an Event or Contingency

Playing an event or contingency card requires an action. Some event cards are played along with another action, as specified on the card. A contingency card is played face down under another card you control unless otherwise specified.

 

Discard, Replace, Sponsor, Hide or Reveal an Agenda

Remember, each faction may only have one agenda in play (whether hidden or not) at any given time.

You may discard your current agenda (whether hidden or not) as an action if it is not a major agenda. You do not need to rotate an inner circle character to discard your agenda. Note that if you have a hidden major agenda then you cannot discard it this way.

If you have an unhidden agenda in play, you may rotate an Inner Circle character to remove it from play and replace it with a new agenda from your hand that you could sponsor. (If the agenda you replaced is limited then no further copies of that agenda can be played.) If the agenda you are replacing is a Major Agenda then it can only be replaced by a Major Agenda. If an agenda has a requirement to be sponsored, then it needs those same requirements to enter play through replacement.

If you have no agenda (whether Hidden or not) in play you may rotate an Inner Circle character to sponsor an Agenda.

If you have no agenda in play (Whether Hidden or not) you may rotate an Inner Circle character to play an Agenda face-down (termed “Hiding” your agenda). Such an agenda is known as a Hidden Agenda. If an agenda has requirements in order to be sponsored, then you must meet also meet those requirements in order to hide it. If an agenda can enter play without requiring a character to rotate (or can be “sponsored for free”) this is also true of hiding it. Example: The agenda Build Infrastructure could be hidden without you rotating an Inner Circle character. Hiding an agenda is, however, not the same as sponsoring one. A Hidden Agenda is not considered to be in play and has no effect on the game. A Hidden Agenda cannot therefore by affected by anything unless it specifically states that it can affect a Hidden Agenda.

If you have a Hidden Agenda you may reveal it (turn it face-up). When you reveal a Hidden Agenda it acts as though it has just been sponsored and any effects it generates when it is sponsored take place. It has however not just been sponsored. To reveal a hidden agenda you must meet all requirements that it states it needs to be sponsored or else immediately discard it. Example if you have a hidden agenda that requires 2 Shadow Marks to be sponsored and you do not have 2 Shadow Marks then you cannot reveal it so must discard it instead. If you try to reveal a hidden major agenda and do not meet the requirements then you cannot reveal the agenda and the action is cancelled. You cannot try to reveal it again until you meet the requirements.

 

Heal a Character

As an action you may rotate an unneutralized character to heal it. You can also heal neutralized characters but only if they did not become neutralized this turn and only if they are not currently rotated. This is the only case in which a neutralized card’s status as ready or rotated can be referred to. Essentially, if a card is ready and neutralized it can rotate to heal itself.

The effects of healing vary.

 

  • To heal a ready, unneutralized character rotate the character to remove all damage tokens from it.
  • To heal a ready, neutralized character that has no severe damage tokens, rotate the character and place it face up with no damage tokens on it. It is now un-neutralized.
  • To heal a ready, neutralized character that has at least one severe damage token. Rotate the character and remove one severe damage token.

 

Some effects allow you “Fully Heal” a character. A fully healed character has all severe damage and normal damage tokens remove and, if it was neutralized, it becomes unneutralized. Other card effects allow you to heal a character. The effects of healing are as above. If a card effect allows you to heal a character then it can be used regardless of whether or not the target is ready, rotated or neutralized unless it states otherwise. It can even be used to heal a neutralized character on the same turn on which it was neutralized. You cannot heal an undamaged character except in the special case of “ambassadorial healing.”

Ambassadorial Healing

If all of a player's Inner Circle characters rotate to heal on the same turn, then the player's ambassador is fully healed (placed face-up with no damage or severe damage tokens) at the end of the action round. A player may rotate undamaged character(s) to heal in this case - when you do so you must announce the character is rotating to perform “ambassadorial healing.” This represents them providing aid to their ambassador.

 

Repair a Fleet or Location

A non-neutralized Fleet or Location that is damaged may repair any amount of damage. To repair a fleet or location rotate the card and apply one influence per damage token removed. A repair action cannot unneutralize a fleet or location, or remove severe damage.

 

Take control of a Mercenary

If a card has the mercenary trait, any play may pay its mercenary cost to take control of it until the end of the turn. This cost is usually its printed influence cost unless the card itself states otherwise. It is possible for a mercenary card to switch sides multiple times during a turn. (Remember: having control of a card does not automatically make it part of your faction). At the end of turn, the mercenary card reverts to its normal controller.

 

Pass

A player may pass as his or her action at any time. He or she may take another action later in the round unless all players pass consecutively, ending the action round.

 

Additional and Advanced Rules

Factions and Control

Generally you control any card that is in your faction. There are some exceptions though. Enhancements and aftermaths (that stay in play) are controlled by whoever brought them into play. So for example, if you play a character enhancement on a character in another faction then you have control over that enhancement (but not the character). If the enhancement has an action or optional triggered effect then you (the controller) choose whether to invoke it. In these cases the relevant enhancement or aftermath is in one player’s faction but under the control of another player.

It can be possible to take control of cards in other players’ factions. This means that although the card remains in its current faction you can use it for actions or to meet requirements. Generally, taking control of a card does not move it from its current faction to your faction unless the card states specifically that it does. Similarly, although a mercenary may be in a certain faction, the person who has bid the most for it has control of it.

 

Some cards may be in a faction but under no one’s control. This is generally true of mercenary cards.

 

Some cards may be in no faction and under no player’s control - e.g. some of the Vorlon and Shadow locations are nominally under the control of the Vorlons or Shadows.

 

Finally some cards (most notably global and Babylon 5 enhancements) are in no faction but are controlled by a particular faction. Generally such cards are controlled by the person who played them unless stated otherwise on the card. If such cards have an action it can only be used by the faction that controls the card unless the card state otherwise.

 

Some cards and rules may let you take actions with a card controlled by another player. This does not cause you take control of that card temporarily or otherwise. It simply lets you take actions with that card. This is the case with Babylon Project ambassador assistants who are not in their ‘normal’ faction.

 

Tainted Cards and Marks

A card that is tainted by either the Vorlons or the Shadows is one that has become strongly associated with one of these two races. The following game entities are tainted:

  • Vorlon Tainted: Vorlon Marks, Vorlon Cards, Cards that provide Vorlon Marks to other cards, cards that state that they "require Vorlon Marks", Cards with the keyword "ranger".
  • Shadow Tainted: Shadow Marks, Shadow Cards, Drakh Cards, Cards that provide Shadow Marks to other cards, cards that state that they "require Shadow Marks".

 

Any faction with a Vorlon Tainted card or Mark is referred to as a "Vorlon Tainted" faction. Similarly, any faction with a Shadow Tainted card or Mark is referred to as a "Shadow Tainted" faction. A faction, card or mark is tainted if it is either Vorlon Tainted or Shadow Tainted. It is impossible for any game entity to be both Vorlon Tainted and Shadow Tainted. It is possible for characters to lose their Taint. Say for example you control a version with Londo who has a shadow mark. If you purge that mark, Londo is no longer Shadow Tainted even though his character card may still picture that mark. However cards which provide Shadow marks to other cards (e.g. the agenda Growth in Chaos) cannot lose their taint even if the mark they are providing has become purged somehow.

