INTRODUCTION

Once each Stellar Cycle, the Great Galactic Emperorpresides over the most celebrated sporting event in theentire universe - The Great Space Race! Fans from allcorners of the cosmos tune in for live coverage and therace is the one guaranteed day off from work for allspecies everywhere - even the infamous Slave Pits ofGurius-7 shut down for the show. The spectacle of therace is the one commonality that ties the universetogether. Fortunes are made and lost wagering on itsoutcome. Political careers center around dealing withits far-reaching effects. Interstellar wars have even beenstarted over the race!

In preparation for each race, the Emperor selects rep-resentatives from the most inept races in the universe toparticipate in the mayhem. These unfortunate few haveproven themselves the most backward thinking foul-upsin the universe. It is somewhat a miracle of evolutionthat these stumbling, bumbling creatures have managedto pull themselves up from the primordial ooze, butfrom the ooze they have come. Along the twisting trailof the track the fates of these failed species are deter-mined. The emperor has decreed that only the winner'skind will be spared. The entire race to which the losersbelong will be subject to Imperial Purge - the totalsnuffing from existence of their species and the destruc-tion of their homeworld!

You, as representative of your kind, must do every-thing you can to win the race. You are in control of thefinest ship your people can provide you (snicker) and,though weapons are strictly prohibited in the race(louder snicker), a few mines have somehow made itinto your hold to assist you in your struggle. Keep yourtentacles to the floor and your eyestalks on the finishline as you navigate your way through minefields, aster-oids and wormholes. As the entire empire looks on infrenzied excitement, you know you must be victorious!

TO WIN

In The Great Space Race, players compete to be thefirst ship to complete 3 laps or to be the last remainingship in play. Sometimes a race is about survival andsometimes it’s just about hauling tentacle to the finishline. The dispersion of equipment, Major Events and,most importantly, play styles can all factor into this.Needless to say, every game is different and each pro-vides its own unique challenges. In any event, stay awayfrom Black Holes.

COMPONENTS

This Rulebook

The Track

8 Control Consoles

Lots of Cards (3 decks totaling 186 cards)

Lots of Counters (a large pile totaling a lot)

Space Ship tokens

Dice

SET UP

Place the game board on a flat and stable surface.Separate all counters into their respective types. Shufflethe Action Card deck, the Equipment Deck and theMajor Events deck. Place each deck to the side of theboard in a convenient place for all players. Each playershould choose a spaceship to control in the game –please, save the fighting for the track. Give each player acontrol console and space ship token, setting any extrasaside. Issue standard mine counters (the orange ones)and Command Decision counters based on the numberof players (see the table below). These counters shouldbe placed in their respective sections on the control con-sole. Each player should also receive 3 control dials tokeep track of the Shield, Hull and Speed ratings. Set theShield and Hull ratings to maximum and the Speed rat-ing to 1. Next, assign each player a starting lane (num-bered 1-6 on the starting line). To determine the start-

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The Great Space RaceRules of Play

ing lane first determine the lanes used based on thenumber of players. Next, randomly deal out initiativecounters matching the lane numbers in use to deter-mine the starting lane for each player. Place each playersminiature on his starting lane facing across the startingline.

Finally, collect one initiative counter for each player inthe game and set any extras aside (i.e., if there are 5players, use counters 1-5 and set 6 aside). You are nowready to race!

THE CONTROL CONSOLE

The Control Console is a graphical representation ofthe important features of each ship. Players will regulatethe Shield, Hull and Speed ratings using the controlconsole. It will also help in tracking equipment,Command Decisions and the ship’s current mine stock.

The most important feature is the group of Action!!slots at the bottom. This is where players will place theiraction cards during the course of each turn – more onthat later.

TURN ORDER

All players act during each phase. There are eight sep-arate phases in each game turn:

InitiativeShield RechargeSpeed ChangeDrawEventsPlacementDiscardReveal

Initiative Phase

Collect all the initiative counters used in the currentgame into a cup or box lid. Each player should draw aninitiative tile at random to determine turn order. Placethe tile face up in front of your control console for theremainder of the turn. Initiative order proceeds fromlowest to highest.

Shield Recharge Phase

All ships that are not at maximum shields mayrecharge up to 2 shield points. Only standard shipshields may be recharged.

