Star Wars: Rebellion rules refresher

Read the refresher

You are fighting for control of the galaxy. As the Rebels you win by gaining reputation while keeping your hidden base alive; as the Empire you win by finding that base and conquering it. Both sides get there by sending leaders on missions and moving fleets and troops around the map.

Setting up, each player puts the four leaders without a recruit icon into the leader pool, and sets the recruit-icon leaders aside for later. The time marker goes on space 1, the reputation marker on space 14. Build the objective deck by shuffling the three numbered piles separately and stacking them with pile one on top, then the Rebel draws one objective. Each player's action deck is the cards with recruit icons; the cards without recruit icons are the starting action cards, and each faction draws two of those at random, the rest going back to the box. Set aside your four starting missions, the Imperial shuffles the project cards onto the project space, and the rest of your missions become your mission deck. For loyalty and units, shuffle the probe deck and reveal cards until three Rebel systems and five Imperial systems have come up. Rebel loyalty markers go in the three Rebel systems, subjugation markers in the first two Imperial systems drawn, and Imperial loyalty markers in the other three. The five Imperial probe cards go back in the box and the rest are shuffled back in. The Imperial places three Star Destroyers, three Assault Carriers, twelve TIE Fighters, twelve Stormtroopers, five AT-STs, one AT-AT and one Death Star in systems with Imperial loyalty or subjugation, with at least one ground unit in each of those systems. The Rebel places one Corellian Corvette, one Rebel Transport, two X-wings, two Y-wings, six Rebel Troopers and two Airspeeders in the Rebel Base space and/or in any one Rebel or neutral system. Then the Rebel removes every system containing Imperial units from the probe deck, secretly picks one remaining card as the base location and slides it facedown under the Location space, and the probe deck is shuffled. Everyone starts with their four starting missions plus two cards drawn from the mission deck.

Each round has three phases. In the Assignment Phase the Rebel first, then the Imperial, places mission cards facedown with one or two leaders on each. In the Command Phase players alternate, Rebel first, each turn either activating a system with a leader from the pool or revealing one of their assigned missions. Passing is permanent for that phase. When everyone has passed, you do the Refresh Phase cleanup and start again. With three or four players each faction is split into an Admiral and a General, using the team side of the faction sheet with two leader pools, and turn order follows the initiative numbers.

Assigning a mission needs leaders matching the skill requirement in the top left corner. Any leaders you leave in the pool are the ones available to activate systems, oppose enemy missions, and join combats, so don't commit everything.

To activate a system, place a leader from your pool into any system. You may then move ships into it from adjacent systems only. You cannot move units out of a system that already contains one of your own leaders. Each ship carries ground units up to its transport capacity, and TIE Fighters need transport just like ground units. A leader with no tactic values cannot activate a system. Whenever Imperial ground units move into a system, the Rebel must declare whether the base is there, and if it is, the base is revealed before combat.

Revealing a mission means flipping it faceup, reading it aloud, declaring the system, and placing the leader there. Resolve means it just happens. Attempt means it succeeds automatically unless the opponent sends one leader from their pool to oppose it. If opposed, both players roll dice equal to their leaders' icons in that system matching the mission's skill, counting only matching icons. A hit or a direct hit is one success, the tactic symbol is two. The attempting player must roll strictly more successes than the opponent. A mission with a leader portrait can be attempted by anyone, but that specific leader adds two successes. Starting missions return to your hand after use; all other missions are discarded.

Combat happens when you move into a system with enemy units. First, either side without a leader with tactic values there may add one from their pool. Then each side draws space and ground tactic cards equal to their leader's blue and orange values, using only the highest of each if several leaders are present. A combat round is: space battle, where the current player attacks with all ships then the opponent does; then ground battle the same way; then retreat, current player first; then another round if both factions still have units in the same theater. An attack means rolling dice matching the attack values of your participating units in that theater, capped at five red and five black. You may then play tactic cards or discard a tactic-symbol die to draw one. Assign damage in that theater only: a hit damages a unit whose health value matches that die's colour, a direct hit damages any unit with black or red health. The defender may block with tactic cards. Units with lethal damage still attack this round and are removed at the end of the step. Partial damage stays under the miniature for the whole combat and clears at the end of it. To retreat you need a leader in the system, and you move everything to an adjacent system, preferring one with your own units or loyalty, never into enemy units and never back the way the attacker came. If the Imperial has a Death Star in the combat, no Imperial units may retreat.