 

Allergic Cards and Marks

Certain cards and marks are "allergic" to each other. Cards that are allergic to each other are so diametrically opposed that they cannot work together under any circumstances. The most notable example of this are the Shadows (and their allies) who cannot cooperate in any way with the Vorlons or anyone Tainted by them. This is known as "The Elder Races" allergy.

 

The rules governing allergic cards and marks are:

  • You cannot play, face-up or face down, any card that is allergic to your faction as a whole or allergic to anything in your faction. Nor can you reveal such a card.
  • No card can join your faction if that card is allergic to a card in your faction as a whole or allergic to anything in your faction.
  • You cannot gain a mark that is allergic your faction as a whole or to anything in your faction.

 

Marks

Many cards provide marks to characters. E.g., the Agenda "Servants of Order" provides the ambassador of the faction with 1 Vorlon Mark while the agenda is in play. Marks are always considered to be attached to (or gained by) a character (or, on occasion, a fleet or location). Marks provided to a faction without specifying a target are attached to the faction's ambassador.

 

If a card refers to a player's marks, or a faction's marks, then it includes all marks attached to all cards in that faction. Most cards which require marks to be played include all marks possessed by the faction. E.g., if the Minbari player wished to play the card "You Are Not Ready" (which requires 3 Vorlon marks) he could play it if Delenn had 2 attached Vorlon marks and Lennier had 1 mark. Marks on neutralized characters do count toward a faction's total number of marks, and they may be manipulated, purged, etc. as usual.

 

A faction cannot have both Shadow and Vorlon marks - they are “allergic” marks. If one of these marks is already attached to a card in one faction, any effect attaching an allergic mark to any card in the same faction is ignored.

 

The source of any individual mark is not recorded. If a character is cut off from a source of a mark (for example, if a faction switches agendas or if an aftermath or enhancement is discarded or blanked) then that character must purge a mark of that type. This could, of course, result in purging more than one mark. If the character has no marks of that type to purge, then it suffers no additional penalty. This applies to cards with a temporary effect, or cards which provide a lasting effect while they remain in play; enhancements, ongoing agenda effects, aftermaths, etc. Many events, such as Contact with Shadows, provide a permanent mark and do not remain in play. A character with such a mark cannot be "cut off' from its source. To restate, if a card that provides a mark is discarded, its target must purge a mark of that type.

 

The Shadow War

If either the Vorlons or the Shadows reach 20 Influence then the Shadow War begins. There are also other cards which can start the Shadow War, change its requirements to start and/or end it. The Shadow War is a specific type of state that affects the entire game. The shadow War can only be started once during a game. The Shadow War cannot be ended by an effect unless it is currently in effect.

  • When the Shadow War starts, all “Shadow Tainted” factions cards immediately declare war against all “Vorlon Tainted” factions - overriding any and all restrictions against starting wars.
  • While the Shadow War is in effect no states of war (except the Shadow War) can be ended (they are irrevocable).
  • While the Shadow War is in effect any time a faction becomes Shadow Tainted then it declares war against all Vorlon Tainted factions that it is not already at war with. Similarly when a faction becomes Vorlon Tainted all Shadow Tainted Factions that are not currently at war with it immediately declare war against it.
  • If the Shadow War ends, all wars that started due to the rules above immediately end.

 

The Interstellar Alliance

The Interstellar Alliance is a power block that can be brought into existence by a successful use of the event card Interstellar Alliance. While the ISA is in effect certain changes occur to the game. Like the Shadow War, The ISA is a state that effects the entire the game.

 

If the ISA exists: Once per turn, as an action, each player (whether in or out of the ISA) may discard the top card from his deck and forfeit his ability to draw cards during that turn's draw phase to take a card with ISA in its effect text from outside the game into his hand (in tournament play, this card must come from the player's reserve). This cannot allow him to exceed normal deck construction limits.

 

If the ISA exists, whenever a Babylon 5 vote is called for, hold an ISA Vote instead. In an ISA Vote, each player who is an ISA member gets one vote. The ISA Founder calls the vote order. Cards that affect or refer to Babylon 5 votes do not affect ISA votes. ISA cards (cards that have ISA in boldface) cannot be played unless the ISA is in existence.

Expulsion from the ISA. An ISA member, along with all other ISA members of that race, is expelled from the ISA if:

  • he declares war on or starts a war with another ISA member;
  • he enters a state of war with another ISA member because of an event or conflict he played;
  • or he enters a state of war with another ISA member because of an Agenda he controlled;
  • the faction is (or becomes) Shadow Tainted while the Shadow War is in effect.

 

Personalities

Certain characters in the game are depicted by more than one character card, to represent the growth of the character and his or her increasing importance during the Babylon 5 story. No more than one card representing the same (Limited) personality can be in play at the same time, although you may play a version of a personality if it immediately removes the in-play version of that personality from the game or discards it.

A partial list of personalities and cards featuring them are as follows (Collecter’s Edition cards are not included):

 

  • Sinclair: Jeffrey Sinclair, Captain Sinclair, Entil'Zha, Valen
  • John Sheridan: John Sheridan, Captain Sheridan, Sheridan Reborn, President Sheridan, Entil'Zha Sheridan.
  • Anna Sheridan: Anna Sheridan, Doctor Sheridan.
  • Delenn: Delenn Transformed, Entil'Zha Delenn, President Delenn
  • G'Kar: G'Kar, G’Kar Forsaken, G'Kar Enlightened, Citizen G'Kar
  • Londo: Londo Mollari, Lord Mollari, Prime Minister Mollari, Emperor Mollari II.
  • Ivanova: Susan Ivanova, Commander Ivanova, Captain Ivanova, General Ivanova, Anla'shok na Ivanova
  • Garibaldi: Michael Garibaldi, Garibaldi - off duty, Disillusioned Garibaldi, Garibaldi, Garibaldi - CEO.
  • Franklin: Dr. Franklin, Stephen Franklin, Franklin - off duty, Stephen Franklin DXB.
  • Zak: Zak Allen, Chief Allen, Mr. Allen
  • Clark: William Morgan Clark, President Clark.
  • Refa: Lord Refa, Prime Minister Refa, Emperor Refa.
  • Lennier: Lennier, Ranger Lennier.
  • Neroon: Neroon, Alyt Neroon, Shai Alyt Neroon
  • Marcus: Marcus, Marcus Cole.
  • Bester: Bester, Alfred Bester
  • Talia: Talia Winters, Dark Talia
  • Lyta: Lyta Alexander, Lyta, Lyta Empowered, Lyta Released
  • Vir: Vir Cotto, Attache Cotto, Ambassador Cotto, Emperor Cotto.
  • Na'Toth: Na'Toth, Lady Na'Toth
  • Na’Far: Na’Far, Councillor Na’Far.
  • Jaddo: Urza Jaddo, Vocator Jaddo.
  • Verano: Minister Verano, The Regent
  • Draal: Draal, Draal the Caretaker.
  • Morden: Morden, Mr. Morden.
  • Kosh: Kosh Narenek, Ambassador Kosh, Kosh
  • Ulkesh: Ulkesh Kosh, Ulkesh.
  • Zathras: Each Zathras card represents a different Zathras personality, even if two Zathras characters have the same spelling of their name.