Speed Change Phase

Players may adjust their shipsspeed up by 1 factor, down by up to2 factors or make no change at all.During the first turn, players will settheir ships to speed 1 during thisphase. From that point forward, noship may ever reach a speed ratinglower than 1 or greater than 5.Speed changes are made in initiativeorder.

Draw Phase

Each player draws a number ofAction Cards based on his/her cur-rent speed. If no cards are availableto be drawn, immediately reshufflethe discard pile into a new draw pileand draw from it. Cards are drawnin initiative order.

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An initiative counter and a control dial.

Events Phase

Each player who drew 1 or more events in the previ-ous phase will now play the event(s) drawn. Startingwith the first player in initiative order, each playershould follow the events procedure below. If a playerdid not draw any events, he simply passes.

1) The player must play all of the events drawn in anyorder.

2) The player should draw cards to replace any thatwere played or discarded. If an additional event isdrawn, play the event. Repeat the process until there areno events in the player's hand - no event may ever bekept in a player's hand for later use.

3) Play now passes to the next player in initiativeorder that has an event. That player begins again atstep 1. The process will continue until all players haveplayed out their events.

Placement Phase

Players must place a single Action Card face down oneach Action!! slot on their control console that containsthe speed factor their ship is currently set to. For exam-ple, a player moving at speed 3 would place an actioncard face down on slots 1, 3 and 5. If this player were toplace a card on say, slot 2, other players are encouragedto smack him. Once the placement phase ends, theplaced cards may not be interchanged except by the useof a Command Decision counter (see CommandDecisions).

Discard Phase

If, after placing all action cards, a player has addition-al cards left, he may retain up to 2 cards of his choice asa hand. Any additional cards must be discarded.

Reveal Phase

Ok, this is one of those places where you should payclose attention to the rules. Players will now reveal theaction cards they placed on their control consoles.Cards are revealed one at a time in slot order (1-5) withinitiative breaking ties. Starting with Slot 1, each player

with an unrevealed action card will reveal the card ininitiative order. When a player reveals an action card, heimmediately follows through with the action indicatedon it. Once he has finished, the next player in initiativeorder with a card on Slot 1 will reveal it and act on it.Once all players with action cards on Slot 1 haverevealed and acted on them, the process is repeated forSlot 2 and so on. This is continued until there are nounrevealed action cards on any slot. Players without acard on a particular slot take no action during that slot.Revealed cards should remain in place until the last cardon Slot 5 has been revealed at which time all the cardsshould be collected and placed in the discard pile.

ACTION CARDS

There are three basic types of Action Cards:Movement, Maintenance and Events. Event cards areplayed in the Events Phase while Movement andMaintenance cards are played in the Placement Phase.

Movement Cards

Movement cards are represented by hexes aligned indiffering schemes and represent the moves the ship willmake during the Reveal Phase. For a complete descrip-tion of movement cards and the movement process seeMovement.

Maintenance Cards

Maintenance cards are placed/played just like move-ment cards, but no movement is performed. Instead,ship maintenance is performed. There are three differentmaintenance cards: Shields Up, Reload Mines andActivate/Deactivate Equipment.

Shields Up

When a player reveals this card, he immediatelyadjusts his shield rating to maximum and may nowwipe the sweat from his brow. If the shield rating isalready at maximum, nothing happens.Congratulations, you just wasted a good card.

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Reload Mines

When a player reveals this card, he immediatelyrestocks his starting compliment of standard mines.

Activate/Deactivate Equipment

When a player reveals this card, he may immediatelydraw the top card from the equipment deck (if there isan open cargo bay on his console) or discard an equip-ment card from a cargo bay on his console. Note thatsmart players discard equipment cards into theEquipment card discard pile while evolutionary stumpsplace them in the Action card discard pile. When aplayer draws an equipment card, he will place it (andany related counters) on an open cargo bay on his con-sole. If a piece of equipment comes with any counters,the equipment card is discarded when the last counter isused. If an equipment card is ever discarded and thereare still unused corresponding counters on it, immedi-ately discard the counters as well.

Event CardsEvent cards are played during the Events Phase as pre-

viously described. There are 2 types of events: standardevents (bad) and major events (worse). Standard eventsare located in the action card deck. Major events arelocated in their own deck and are triggered by the stan-dard event titled ‘Major Event’ (see below).