In the Refresh Phase, retrieve all leaders, with any still sitting on unrevealed missions returning those cards to hand. Each player draws two mission cards and discards down to ten. The Imperial draws two probe cards, each naming a system where the base is not. The Rebel draws one objective. Then advance the time marker one space and resolve whatever icons are on the new space. A recruit icon means each player draws two action cards, picks one leader shown, and puts that leader in the pool, keeping the chosen action card facedown and putting the other on the bottom of the action deck. A build icon means each player places a unit on the build queue for each resource icon in their loyal systems, using the space matching the number next to the icon, and the Imperial uses only the leftmost icon in subjugated systems. Finally, Rebel first, slide the build queue down one; anything sliding off is deployed into your loyal or subjugated systems, maximum two units per system. Systems holding an enemy unit or a sabotage marker can neither build nor deploy.

Loyalty matters throughout. Gaining loyalty in a neutral system places your marker; gaining loyalty in an enemy-loyal system just removes theirs and makes it neutral. Coruscant is permanently Imperial. Any Imperial ground unit in a system without Imperial loyalty subjugates it, and the subjugation marker is discarded the moment no Imperial ground units remain. The Rebel base itself works as a system for building and deploying while hidden, and Rebel units may move between the Rebel Base space and systems adjacent to the base's real location. The base is revealed the instant the Imperial has loyalty or ground units in that system. Captured Rebel leaders wear the captured ring, cannot return to the pool or be moved by the Rebel, can be moved by the Imperial like ground units, and are rescued automatically if no Imperial units remain in their system.

The Imperial wins immediately on conquering the base's system, meaning an Imperial unit there and no Rebel units, and also wins immediately if the Death Star destroys the system where the base is. The Rebel wins immediately when the reputation marker and the time marker occupy the same space on the track. Reputation comes mostly from objective cards: play one when you have fulfilled its condition and move the reputation marker toward the time marker by the number in its corner, with only one objective played per combat and one per Refresh Phase. The Death Star can only be destroyed by the Death Star Plans objective card.

A turn, played out

It is round 5, Command Phase, and it is your turn as the Rebel. In the Assignment Phase you slid one of your starting missions facedown with a single leader on it, a leader showing 2 icons that match the mission's skill. If it works, you gain loyalty in the chosen system. You kept 1 more leader back in your pool, one with tactic values. The Imperial has 1 leader left in their pool, showing 1 matching icon. You reveal the mission, read it aloud, and declare a system holding an Imperial loyalty marker. Your leader goes there. It is an attempt, so the Imperial could let it succeed. Instead they send their last leader into that system to oppose. You roll 2 dice for your 2 matching icons. One shows the tactic symbol, worth 2 successes, the other a blank. The Imperial rolls 1 die and gets a hit, 1 success. Your 2 beats their 1. Had you rolled a single success, the tie would have failed you. Because the system was Imperial loyal, your gain simply removes their marker, leaving it neutral. The starting mission returns to your hand. The Imperial leader now sits in that system, so they cannot move units out of it this round. Their pool is empty, so their only choices are revealing an assigned mission or passing. They pass, and that is final for this phase. You still have your reserve leader. You place it in an empty neutral system adjacent to your base's real location. That adjacency is what lets ships move in straight from the Rebel Base space. Your Corellian Corvette and Rebel Transport arrive, the Transport carrying 2 Rebel Troopers within its capacity. No enemy units are there, so no combat. With your leader now in that system, those units stay put until the Refresh Phase brings your leaders home.