 

For those unfamiliar with the television program, Jeffrey Sinclair and John Sheridan are not the same personality, nor are Ko'Dath and Na'Toth.

 

Searching Your Deck

After searching or looking through your deck, always reshuffle afterward unless otherwise instructed by the effect that allowed you to search your deck.

 

Triggered Effects

Some cards in play have ongoing effects which alter the way the game is played. They may require a player to make a decision during another player's action, or even require a card to rotate. When these effects resolve, they do not count as an action for any player. E.g., each player's Homeworld can be rotated to allow that player to gain an additional influence whenever he gains influence from a conflict. Since a player will only gain influence during the Resolution round, this effect is triggered during the Resolution round, and the card rotates at that time. Sometimes more than one player may wish to generate a triggered effect at the same time. In this case, resolve the effects in initiative order.

 

Each effect must resolve completely before the next one is resolved.

 

Using one ability as another

When a card allows you to use one ability as another, this may only be done for purposes of participating in conflicts, attacking, or (when using an ability as Leadership) for leading a fleet.

Example of using one ability as another: Michael Garibaldi uses his Intrigue of 3 as Diplomacy to support a Diplomacy conflict. He can only be attacked using Diplomacy, and the amount of damage he deals in return would be based on his Intrigue value (and it would double due to his game text, so if Delenn attacked using her Diplomacy of 6, she would do 6 damage to Garibaldi and he would do 6 damage to her). If Popular Support is played on Garibaldi, increasing his Diplomacy by +2, he would still only be supporting the conflict for 3 because his Intrigue is 3. If Underworld Connections was used to give him +2 Intrigue, however, he would then be supporting the conflict for 5.

 

Votes

Some card effects call for a vote to determine the outcome. There are three kinds of votes that may occur: “Player” votes, “Babylon 5" votes and “ISA” votes. Each type of vote has different rules about who can, and cannot vote and who ‘heads’ the vote. The "head" of the vote calls the vote in whatever order he or she wishes, though players are permitted a short time to confer before voting. During a vote, each player who can vote must vote "Yes", "No", or "Abstain". For a vote to pass there must be least one more "Yes" than "No" vote for a measure to pass. Some effects may also list other requirements for a vote to succeed.

 

Player Votes. In these votes each player in the game has one vote and the head of the vote is the person who played the card that caused the vote.

Babylon 5 Votes. This is the most complicated type of vote and occurs when a card calls for a vote from the Babylon 5 Council of Races. On the Council, there are 5 races with a vote; the Humans, Minbari, Centauri, Narn and the Vorlon race (which is not a playable race). In addition, the League of Non-Aligned worlds (acting as if it were a single race) may cast one vote to break any tie. Each player may cast his own race’s vote. Races not currently being played are considered to be part of the vote, but by default they abstain. This is always the case with the Vorlons who abstain by default. Nominally the ambassador of that race casts the vote for the player. Card status (such as being rotated or neutralized) has no effect on an ambassador's ability to vote, though specific cards may force a change of vote (even upon races not being played). If there is an Human Babylon Project ambassador in the game, that player "heads" the council; if not, the player of the card which requires a vote "heads" the council. To participate in a Babylon 5 vote you do not need to be playing a Babylon Project Faction. To determine which faction of a race controls that race’s vote, follow this procedure.

  • If there is only one faction of a race in play then it controls that race’s vote on Babylon 5.
  • If there is more than one faction of a race in play and one of those factions is a Babylon Project faction, then that faction controls the race’s vote.
  • If there is more than one faction of a race in play but none of those factions is a Babylon Project faction, then no faction controls the race’s vote.

Examples: The only faction of a Human race in play is a Home Faction (William Morgan Clark). This faction controls the Human vote on the Babylon Council. Two factions of the Human race in play - Babylon Project (Sinclair) and Clark (Home Faction). Sinclair controls the vote. Two factions of the Human Race in play - Home Faction (Clark) and Psi Corps (Bester). Neither faction controls the vote.

 

ISA votes. If the ISA exists, whenever a Babylon 5 vote is called for, hold an ISA Vote instead. In an ISA Vote, each player who is an ISA member gets one vote. The ISA Founder heads the vote. Cards that affect or refer to Babylon 5 votes do not affect ISA votes.

 

States

In most cases, the relationship between two races is defined primarily by their tension. However, through the course of card play, races may enter into additional relationships with each other. Such relationships are called states. The most common states are various forms of alliances, trade pacts (a state of free trade), and war. Most states provide some game-altering abilities while in effect, others allow players of those races to take additional actions. Some cards require a certain state be in effect before they can be played.

 

War

Unless otherwise specified, when races enter a state of War, all other states between the races are cancelled (with any penalties applied as indicated on the appropriate cards). For instance, two races in a state of Free Trade who enter a state of War cease being trading partners, and their influence rating is adjusted accordingly. There are a number of ways races may enter a state of War. If the War later ends, the states that were cancelled do not automatically restart.

War Conflicts

Any player who is embroiled in a war may initiate a military "War” Conflict (no conflict card or influence required) during the conflict round targeting a player with whom they are at war or a location in a faction with whom they are at war.

If the war conflict targets a location, and the initiator wins the conflict, the initiator, conquers, the location. The effect of conquering a location depends on whether it is loyal to your race or not.

 

If you a conquer a location that is not loyal to your race then its effect text is blanked while it is conquered by you, all attached cards and contingencies are discarded, the location is moved to your faction and no player has control of it.

 

If you conquer a location that is loyal to your race (e.g. it had been conquered by another player earlier or you are at war with a faction of your own race) all attached cards and contingencies are discarded, the location joins your faction and you gain control of it.

 

If the war conflict targets an opponent (and not a location) then, resolve the conflict as follows: If you win the conflict and the conflict is uncontested, then the target loses one influence and you gain one influence as the outcome of the conflict. If the conflict is contested (at least one participant opposed or attacked) then it has no effect even if you win. However, aftermath cards will still be valid depending on whether the initiator has "Won" or "Lost".

 

Whenever a War conflict is resolved, the target's tension toward the player who initiated the conflict increases by 1 (to a maximum of 5).

 

Cards With No Printed Cost

A card that does not have an orange cost bubble in the lower right hand corner has a cost that is undefined as far as other cards are concerned. Undefined does not mean zero. It is impossible to apply an undefined amount of influence or purge an undefined number of marks. Example: The effect text for Forces Collide states Apply influence equal to the cost of the enhancement, plus 1 per Vorlon Mark required to play the card. Discard the enhancement. Therefore, you cannot use Forces Collide on enhancements with no printed cost bubble, such as Shadow Tech Upgrade, Recalled, or Forced Impairment.

 

Cards that do not refer to cost specifically can target other cards with undefined costs. Example: Taunts and Games' effect text reads Target a card another player sponsored since your last action. Apply the same amount of influence the player applied.... Since Taunts and Games does not refer to cost, it is legal to use it on cards with undefined costs, such as a sponsored agenda or the First United Fleet.