Standard Events

Though most Event cards are sufficiently explainedon the card itself, some need additional explanation:

Stowaway

Place this card in an open bay on another player’scontrol console. No equipment may be placed in thatbay while the stowaway is present. The stowaway maybe discarded in one of 2 ways: 1) the Made on PlanetGluptar event may be played on the stowaway (aGluptarian stowaway!) or 2) a Deactivate Equipmentcard may be used to blow the trespasser out the airlock.Either way, some payback is in order.

Wormhole

Take 2 color-coded wormhole counters and placethem in 2 empty hexes on the track, 5 hexes apart. The5 hex path may be traced through boundary hexes. Anyship that enters one of the hexes containing either endof the wormhole immediately transports to the otherend and continues movement as normal. The ships fac-ing does not change when the transport occurs. Onlyships may pass through a wormhole. Mines may beplaced on the wormhole ends by a ship traversing the

wormhole, but not on the hexes in between when thetransport occurs. If a mine detonates in a wormholehex, it detonates in both corresponding wormhole hexessimultaneously. If another mine is in the far wormholehex, it will detonate when the first mine goes off, alsodetonating in both hexes. Magnetic mines are notdrawn through a wormhole. If an end of a wormhole iscaught in the blast of an Atomic Device, the wormholehas the potential to collapse into a black hole (seeAtomic Devices).

Major EventWhen one of the two

'Major Event' cards is played,all players should first sitdown and take a deep breath.Next, draw a card from theMajor Event deck to see whattragedy has occurred. After follow-ing through with the Major Event that was drawn,remove it from the game. Set the 'Major Event' cardthat came from the Action deck aside for now. Whenthe current lap has been completed (the leader crossesthe start line), immediately shuffle the 'Major Event'card back into the Action deck draw pile (not the dis-card pile).

Note:

Each specific major event may only occur once pergame (i.e. discard after play).

Acidic Cloud

An acidic, metal dissolving cloud has drifted onto thetrack. The player who drew this event will place the

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cloud counter on a 7 hex area anywhere on the trackthat is at least 5 hexes away from any ship, black hole orthe Space Amoeba. Once placed, the cloud’s facing isnever altered. If the cloud moves onto a ship or a shipmoves onto the cloud, the ship immediately loses 1 hullpoint. Once initial contact is made with the cloud, fur-ther damage is not taken until the ship and cloud are inseparate hexes and contact occurs again. At theend of every slot in which a ship moved,roll 2d6. The first roll indicates thedirection the cloud moves (referencethe numerical identifier on thecounter) and the second roll is thedistance in hexes it travels in thatdirection. If the roll for movementwould require the cloud to bemoved into a boundary hex, itstops movement adjacent to theboundary hex and all furthermovement from the roll isignored. The acidic vapors of thecloud only affect ships and theSpace Amoeba. If the cloud and theSpace Amoeba ever share a hex,remove the Amoebacounter from theboard.

Asteroids

An asteroid field has drifted onto the track. Dividethe asteroid counters up equally between the playersand set any extras aside. The first player in initiative

order will place his asteroid counters individually inempty hexes that are at least 4 hexes away from any shipor asteroid counter. Once a player has placed all hisasteroid counters, the next player in initiative order willplay his and so on. Any ship that enters a hex contain-ing an asteroid counter immediately rolls for impact. Ifan asteroid is struck, the ship takes 1d6 damage. Theship may move on as normal after resolving the impact,but the asteroid remains on the board.

Black Hole

A black hole has opened up in space somewhere onthe track. The player who drew this event will place theblack hole counter face down anywhere on the trackthat does not overlap or border the Space Amoeba, theAcidic Cloud, a boundary hex or a ship. The black holecounter represents the black hole itself (at the center) aswell as its gravity well (the 36 hexes surrounding theblack hole). The black hole counter may be placed adja-cent to a wormhole, but may not overlap one. At theend of the turn that the black hole came into play, turnit face up. It is now active and anything that is currentlyin its gravity well gets pulled 1 hex towards the blackhole. From that point forward, anything that enters theblack hole’s gravity well it pulled 1 hex towards theblack hole in the direction of the yellow arrows. A ship’s

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Example: The player moves 3 hexes according to his movement card.Unfortunately this propels him into the gravity well of a black hole.At the end of his move, he is dragged an additional hex towards theblack hole (indicated in red). Note that his facing is also altered bythe powerful gravitational forces (indicated by the yellow arrows).

facing will also be altered 60° towards the black hole.Note that wormholes may be placed within the gravitywell of a black hole and are the only things in the gameimmune to its gravitational pull. Any object or shippulled into the black hole itself is destroyed. Once ablack hole enters play, it never leaves play and its posi-tion can never be changed.

Imperial Incentive

The Great Galactic Emperor has been watching therace intently and is not pleased with the less than stellarperformance thus far. He has issued an order in thehopes of spurring the competitors on. The player whodrew this event will take the 3 gun tower counters andplace them in any boundary hex of his choice that doesnot contain another gun tower. Any ship that ends amovement within 5 hexes of a gun tower takes 2 pointsof damage. If a ship is within 5 hexes of more than 1

gun tower, the ship only takes 2 points of damage.

Space Amoeba

A huge, voracious space amoeba has made its wayonto the track. The player who drew this event willplace the amoeba counter on a 7 hex area on the trackthat is not on or adjacent to a ship or black hole andthat is at least 5 hexes away from the Acidic Cloud.Once placed, the amoeba’s facing is never altered. At theend of every slot in which a ship moved, roll 2d6. Thefirst roll indicates the direction the amoeba moves (ref-erence the numerical identifier on the counter) and thesecond roll is the distance in hexes it travels in thatdirection. If the roll for movement would require theamoeba to be moved into a boundary hex, it stopsmovement adjacent to the boundary hex and all furthermovement from the roll is ignored. If the amoeba’smovement forces it to move into a hex occupied by the

Acidic Cloud or a black hole, it is removed from play.Any counter, except a wormhole or ship, that is in a hexoccupied by the amoeba when it moves is immediatelydevoured. All eaten counters are removed from the trackand placed on the Space Amoeba Counter Pool area ofthe board. If, at the end of any turn, the number ofcounters in the pool is equal to or greater than 3 timesthe number of players at the start of the game, theamoeba is satiated. Return all eaten counters to thecounter pool and remove the amoeba counter from thetrack. If the amoeba moves onto a ship or a ship movesonto the amoeba, the ship immediately loses 5 shieldpoints. Once initial contact is made with the amoeba,further damage is not taken until the ship and cloud arein separate hexes and contact occurs again. When shieldpoints are not available, hull points are not lost.

Terrible Secret of Space

You have looked into oblivion and deciphered theTerrible Secret of Space (ok, so maybe it was just alucky guess). Regardless, none may be allowed to retainsuch knowledge and the cosmos itself strikes out at you!When this event is revealed, immediately discard it andreveal the next 3 major events, playing each in the orderdrawn. Sorry.

MOVEMENT

Movement is not simultaneous. Each ship must fullycomplete its move in a given Action!! slot before anoth-er ships movement can begin. All movement occursduring the Reveal Phase. If a player reveals a movementcard, he must follow through with the indicated move-ment. The hex containing the ship silhouette corre-sponds to the ships starting position – and the top of

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the card indicates the direction straight line movementwould take the ship from its beginning hex facing.Numbers between hexes indicate the distance in hexesthat must be traveled in that direction (no more, noless). A triple arrow indicates that a single hex-sidemovement change may be made in that hex, meaningthe ship may be rotated one hex-side to the left or rightor not at all at the controller’s discretion. Note that aship’s hex facing never changes in relation to its startingposition unless allowed by a triple arrow on the move-ment card or the use of a command decision. An explo-

sion symbol indicates the ship may deploy a mine dur-ing the move.

A Few Movement Rules to Remember:

A movement card may never be substituted exceptwith the use of a Command Decision counter. A shipmay never move into a boundary hex – though it cancertainly crash into one (see Boundaries). A ship maynever make 2 consecutive facing changes, even over thecourse of 2 turns or with the use of a CommandDecision. After a facing change is made, a ship musttravel 1 hex distance at a minimum, before another fac-ing change can be made.

ImpactsIf a ship moves into a hex containing another ship, an

asteroid or a mine, there is a potential for an impact.The player controlling the ship that is moving shouldroll 1d6 and consult the table below.

When a ship impacts a mine or asteroid, it takes 1d6damage. In either case, the ship will continue moving ifit has additional movement remaining.