 

Legal Targets

Some cards require you to select a target, be it a character, fleet, faction or race. Unless the card specifies otherwise, or gives an exact target, you must select a target in play, or you cannot play the card. For example:

The "Rivalry" aftermath requires you to target two Inner Circle characters, other than the ambassador, controlled by the same player. If no one has two Inner Circle characters besides their ambassador, you cannot play this card.

"Test Their Mettle" allows you to test the will of another race, allowing one player to gain influence at the expense of another. You cannot select an unplayed race as your target for "Test Their Mettle".

 

Discards

Sometimes a card is discarded from a player's hand, due to a card effect or a voluntary discard. Other cards are placed on the discard pile after they have been played; notably, events, contingencies, aftermaths (including "discard after play" aftermaths) and conflicts which have been resolved or cancelled. Finally, cards can be "discarded from play", for example, supporting characters who have been neutralized and any aftermaths or enhancements attached to that character. Another example of discarded from play includes any card effect which requires that a card be discarded to activate it (such cards must be in play for their effect to occur, they cannot simply be discarded from a player's hand). Any time a player must put more than one card on his discard pile at a time, he may choose the order in which he will stack the cards. Cards are placed in the discard pile of the same player in whose deck they began the game, regardless of which faction may have controlled them prior to being discarded.

 

Bonuses and Blanking

Bonuses (including marks) provided by playing an agenda (and some other cards), or which occur "while" some effect is maintained, expire when the card is discarded, replaced or blanked. This also applies to bonuses in which you "count" the status of something. Bonuses which occur "when" you meet a certain condition are permanent, you retain their effect even if the agenda is discarded or blanked.

Some examples: with "Imperialism” whenever you conquer a location you gain 2 influence. This effect is permanent, even if the agenda is later lost. However, the ability to use captured locations as if they were your own is provided while Imperialism is in play: you could not make use of this effect if you changed your agenda. With "Maintain the Peace'; tokens are placed on the agenda at the end of some turns; such tokens would not be removed if the agenda were blanked (though they would be removed with the agenda if it were to be discarded).

 

Cumulative Effects

To determine whether an effect is cumulative, read the text closely. If 2 cards cause a character to "draw 2 cards instead of 1", for example, a player would draw 2 cards, not 3 or 4. If, on the other hand, two cards say to "draw an additional card during the draw round" then that card would be cumulative with any other card. (If a player had 2 of each of the previous types of cards affecting him, he would then draw 4 cards, 2 instead of 1, and 2 more additional cards).

 

Rules of Precedence

This rulebook contains the standard rules of game play for use on the Gatling Engine. This rulebook is version 2.0. Any rulebook containing a higher "version number" takes precedence over these rules, unless all players agree to play by an earlier version of the rulebook. Except for the standard rules which govern how and when an ambassador card may leave play, the text written on any game card takes precedence over the standard rules and may override anything written in this book.

 

The Cannot rule

Some rules and cards specify that something "cannot" be done. In this case, other cards cannot permit them to perform that action unless the “cannot” is either removed or specifically override. Examples. "Luis Santiago" cannot become an Inner Circle character. A card which allows you to promote any character to the Inner Circle would still not enable you to make Luis Santiago an Inner Circle character. The restriction itself must be removed before he can be promoted, he cannot be promoted while the restriction is in effect. (For example, the card could say "removes any restriction against elevating a character to the Inner Circle", as opposed to "promote any character to your Inner Circle".) Example 2: the Drakh Rules state that “Drakh cards which can be sponsored cannot enter play by any other means.” Thus you cannot use cards like New Priorities. However the card (from the Anla’shok expansion) “Masterful Plan” states “Replace this agenda with a Drakh agenda from your hand without rotating a character.” Because a specific reference is made to Drakh agendas here then the Drakh rule is overridden.

 

Character and Fleet Abilities

All characters have ratings in Diplomacy, Intrigue and Leadership even if they are not printed on the card. Thus any card which gives a bonus (or penalty) to all abilities always affects those abilities. Telepaths (“teeps”) are characters who have a printed Psi ability in addition to their other abilities.

 

Advanced Details about playing cards

Every card to be played consists of four elements: costs, requirements, targets and effects.

Costs

Every card with an influence bubble in the bottom right corner has a cost. A card with no influence bubble has an “undefined” cost - not “zero” cost. The only way a card could have zero cost is if the bubble had a printed zero in it. A card with an undefined cost can not, therefore, have its cost modified.

Requirements

Cards may have requirements to play in addition to any costs - these are known as “play requirements”. Some of these requirements may require applying a certain amount of influence. This is not an additional “cost” - it is a play requirement. You cannot play any card unless you can meet all of its requirements. You cannot use cards that other players control to meet requirements. Thus if a card said “rotate a character to do something” then the phrase “rotate a character” is a play requirement and you can only choose to rotate a character that you control. Sometimes it is a little difficult to distinguish between requirements and effects. Generally a card will be written in the form “do X to do Y”. Everything included in “X” is a requirement and everything in “Y” is an effect. Not every card, however, is this clear. Some of the older cards are a little vague and have to be read carefully.

There may be an attempt in the future to rephrase older cards on the Engine to make them more obvious.

Targets

Not every card has a target but many, especially, events, do. If a card has one or more targets then you cannot play that card unless you can target all of the appropriate card(s). A card only targets something if it explicitly states so. If a card states “all characters with a Destiny mark get +2 Diplomacy” then it is not actually targeting anything and could be played even if no characters in play have a Destiny mark. If a card states “target character with a Destiny mark gets +2 Diplomacy” then it targets just the relevant character. If there are no such characters in play then the card itself cannot be played.

Effects

A card may have one or more effects. For example if a card’s effect is “rotate a target character and a target fleet in the same faction” it has two effects. If a card has multiple effects you cannot choose to ignore some of the effects. However, if you can’t generate all of the effects this does not prevent you from generating the rest of the effects. Unless otherwise stated, the effects on a card are independent of each other. Example, in the card just stated, if the faction doesn’t have a fleet then that effect fails but the character is still rotated. In some cases, however, the effects of a card are dependent.

Reversal. Cards which reverse effects - most notably Not Meant To Be - cannot be played unless you can reverse all of the effects that actually occurred. Example; the event Confusion in Chaos, which ends the action round, cannot be reversed because there is no way to go back in time and reverse the ending. If you cannot reverse one effect of a card then you cannot reverse any of the cards.

The THEN rule. Some cards use the phraseology “do X then Y” to indicate that you must do X before you do Y. In this case the effect “Y” is dependent on X occurring. If X fails for some reason then Y (and any other subsequent effects) cannot be generated. Example: if a card reads “rotate a target fleet then a target character in the same faction” and there is no fleet to rotate then the character cannot be rotated.

The BOTH rule. If a card states “do BOTH X and Y” and you cannot do one of them then you cannot do any of them. Example: if a card read “rotate Both a target character and a target fleet in the same faction” then you must be able to perform both effects. Some cards with more than 2 dependent effects (along with some older cards) may not use the word BOTH explicitly but will indicate otherwise that all effects must be performed.