When a ship moves into a hex containing more thanone object that could potentially be impacted, the con-trolling player randomly chooses one of the objects androlls for impact. Only one roll for impact is made for anindividual hex. Regardless of the outcome of the roll,no other rolls for impact are required for any otherobjects in that hex.

Resolving Ship to Ship Impacts

If a ship impacts another ship, both ships suffer 1d6damage and the rammed ship must immediately lose aspeed factor (see Forced Speed Reduction). The ram-ming ship occupies the rammed ships original positionand the rammed ship is pushed out the opposite hexfacing the ramming ship entered from. Any remainingmovement the ramming ship has left (on the currentMovement card) is carried out as normal. If the ram-ming ship’s movement continues in the same directionit was traveling when it hit the rammed ship, therammed ship is pushed ahead of it until one of twothings occurs: 1) the ramming ship no longer has move-ment in that direction or 2) a boundary hex is struck by

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the rammed ship (see Boundaries). For every 2 hexespushed, the rammed ship takes an additional point ofdamage. If a boundary is struck, both ships take 1d6damage and lose a speed rating. Additionally, the ram-ming ship immediately ends its current movement (dis-regard any further movement on the current movementcard). Any hex a pushed ship enters should be processedas normal (a ship pushed into a wormhole is transport-ed, mines may be impacted, etc). Also, a ship that hasbeen pushed is considered to have moved for purposesof resolving Magnetic Mines and Gun Towers, but notwhen considering equipment that activates after com-pleting a normal move (Repulsion Cannon, TractorBeam, etc). Note that ships that were not impacted arenot pushed and the moving ship simply continues alongits way.

Chained Impacts

If a ship is ever pushed into a hex that would requireit to roll for impact, the roll is made as normal exceptthat the ramming ships speed factor (the ship that ispushing) is referenced when rolling on the Impact table.This process could result in more than one ship beingpushed ahead of the ramming ship. If the ship missesthe obstacle, no additional rolls are required for anyother ships that are being pushed or the pushing shipitself. When a pushed ship impacts another ship, allships involved take 1d6 damage and the newly impact-ed ship loses a speed factor.

Occasionally, confusing situations can result fromconvoluted impact scenarios. A liberal dose of commonsense and fair play should resolve these situations.

Other Impacts

When a magnetic mine or dumbfire missile enters ahex containing a ship, a roll on the Impact table isrequired. In these instances, moving objects are consid-ered to be at speed 5.

BoundariesBoundary hexes make up the inner and outer limits of

the track (those pretty blue hexes). No ship may everenter or pass beyond a boundary hex. Any ship thatimpacts a boundary hex immediately ends its currentmovement (disregard any further movement on the cur-rent movement card), takes damage according to thetable below and loses one speed factor (see Forced SpeedReduction). At the controller’s discretion, the ship maybe rotated one hex-side to the left or right or not at all.The ship may continue moving as normal during thenext slot in which the controlling player has an actioncard. Note that ships that are pushed or repulsed into aboundary hex would not necessarily need to discard thecurrent movement card since that would not apply to aship that is not moving, but speed loss and damagewould still occur.

SSppeeeedd DDaammaaggee1-2 lower of 2d6 (roll 2d6 & take lower value)3 1d64 higher of 2d6 (roll 2d6 & take higher value)5 2d6

MinesA mine that detonates causes 1d6 damage to all ships

in the same hex. A mine may be detonated in severalways and if there is ever a doubt as to whether a minewould or would not detonate, it detonates. If more thanone ship is in a hex when a mine detonates, each shipcalculates its damage separately. If a mine detonates in ahex containing more than one mine, all the mines deto-nate. Each ship in the hex calculates damage for eachmine separately. When a mine has detonated, removethe counter from the board and return it to the counterpool.

Taking Damage

Unlees otherwise noted, any time a player is forced totake damage damage should first be taken from shields.If at any time a player is required to take damage andno shields remain, the player should then reduce thehull rating. When the hull rating is reduced to 0, theship is destroyed and immediately explodes just like anAtomic Device. Remove the ship counter from play.The controlling player is now out of the game.

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Forced Speed ReductionWhen a ship is required to lose speed outside of the

Speed Change phase, it is considered Forced SpeedReduction. A ship may never be forced below a speedrating of 1. When losing speed, immediately change thedial pointer on the control console and alter the shipsaction card placement to reflect the new speed rating.Some or all of the player’s unrevealed action cards mayneed to be shifted to the right and some of them mayneed to be discarded. See the following example formore details.

In the example, the ship that was forced to lose speedwas originally at speed 5 and has just had the speed rat-ing reduced to 4. The action cards on slots 1 and 2 havealready been revealed, so they are not affected. Startingfrom the left, the first unrevealed action card that is noton a slot valid for speed 4 must be shifted to the rightuntil it is on a valid slot or until it is off the console(cards may never be shifted to the left). Shift otherunrevealed cards with it if necessary. Once it has beenshifted onto a valid slot (if possible), check the nextunrevealed card in slot order to see if it is valid on thenew slot. If it isn’t, repeat the process of shifting to theright until it is valid or off the console. When the firstcard was shifted, it became legal on the next slot (slot4). Checking the next unrevealed card, it is also legal(slot 5). Since the last unrevealed card has been shiftedoff the console, it is not legal and should be discarded.Play now continues as normal.

Command DecisionsThe Command Decision counters represent the com-

mander of the ship’s ability to intervene at criticalmoments and alter a sequence of events. At an applica-ble moment, a player may take a Command Decisioncounter from his stock and perform one of the follow-ing special actions:

Consult the Crew: During the draw phase only, youmay draw an extra three cards. You may perform thisaction at any point in the draw phase (before or afteryou have made your normal draw), but before theEvents phase has begun. still abide by hand size limitsduring the Discard phase.

Avert Disaster: When moving your ship, you may optto automatically avoid a possible impact instead ofrolling on the Impact Table. You should then continueyour turn as though the roll was made and had resultedin a ‘miss’ result.

Belay an Order: You may pick up all unrevealedaction cards on your console and return them to yourhand. Cards from your hand may then be placed facedown again as you choose.

Change Heading: When moving your ship, you maymake an immediate hex facing change. Note that 2 con-secutive facing changes are never allowed (see A FewMovement Rules to Remember).

Equipment CardsThough most Equipment cards are sufficiently

explained on the card itself, some need clarification:

Atomic Device

A player may deploy an Atomic Device instead ofdeploying a standard mine (see Deploying Mines). Ifimpacted (or otherwise caused to detonate), an AtomicDevice explodes. Damage cause by the explosion isdependant on the distance from the impact point.

DDiissttaannccee DDaammaaggee0 2d61 higher of 2d6 (roll 2d6 & take higher value)2 1d63 lower of 2d6 (roll 2d6 & take lower value)

Any mines in the blast radius immediately detonate.Asteroid counters in the blast radius are destroyed andtaken off the track.. The detonation of an AtomicDevice has the potential to collapse wormholes. If theend of a wormhole is caught in the blast of an AtomicDevice, the player who deployed it rolls 1d6. On a rollof 1-3, nothing happens. On a roll of 4-6, the worm-hole collapses into a Black Hole. Remove the affectedwormhole counters from the board and place a BlackHole counter on the board centered on the hex contain-ing the end of the wormhole affected by the AtomicDevice or the closet hex that is legal at the placing play-

er’s discretion (see Black Hole for placement guidelines).An Atomic Device is considered to be a mine. Rulesthat apply to mines that are not contradicted in thisparagraph apply to Atomic Devices.

Dumb-Fire Missiles

At the end of any movement you just completed, youmay fire a single missile if a target is available. The mis-sile may target ships, mines or asteroids in its path. Allother counters are not affected by missiles. Objects inyour ship’s hex may not be targeted. The missile willexit out of one of your ship’s front 3 hex sides and willtravel up to 5 hexes in a straight line. As the missiletravels, roll for impact for each hex it enters that con-tains a target. For purposes of impact determination,treat the missile as though it were traveling at speed 5(see Other Impacts). If there is more than one target ina hex, the controlling player chooses which is targeted.If the missile misses a target in a hex (even when morethan one target is present, it immediately continues in astraight line until it enters a hex containing anotherviable target or it reaches a distance of 5 hexes from thefiring ship. After traveling 5 hexes, the missile runs outof fuel, remove the counter from the track. If the missileimpacts a ship, roll 1d6 for damage and remove themissile counter from the board. A mine or asteroidstruck by a missile is destroyed and removed from thetrack along with the missile counter. A mine struck bythe missile detonates as normal.