Reversing Effects. An effect cannot be reversed if: it ends a round or turn of play; it causes a player to shuffle a deck, discard or Crusade Pile; it causes a player to look at one or more cards in a deck, Crusade Pile or other player’s hand.

 

Lasting and Sustainable Effects

Some effects when generated by a card in play continue regardless of what happens to the original card. Others only last for a specified time or until a condition is met. E.g. If a card says “target gets +2 diplomacy while this card remains rotated” then, if the card is readied, neutralized or leaves play its effect ends. If the card says “Target gets 2 diplomacy until the end of the turn” then even if the card is readied or leaves play the effect continues until its expiry. Generally, any event or contingency which modifies an ability and doesn’t explicitly state how long it lasts, lasts until the end of the turn. Effects which cause cards to gain, purge, convert or move marks usually have a permanent effect. Similarly effects which inflict, heal or repair damage are also usually permanent.

Some actions (and effects generated by those actions) are sustainable. This is usually indicated by the phrase “while this card remains rotated.” Such actions can be sustained during the ready round by not readying the card that is doing the sustaining.

 

Dual Race Games

A dual race is any race represented by more than one player faction. For example the human race could be represented by a normal faction, a home faction and a Psi Corp faction. As usual, players will have to decide beforehand which factions they wish to play if there is a conflict.

 

When a dual race game is started each faction has the normal starting tensions and unrest settings of their race.

 

The tension of each faction of a race toward other factions of that race begins at 2.

 

Whenever an effect states that it targets a “race” then, if there are multiple factions of that race play then the player who generates that effect must choose one faction of that race. The exception to this would be a card which states “all factions/players of a race.”

 

If a card affects a race’s tension or unrest then read it carefully to determine whether it affects the tensions of all players of that race or just one player of that race.

 

If a state exists between two races, at least one of which is a dual race, you must choose which player of that race is selected for the state. E.g. If you start the conflict Trade Pact, which states “target a race” and you choose a race which has more than one faction of that race in play then you must choose just one of those factions as your target.

Example Set Up. Mike is playing a Centauri corporate faction. Both Paul and Pete wish to play Human so Paul decided to play a Human Babylon Project faction while Mike plays his Human Psi Corps deck. Louise decides to also play Centauri and is keen to try the corporate faction as well. The starting tensions and unrest are:

 

 

Mike

Louise

Paul

Pete

unrest

Mike(C)

n/a

2

1

1

1

Louise(C)

2

n/a

1

1

1

Paul(H)

1

1

n/a

2

1

Pete(H)

1

1

2

n/a

1

 

War in Dual Race Games

Factions of the same race can declare war against each other using the same mechanics as factions of different races (e.g. playing Declaration of War.) Note that many cards which start wars refer to starting wars between different races - ignore this when attempting to start a war against a faction of your race.

If one faction of a race is at war with another player then any other faction of that race can declare war against that player as an action by rotating their ambassador. Example. Mike playing Narn (Babylon Project) faction declares war against Paul who is playing a Human Babylon Project faction. Pete, who is playing a Human Psi Corps faction can, on a later action, now declare war against Mike by rotating his ambassador - Bester.

Ending Wars between factions in Dual Race Games

If a card effect can end a war between “two races” then, if more than one player of that race is at war it only effects one member of that race. Example, 2 human players are at war with the same Narn player. If a card ends a war between the Narn player and a human player then it does not effect the other human player. Essentially, any card effect that ends a war can only end one state of war. In the example just stated there are two sates of war.

 

Extended Loyalty Rule (optional)

Players of the same race in a dual race game may find themselves hampered because of they have to share the same pool of racial cards with one or more other players. To balance this you may choose to play with the Extended Loyalty Rule. Important - this rule only applies to limited cards - not unique cards. As with all optional rules it can only be used if all players agree and should be decided upon before the game begins

 

Extended Loyalty Rule. In the case where there are one (or more) dual races in a game then limited cards of that race become “limited per player.” This means that if there are two Human players in the game then each player in the game may have one copy of the same limited Human card (e.g. Zak) in their faction at the same time. If, for example, there were four players in the game then up to 4 different copies of Zak could be in play at once. This does not mean that there are 4 clones of Zak in play but represents that his loyalties are split between different factions. Remember, it is only game not a simulation of real life.

 

Exceptions. Any character that is revealed as a starting ambassador cannot be brought into play for anyone else. The title “Ranger One” is still limited as per normal. Although it is possible to have multiple factions of the same race with their racial homeworld in play you can still only sponsor a homeworld of your race if you don’t have a homeworld of your race in your faction.

 

Removed from the game/play. If a limited character is removed from the game (e.g. by replacement or a card effect) then no further copies of that card can enter play unless specifically allowed by a card effect. However, other copies that were in play at the same time are not affected and stay in play.

If you a have a limited card in your faction then any card effect which would cause a copy of that limited card to join your faction is ignored.

 

Glossary

If an entry has a parenthetical reference then it refers to the Engine version of the document in which it was last changed. E.g. (1.2) would mean that it was last changed in Engine Rules 1.2.

Attack during a conflict - If you make an attack and thereby become a participant in a conflict (the same conflict in which your target is a participant) then you have made an attack during that conflict. If you use another card ability to make an attack and do not become a conflict participant (for example, if you use the special ability of an Expeditionary Fleet) then even if a conflict is ongoing and your target is involved in a conflict you did not make an attack during (or within) the conflict.

Base ability - A character's base ability score is equal to what his ability would be at the beginning of a turn if all cards in play were readied and all characters in play were fully healed.

Boldface - Text on a card that is in boldface can never be blanked. This type of text is now referred to as a “keyword.” Keywords cannot be blanked (unless specifically done so by a card effect).

Canceled - A conflict which is canceled does not resolve. Any conflict which does not resolve on the turn it is initiated (or which is, for some reason, declared without being initiated) is canceled unless a card specifically instructs that it will continue beyond the turn in which it began. A canceled conflict card is placed on the discard pile instead of resolving.

Cannot - If a rule, on a card or otherwise, states that an action "cannot" take place, then the restriction overrides any general enabling effect. For example, if a card cannot be promoted to the inner circle, you cannot use a card which lets you promote any character to the inner circle to promote that card. To overcome a "cannot" restriction, the restriction must specifically be lifted; the language used must say something to the effect of "remove any restrictions on promoting the character"; the effect that is preventing promotion must be removed.

Controller - A character, group, fleet or location is usually a member of a faction. The player of that faction is that card's controller. Whoever played the card is the controller of any enhancement, aftermath or contingency.

Convert(1.2) - some effects refer to converting marks (or some other game object). If an object is converted it does not count as a gain or a less. E.g. if an effect says “convert a destiny mark to a doom mark” and targets a character with a destiny mark then the character does not purge a destiny mark nor does it gain a doom mark.

Cost Reductions - Some cards provide a bonus or discount to the cost of a card. If a card has a level of effect determined by the cost paid when playing the card, any discounts can be used to enhance the effect.

Damage - Unless otherwise specified, "damage" always refers to normal damage and not severe damage.

Damage Resistance - A card with "damage resistance" deducts the specified amount from the total damage it suffers from each attack. It does not effect damage that is applied by means other than attacks (e.g. a card such as Accident).