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Guided Torpedo

You may launch the torpedo instead of deploying amine (see Deploying Mines). The torpedo immediatelymoves up to six hexes in any direction the controllingplayer chooses. It may move freely through occupiedhexes and will only strike a target the controlling playerchooses. It can target ships, mines or asteroids. The tor-pedo never rolls for impact as it always strikes its target.Ships struck take 1d6 damage. A mine or asteroidstruck by a torpedo is destroyed and removed from thetrack along with the torpedo counter. A mine struck bythe torpedo detonates as normal.

Magnetic Mines

You may deploy a magnetic mine instead of deployinga standard mine. Ships that enter a hex containing amagnetic mine roll for impact as normal. When a shipends its movement adjacent to or upon a magneticmine, the mine is magnetically drawn to the ship. Movethe mine counter into the hex containing the ship androll for impact. For purposes of impact determination,treat the mine as though it were traveling at speed 5 (seeImpacts). If more than one magnetic mine borders theships hex, they all drift into the hex. If one of the minesdetonates, they all detonate (see Mines). Magneticmines are only drawn towards ships.

Repulsion Cannon

A single ship that is within 2 hexes of your ship at theend of any movement you just completed may bepushed away from your ship. Roll 1d6, on a roll of 1-5the ship is pushed 1 hex away, on a roll of 6, theRepulsion Cannon backfires and your ship is pushed 1hex away from the target ship. If a ship could be movedinto more than 1 hex, the player with the cannon deter-mines which hex the ship moves into. Resolve any issuesas required by the new ship location (roll for impacts,move magnetic mines, move through a wormhole, etc.).If a ship was repulsed into a wall, it takes damage andloses speed as normal (see Boundaries and Forced SpeedReduction).

Tractor Beam

At the end of any movement you just completed youmay attempt to use your tractor beam on a single minethat is within 3 hexes of your ship (or in your shipshex). Roll 1d6, on a roll of 1-5 the mine has been suc-cessfully pulled into the ships hold; on a roll of 6, themine detonates on your ship for half damage. Any mine(including a Magnetic Mine or Atomic Device) success-fully brought aboard is stored in the standard minestock and does not fill an equipment bay (you may notexceed your mine stock maximum). Mines successfullybrought aboard may be deployed as normal.

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UNIQUE DESIGN FEATURES

Each ship has a special design feature unique to it.These design features are continuously in affect andcannot be disabled.

Drake

The Drake utilizes advanced mine technology. Thestarting mine stock is always 4 greater than normal.When reloading mines, the Drake restocks to thisadjusted amount. The player controlling the Drake maydeploy a mine on any movement, not just movementsthat have a mine symbol.

Manta

The Manta was designed with extra thick armoredplating to help in defense. The ship applies a –1 modifi-er to any source of damage (minimum of 1 damage).

Nautilus

The Nautilus’ hull is constructed with the superstrong element Ultanium. This benefits it in two ways.First, the ship always takes 1 less damage from ship-to-ship impacts (minimum of 1 damage). Second, theNautilus does not lose speed when impacted by anothership. This bonus only applies to impacts involving otherships.

Octopoid

The Octopoid comes equipped with tentacles.Whenever it completes a movement, it may grab oneadjacent mine of its choice and place it in ships stores.Even special mines such as the Atomic Device may begrabbed for later deployment if an open equipment bayis available. The Octopoid’s mine stock may not exceedits starting quota.

Old Faithful

Designed centuries ago, Old Faithful has withstoodthe test of time. One of its most redeeming qualities isthe impressive hi-capacity memory bank network that itutilizes. The memory banks are capable of storing vastamounts of data. The player controlling Old Faithfulmay maintain a hand of 3 cards instead of the normal 2cards.

Space Guppy

The Space Guppy is powered by a Neutronium powerplant. The power plant is extremely efficient. Duringthe shield recharge phase, the Space Guppy recharges 3shield points instead of the normal 2 shield points.

Star Shark

The Star Shark is a particularly dangerous ship inclose quarters. Anytime it attempts to ram another ship,it may automatically succeed if the controlling playerchooses to do so.

Swordfish

The Swordfish was specially designed with offensiveand defensive ramming capabilities in mind. When per-forming ram attacks, the Swordfish scores +2 damageagainst the rammed ship. A ship ramming theSwordfish also takes an additional 2 points of damage.

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A Quicker GameFor shorter games, play only one or two lap games.

All rules are the same except one: for every lap less than3, start with one less Command Decision counter.Alternatively, players may choose to play a bloodymarathon wherein the race continues until only oneship remains on the track. But that would just be sick.

Well, that’s it. Go play. And be sure to crush yourenemies, see them driven before you and hear thelamentation of their women.

Credits

Game Concept & Design: Craig ZipseGraphics: Craig ZipseLayout: Craig Zipse & Steve JohanssonQuality Control: Madison & Alex ZipseInvaluable Advice: Eric Smith, Jason Poole, Rob Martin& Mark SellmeyerSpecial Thanks: Eric Smith, Jason Poole, Rob Martin& Mark SellmeyerLead Playtesters: Rob Martin & Mark SellmeyerPlaytesters: Jason & Heather Poole, Eric Smith, ShaneNeighbors, Matt "Space Goats" Cook, Todd Payne, Eric

Long, Justin Padgett, Ryan Saltik, Adam Ross, KimMartin, Greg Lewis, Kyle Cantrell, Todd Moeller, SeanCurran, Marshal & Nicole Caylor, Amy Bradley, Brad"Pretty Boy" Lee, Dan Vujovic, David Stoy, DavlinStoy, Eric Pedersen, Joshua "Vespa" Hessel, NancyMilligan, Paul Chamberland (Warning - AggressivePlayer), Kevin Johnson, Chris Schuster, John Hake,Martin Gallo, Willie Clay, Greg King, Matt Bell,Michael Zipse, Ken "Water Boy" Lightner, AndrewGreenberg, Tom Ricks, Bill Bridges, Dave Kenzer, SteveJohansson, Brian Jelke, Jolly Blackburn, MarkPlemmons, Ben Reed, Mark Ocsow, Zach Gaskins,Timothy Rose, Christine Dziadosz, Jamie Wesley, JohnJacoby, Gruht Lester, Gerald Lientz, Ben Bear, JohnJasunas, Paul Wilson, John Baughn, Jason Walton,Patrick Prominski, Kyle Berg, John Berg, John Lloyd,Tolar Williams with a few others here and there.Thanks!Turkey Sandwiches and Hugs: Madison & AlexandraZipseThe Space Goats: Rob Martin, Mark Sellmeyer & DanVujovic

15

16

The following info is painful to read and only mar-ginally necessary for gameplay. You only need to refer toit when you’re not sure who blew up what first. Heregoes...

The first player in initiative order that has an unre-vealed Action card on Slot 1 begins the process. If noplayer has a card on Slot 1, proceed to the first slot thatdoes have an Action card on it.

STEP 1

Reveal the Action card and perform the describedaction (deploying mines and other weapons as allowed).If the ship performed movement, continue to step 1a. Ifthe ship performed maintenance instead, start again atStep 1 unless it is the last ship in initiative order. If thatis the case, proceed to Step 3.

1a) Fire a Dumb-fire Missile

1b) Activate a Repulsion Cannon

1c) Activate a Tractor Beam

STEP 2

If the ship that just moved in Step 1 (or a ship thatwas pushed or Repulsed by the ship that just moved) isnow within 1 hex of a Magnetic Mine(s) or withinrange of a Gun Tower, then:

2a) Magnetic Mines drift

2b) Gun Towers fire

When more than one ship has just moved due to theuse of a Repulsion Cannon or being pushed, steps 2aand 2b are resolved in initiative order.

Each player that has a card on the current slotshould repeat Steps 1 & 2 in initiative order. If allcards on the current slot have been revealed, proceedto Step 3.

STEP 3

3a) Move the Space Amoeba

3b) Move the Acidic Cloud

3c) Move the Space Station

3d) Active Black Holes pull in adjacent shipsand counters.

Repeat Steps 1-3 for players on all slots in slot order.When Step 3 has been completed for the last slot witha card on it, proceed to Step 4.

STEP 4

4a) Atomic Devices explode in initiative order of their respective controllers.

4b) Black Holes placed in the current turn become active.

The current turn has ended. You may now beginplanning your revenge.

Timing Table for the Reveal Phase