Double, etc. An effect that has several simultaneous modifiers applies multipliers (halving, doubling, etc.) before additive changes regardless of the order they are applied in. This generally occurs when figuring sponsoring costs or damage from an attack. So, a character who is affected by both "Convincing Words" and "Body Armor" who is then attacked halves the damage before subtracting 1.

Free - Especially, "sponsor for free". If you are permitted to sponsor a card for free you may do so immediately, no matter what round it is, for no influence cost and without rotating a sponsoring character. You must meet any other restrictions, however; you may not, for example, "sponsor for free" a limited character who is already in play.

Global - A "global" aftermath or enhancement targets everything in the game. Since only one aftermath or enhancement can affect a target at a time, only one of each "global" enhancement or aftermath may be in play at a time. An aftermath without a specific target (for example, Wear and Tear) is considered to be Global.

Homeworld (1.2). A keyword used on locations. There may be no more than one Homeworld of each race in play. The keyword is “limited per race.”

Influence Rating - A player's total influence available each turn. This is the influence component of a player's power. Gains and losses of influence alter a player's Influence Rating; applying influence does not.

Irrevocable - A card that is irrevocable cannot be negated, cancelled, blanked nor can it have its effects reversed. It cannot be targeted by a card that would directly cause it to leave play.

Kha'Ri - A Kha'Ri Character is any character containing the keyword Kha'Ri, including such keywords as Representative of the Kha'Ri and Kha'Ri Intelligence Officer.

Keyword (1.2) - a bold-face text entry in the effects text of a card. Keywords are irrevocable. Some keywords are limited, unique or otherwise restricted.

Limited - Only one of any "Limited" character may be in play at a time. Characters, groups, locations and fleets are assumed to be limited unless otherwise specified. If a second copy of a limited card is determined to be in play, unless some game effect specifically allows it to be in play, the additional copy is discarded (for example, if 2 players initiate the same limited conflict on the same turn). Unique cards follow the same rules.

Multiple - More than one copy of a "Multiple" card can be in play at the same time. This term lets you know that a specific character, fleet, location or group is not "Limited". Other card types are assumed to be multiple if they do not state otherwise, for example, events, enhancements and conflicts.

Mundane - A character with a Psi of zero who would have a Psi of zero even if fully healed.

Negate - A conflict which is negated is cancelled (see above). An event or other effect which is negated is prevented from occurring, and any stated effects are ignored.

Owner - The player from whose deck a card began the game (including the starting hand, of course) is the owner of that card. A card which must go to the discard pile goes to its owner's discard pile. A card which goes into a player's hand always goes into the hand of the owner, even if it says to place it into "your hand".

Participant - A card becomes a conflict participant by supporting, opposing, or attacking during a conflict, and then becomes a legal target for attacks. A leader of a participant fleet is also considered a conflict participant, but does not become a legal target for attacks during that conflict. An aftermath that lists "participant" as one of its play conditions can target any faction (or cards within that faction) that had a participant card in the conflict. If it does not say "participant" it can only affect the Initiator's faction.

Psi - A character's Psi ability score in the Babylon 5 CCG will not necessarily have the same numerical value as their P-rating in the television show. Two people can be born with the same P-rating, but the one who has training and experience with using his telepathic abilities will be more capable, more powerful, and will therefore be represented in the CCG with a higher ability score.

Purge - This term is used to instruct you to remove a mark which has been attached to a character.

Ranger - Any faction that has Shadow Marks cannot sponsor a Ranger card, and none of their cards can gain the Ranger trait. Any faction that has a Ranger card cannot gain Shadow Marks.

Ranger One - Only one character at a time may have the keyword Ranger One. Until that character leaves play, or loses the text Ranger One, no other character may become Ranger One, and no character with Ranger One in his game text can enter play. I.e. the keyword is limited.

Ready - A card or character is ready when it is face-up (unneutralized) and not rotated. A neutralized card is only considered ready for healing actions and for card effects which specifically consider neutralized cards to be ready.

Removed from the Game - If a card is removed from the game (for example, if it is replaced), the card being removed should be set aside, indicating that it is out of play and may not return to the game by any means. Other copies of multiple cards, for example, agendas, may reenter play; however, any copy of a limited card which has been removed from the game cannot ever reenter play. If instructed to remove a card from the game, this effect occurs even if no copies of that card are currently in play.

Replace - Some cards instruct you to “Replace" one card with another. When you replace a card, the card being replaced is removed from the game (see above). When you replace a card you do not transfer any marks, attached cards or contingencies unless the card states otherwise. You can replace another player’s card but control of that card passes to that player. When a card enters play through replacement it enters play ready and is not the target of any effects that might have been targeting the card it has just replaced.

Requirements- Many cards have specific requirements to be played. Unless the requirements of a card are met, the card cannot be played. The following are some examples of requirements: Apply or lose influence; damage, neutralize, rotate or discard a card you control; purge a mark from a card you control; control a certain number of marks, character types, fleets, etc.; lose power; designate a legal target as specified by the card.

Shuffle your deck - When instructed to shuffle your deck, you do not shuffle the discard pile into the deck unless specifically instructed to do so.

States - Two races (or, on occasion, factions) can have a "state" between them. The most common example is a state of War. In most cases, a card which initiates a state will also indicate the primary effects of such a state. However, some cards can only be played if a faction or race is in a specific state with another faction or race. An example is "Trade Windfall" which can only be played if a target faction's race is in a state of Free Trade with another race. If 2 races enter a state of war, any other states between the two races immediately end.

Teep or Telepath - A character who would have a Psi greater than zero if fully healed.

Transfer (1.2) - If you are instructed to transfer influence to another player (or entity, such as the Shadows), then your influence rating is reduced by 1 and the entity’s influence rating is increased by 1. This does not count as a gain or a loss and therefore will not trigger effects that are triggered by gains or losses. It is possible to transfer influence, power, marks, damage, and tokens. You cannot transfer influence if your Influence Rating would then fall below 3. If an effect calls for you to transfer X influence and X would reduce you below 3 then you transfer only enough influence to reduce you to 3. If an effect calls for you to transfer X Power then you can only transfer enough influence to reduce you to 0. In general, if any effect calls for the transfer of something then you can only transfer a maximum of what you have. E.g. If an effect says a character transfers 2 destiny marks and the character only has 1 destiny mark then only 1 destiny mark is transferred.

Uncontested - A conflict is uncontested when the initiator wins the conflict and no participant in the conflict (as of resolution) attacked during the conflict or opposed the conflict.

Unique - A unique card may only enter play once per game. Unique cards represent events or actions that can only take place once in the storyline of the galaxy, such as attempting to gain control of "The Great Machine".

Used As - Normally, no ability may be used to attack another ability. However, if a card states that one ability may be used as another, the character acts as if he had the new ability at the same level as his old ability for the rest of the turn. Note, however, that this is NOT the same as using a non-standard ability within a given conflict.

Won - A conflict is only "Won" when the initiator has more support than opposition (in the case of most conflicts) or more support than any other side (for non-opposable, support multiple side conflicts). If any other side has at least as much support as the initiator, or if opposition is greater than or equal to support, then the owner "Lost" the conflict.

You or Your - "You" refers to the controller of a card. A "conflict targeting you" includes any conflict targeting you (the player), your race, your faction, or any card(s) in your faction. There is one exception: if an enhancement targets a card in another faction, or is a faction enhancement that is played on another faction, then "you" no longer refers to the controller of the card. Instead, "you" then refers to the target's faction. For example, if the Narn player sponsors the Mines faction enhancement and targets the Minbari faction, and then the two races went to war, the Narn fleets would be damaged by the minefield while the Minbari fleets would not. One question we've had is how to play a Won aftermath which says to target your ambassador. You play this card only when you are the initiator of a conflict, and you win the conflict.

 

Annexes 

Appendix One: Two Player (“Duelling”) games.

Although Babylon 5 was designed mainly to be played with 3 or more players it can also be played as 2-player “duelling” game. Because there are certain possible problems with starting hands, the following optional rule can be used.

Do not pick your starting hand. Start with your ambassador and optional Crusade card. Then draw 8 cards at random. Keep a number appropriate to your ambssador/faction (no requirement to keep only 1 of each card type). Put the rest back on top of your deck (“stack them”) in whatever order you like. Then play the game.

 

Mulligan rule (optional) . If you don't like your hand then shuffle it in to your deck then draw 7 new cards. If you still don't like it. shuffle and draw 6. You can repeat this process until you have no cards left to draw, if you wish.

 

Some particular rulings

Non-aligned. Start with an ambassador in play and one in hand. Then draw the 8 as per normal.

4-card G'Kar and Sheridan. Keep 4 cards, not 3.

Faceless Executive (corporate faction). You can keep an extra card but only if all cards are corporate. When combined with the Non-Aligned rules then the extra Non-Aligned Ambassador you start with in hand must be corporate.

Londo (Gambler). Start with 7 infl. Keep no cards, stack the 8 you drew.

 

Appendix Two: Replacing characters

What happens to characters with marks when they are replaced can be quite confusing. This appendix gives several detailed examples. It is copied from a document by Kevin Tewart, former lead designer for B5:CCG.

 

When replacing a character, take each source of marks, one by one, and remove the marks from the old character and reapply to the new.

 

This is the ONLY time that you ever look at a specific source of marks. It is impossible to, for example, purge the mark "from" a specific source instead of another specific source. Agendas, Enhancements, etc.

do not have marks. Characters and Fleets and Locations have marks.

 

Cards like Ulkesh Kosh have NO impact on replacement because purging is not considered involved.

 

If a card attached to a character does not transfer, and that card was providing a mark, then the card is discarded and the mark is purged.

 

Example 1 [Cards not attached to the character are providing marks.]

G'Kar (Premier version) is in play with a Shadow Mark (which he acquired From an Event)

Thenta Makur is in play (provides 1 Strife to all Narn)

The Lure of Shadow is G'Kar's agenda (provides 1 Shadow Mark)

 

BEFORE REPLACEMENT: G'Kar has 2 Strife, 2 Shadow

 

G'Kar is replaced by G'Kar Forsaken, transferring all attached cards and marks. Place G'Kar and G'Kar Forsaken side-by-side. Perform the following:

 

G'Kar Forsaken begins with a Doom Mark.

 

Transfer the mark from Thenta Makur. G'Kar loses a Strife Mark. G'Kar Forsaken gains a Strife Mark.

 

Transfer the mark from The Lure of Shadow. G'Kar loses a Shadow Mark. G'Kar Forsaken gains a Shadow Mark.

 

Having transferred the marks acquired from other cards, look at what is left on G'Kar. G'Kar still has 1 Strife and 1 Shadow. Transfer these marks to G'Kar Forsaken.

 

AFTER REPLACEMENT: G'Kar Forsaken has 2 Strife, 2 Shadow, 1 Doom.

 

Example 2 [Cards transfer but marks do not.]

Delenn (Premier version) is in play. She acquired a Doom Mark by playing Extreme Sanction. She acquired a Destiny Mark by playing And So It Begins. She acquired a Destiny Mark by playing For My People. She acquired 2 Vorlon Marks by playing 2 copies of Contact With Vorlons. Fixed In Their Ways is targeting Delenn's faction, and she got a Vorlon Mark from it. Delenn is targeted by Nightmares, (provides 1 Doom).

Delenn is targeted by Triluminary, (provides 1 Destiny and 1 Vorlon). Delenn's agenda is Total War and she is at war, (provides 1 Doom Mark).

 

BEFORE REPLACEMENT: Delenn has 4 Destiny, 5 Vorlon, and 3 Doom

 

Delenn is replaced by Delenn Transformed via Chrysalis, transferring all aftermaths and enhancements, but NOT miscellaneous marks. Marks from other cards which remain in play and give a continuous bonus (like her agenda) DO transfer.

 

Place Delenn and Delenn Transformed side-by-side. Perform the following:

Delenn Transformed begins with 2 Vorlon, 2 Destiny.

 

Transfer the aftermath, Nightmares. Delenn loses a Doom Mark. Delenn Transformed gains a Doom Mark.

 

Transfer the enhancement, Triluminary. Delenn loses a Destiny Mark and a Vorlon Mark. Delenn Transformed gains a Destiny Mark and a Vorlon Mark.

 

The agenda, Total War, remains in play. Transfer its Doom Mark. Delenn loses a Doom Mark and Delenn Transformed gains a Doom Mark.

 

The enhancement, Fixed in Their Ways, remains in play, but it only gives a Vorlon Mark when it is first sponsored. Its Vorlon Mark is therefore Lumped in with Delenn's other "miscellaneous" marks and does not transfer.

 

NONE of Delenn's other marks transfer.

 

AFTER REPLACEMENT: Delenn Transformed has 3 Destiny, 3 Vorlon, and 2 Doom Marks.

 

Example 3 [Cards transfer but all their marks have been purged.]

Delenn (transformer) is in play. She acquired a Doom Mark by playing Extreme Sanction. Fixed In Their Ways is targeting Delenn's faction, and she got a Vorlon Mark from it. Delenn is targeted by Nightmares, (provides 1 Doom). Delenn is targeted by Triluminary, (provides 1 Destiny and 1 Vorlon). Delenn's agenda is Total War and she is at war, (provides 1 Doom Mark).

 

IN THIS EXAMPLE, Delenn has purged ALL of her Vorlon and Destiny Marks to play various cards.

 

BEFORE REPLACEMENT: Delenn has 3 Doom Marks and no other marks

 

Delenn is replaced by Delenn Transformed via Chrysalis, transferring all aftermaths and enhancements, but NOT miscellaneous marks. Marks from other cards which remain in play DO transfer.

 

Place Delenn and Delenn Transformed side-by-side. Perform the following:

 

Delenn Transformed begins with 2 Vorlon, 2 Destiny.

 

Transfer the aftermath, Nightmares. Delenn loses a Doom Mark. Delenn Transformed gains a Doom Mark.

 

Transfer the enhancement, Triluminary. Delenn loses a Destiny Mark and a Vorlon Mark, but she doesn't have any. Despite this, Delenn Transformed gains a Destiny Mark and a Vorlon Mark.

 

The agenda, Total War, remains in play. Transfer its Doom Mark. Delenn loses a Doom Mark and Delenn Transformed gains a Doom Mark.

 

The enhancement, Fixed in Their Ways, remains in play, but it only gives a Vorlon Mark when it is first sponsored. It does not give Delenn Transformed a Vorlon Mark.

 

Delenn's remaining Doom Mark does not transfer.

 

AFTER REPLACEMENT: Delenn Transformed has 3 Destiny, 3 Vorlon, and 2 Doom Marks.

 

Example 4 [No attached cards or marks transfer.]

Jeffrey Sinclair is in play. He has 2 Shadow Marks purchased through The Lure of Shadow.

The Lure of Shadow is in play (provides 1 Shadow Mark).

 

BEFORE REPLACEMENT: Jeffrey Sinclair has 1 Destiny and 3 Shadow Marks.

 

Jeffrey Sinclair is replaced by John Sheridan. No cards or marks transfer.

 

Place Jeffrey Sinclair and John Sheridan side-by-side. Perform the following:

 

John Sheridan begins with 1 Destiny.

 

The agenda, The Lure of Shadow, remains in play. Transfer its Shadow Mark. Jeffrey Sinclair loses a Shadow Mark and John Sheridan gains a Shadow Mark. John Sheridan gains a second Shadow Mark due to his effect text.

 

Jeffrey Sinclair's remaining marks do not transfer.

 

END RESULT: John Sheridan has 1 Destiny and 2 Shadow Marks.

 

Example 5 [Some attached cards do not transfer but marks do transfer.]

John Sheridan is in play. John Sheridan has a Destiny Mark (printed on him).

John Sheridan is targeted by Glory (provides 1 Destiny Mark).

John Sheridan's agenda is Total War and he is at war (provides 1 Doom Mark).

John Sheridan has an additional Doom Mark from his effect text.

 

BEFORE REPLACEMENT: John Sheridan has 2 Destiny Marks and 2 Doom Marks.

 

John Sheridan is replaced by Sheridan Reborn, transferring all enhancements and marks.

 

Place John Sheridan and Sheridan Reborn side-by-side. Perform the following:

 

Glory does not transfer. Discard it. John Sheridan loses a Destiny Mark.

 

The agenda, Total War, remains in play. Transfer its Doom Mark. John Sheridan

loses a Doom Mark and Sheridan Reborn gains a Doom Mark.

 

Having transferred the marks acquired from other cards, look at what is left on John Sheridan. John Sheridan still has 1 Destiny and 1 Doom. Transfer these marks to Sheridan Reborn.

 

END RESULT: Sheridan Reborn has 1 Destiny and 2 Doom Marks.

 

Example 6 [Marks transfer, as well as cards you choose.]

Delenn Transformed is in play. Delenn Transformed has 2 Destiny and 2 Vorlon

Marks (printed on her).

Delenn Transformed is targeted by Triluminary (provides 1 Destiny and

1 Vorlon Mark).

Delenn Transformed is targeted by Glory (provides 1 Destiny Mark).

Delenn Transformed is targeted by Nightmares (provides 1 Doom Mark).

Delenn Transformed's Agenda is Total War and she is at war (provides

1 Doom Mark).

 

BEFORE REPLACEMENT: Delenn Transformed has 4 Destiny, 3 Vorlon, 2 Doom

Marks.

 

Delenn Transformed is replaced by Entil'zha Delenn, transferring all enhancements, contingencies, marks, and any aftermaths that her controller chooses. The controller chooses to transfer Glory but not to transfer Nightmares.

 

Place Delenn Transformed and Entil'zha Delenn side-by-side. Perform the following:

 

Entil'zha Delenn begins with 1 Destiny Mark (printed).

 

Nightmares does not transfer. Discard it. Delenn Transformed loses a Doom Mark.

 

Glory transfers. Delenn Transformed loses a Destiny Mark and Entil'zha Delenn gains a Destiny Mark. (Had the controller chosen not to transfer Glory, Delenn Transformed would still lose a Destiny Mark as Glory would be discarded).

 

Triluminary transfers. Delenn Transformed loses a Destiny Mark and a Vorlon Mark. Entil'zha Delenn gains a Destiny Mark and a Vorlon Mark.

 

The agenda, Total War, remains in play. Transfer its Doom Mark. Delenn Transformed loses a Doom Mark and Entil'zha Delenn gains a Doom Mark.

 

Having transferred all marks acquired from cards, look at what is left on Delenn Transformed. She still has 2 Destiny and 2 Vorlon Marks. Transfer these marks to Entil'zha Delenn.

END RESULT: Entil'zha Delenn has 5 Destiny, 3 Vorlon, and 1 Doom Mark.

 

Appendix Three: Errata

  • Carrier Group. The second sentence should read “If one of your fleets participating in the same conflict...”
  • Consultants. Replace the first sentence with “You may play Limited, non-Unique Character cards as Contingencies to this group.” In the last sentence, replace At the end of the turn with “At the end of the Resolution Round.”
  • Day of the Dead. Replace the first sentence with All players may return to play one character from their discard pile into their supporting row. (place has been changed to return to play.)
  • Destined to Be: Change the effect text to: “Target a conflict. Choose a type of conflict, and won or lost. You may play aftermath cards on the target conflict that match the selected conditions during this conflict's resolution.”
  • Dust: Add the following sentence at the beginning of the text: Target a character you control.
  • Martyr: Change the effect text to: “Play on yourself. Discard any number of Inner Circle characters. For each character thus discarded, you may convert one of your Doom Marks into a Destiny Mark. (Discard this aftermath after play.)”
  • Non-Aligned Aide. Replace permanently lose 1 Diplomacy with reduce this character's printed Diplomacy by one.
  • Non-Aligned Agent. Replace permanently lose 1 Intrigue with reduce this character's printed Intrigue by one.
  • Non-Aligned Captain. Replace permanently lose 1 Leadership with reduce this character's printed Leadership by one.
  • Oqmrritkz. Change the second sentence to: “When sponsoring a card, you may apply any amount of damage on Oqmrritkz, up to its current Military. “
  • Search For a Home. Change the effect text to “Cannot be blanked or discarded. If you control no locations you conquered using Search For a Home, rotate this agenda, target a Homeworld in play, and discard Chaos Tokens equal to the Homeworld's printed Military: you conquer the location, and while you control it, even if this agenda leaves play, each turn you may apply (X - 10) additional influence, where X is the location's printed Military at the time you conquered it. If you control a Homeworld loyal to another race, and no other players control any locations, you score a Major Victory this turn. “
  • Sheridan Reborn. The fourth sentence should begin Rotate Sheridan Reborn...
  • Thenta Makur. Change the effect text to “All Narn Characters in play gain a Strife Mark while Thenta Makur is in play.”
  • Tualakh Vit'lokh. In the first sentence, replace sponsored with put into play. Replace the second sentence with Tualakh Vit'lokh's other printed abilities become zero.
  • Wastelands. Change the second sentence to: “All characters you control inflict additional damage equal to their number of Conspiracy Marks during attacks.”

 

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