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Rules Summary

Game Setup

See LRR "Complete Setup".

  1. Decide how to
    • setup the galaxy,
    • choose factions, and
    • pick the Speaker
  2. Set up public objectives according to the rules of your game (typically, 5 Stage Is and 5 Stage IIs)
  3. Gain starting units, technologies, and other faction components
  4. Gain 3 tactics tokens, 3 fleet tokens, and 2 strategy tokens
  5. Everyone draws 2 secret objectives and discards 1
  6. The Speaker reveals 2 Stage I public objectives

Game Round

Strategy Phase

See LRR 82.

  1. Starting with the speaker and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses one strategy card from the common play area and places it faceup in their play area.
    1. Repeat this process if playing with 4 or fewer players.
  2. The speaker places one trade good token from the supply on each strategy card that was not chosen.

Action Phase

See LRR 3.

Each player takes a turn in initiative order, determined by your chosen strategy card. During a player's turn, they perform a single action. After each player has taken a turn, player turns begin again in initiative order. This process continues until all players have passed.

There are three types of actions: tactical actions, strategic actions, and component actions.

Tactical Action

See LRR 89.

  1. Activate a system on the board using a command token from your tactics pool
  2. Movement
    1. Move ships
    2. Space Cannon Offense
  3. Space Combat
    1. (First round only) Anti-Fighter Barrage
    2. Announce retreats
    3. Roll dice
    4. Assign hits
    5. Retreat
    6. Repeat until at least one player has no ships remaining in the active system
  4. Invasion
    1. Bombardment
    2. Commit ground forces
    3. Space Cannon Defense
    4. Ground Combat with the player who controls the planet
      1. Roll dice
      2. Assign hits
      3. Repeat until the controlling player has no more ground forces
    5. Remove all units from the controlling player and establish control
      1. Decide if you would like to engage coexisting players in ground combat
    6. Explore if unexplored
  5. Production

Strategic Action

See LRR 82.

  1. Resolve the primary ability on your strategy card
  2. Each other player, beginning with the player to the left of the active player and proceeding clockwise, may resolve that strategy card's secondary ability
  3. Exhaust your strategy card; you may now pass on future turns

Component Action

See LRR 22.

Component actions can be found on various game components, including action cards, technology cards, leaders, exploration cards, relics, promissory notes, and faction sheets. Each component action is indicated by an Action header.

To perform a component action, a player reads the action's text and follows the instructions as described.

Status Phase

See LRR 22.

  1. Score up to 1 public objective and up to 1 status phase secret objective
    1. The game ends immediately when someone has reached the target Victory Point score, no matter what phase
    2. Ties are broken by initiative
  2. The Speaker reveals the next public objective
    1. Reveal only Stage I public objectives until you have revealed them all; then, reveal Stage II public objectives
  3. Draw 1 action card
  4. Remove all command tokens from the board
  5. Gain 2 command tokens and redistribute your command tokens
  6. Ready all cards
  7. Repair all units
  8. Return your strategy card

Agenda Phase

See LRR 8.

  1. Draw an agenda
    1. Starting with the player left of the Speaker, each player exhausts planets to spend influence as votes
    2. Resolve the outcome for the agenda
    3. Repeat this process until two agenda have been resolved
  2. Ready all planet cards

Strategy Cards

  • Leadership

    Primary:

    • Gain 3 command tokens.
    • Spend any amount of influence to gain 1 command token for every 3 influence spent.

    Secondary:

    • Spend any amount of influence to gain 1 command token for every 3 influence spent.

  • Diplomacy

    Primary:

    • Choose 1 system other than the Mecatol Rex system that contains a planet you control; each other player places a command token from their reinforcements in the chosen system. Then, ready up to 2 exhausted planets you control.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool to ready up to 2 exhausted planets you control.

  • Politics

    Primary:

    • Choose a player other than the speaker. That player gains the speaker token.
    • Draw 2 action cards.
    • Look at the top 2 cards of the agenda deck. Place each card on the top or bottom of the deck in any order.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool to draw 2 action cards.

  • Construction

    Primary:

    • Place 1 PDS or 1 Space Dock on a planet you control.
    • Place 1 PDS on a planet you control.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool and place it in any system; you may place either 1 space dock or 1 PDS on a planet you control in that system.

    Primary:

    • Either place 1 structure on a planet you control, or use the Production ability of 1 of your space docks.
    • Place 1 structure on a planet you control.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool to place 1 structure on a planet you control.

  • Trade

    Primary:

    • Gain 3 trade goods.
    • Replenish commodities.
    • Choose any number of other players. Those players use the secondary ability of this strategy card without spending a command token.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool to replenish your commodities.

  • Warfare

    Primary:

    • Remove 1 of your command tokens from the game board; then, gain 1 command token.
    • Redistribute any number of the command tokens on your command sheet.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool to use the Production ability of 1 of your space docks in your home system.

    Primary:

    • Perform a tactical action in any system without placing a command token, even if the system already has your command token in it; that system still counts as being activated. You may redistribute your command tokens before and after this action.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool to use the Production abilities of the units in your home system.

  • Technology

    Primary:

    • Research 1 technology.
    • Spend 6 resources to research 1 technology.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool and 4 resources to research 1 technology.

  • Imperial

    Primary:

    • Immediately score 1 public objective if you fulfill its requirements.
    • Gain 1 victory point if you control Mecatol Rex; otherwise, draw 1 secret objective.

    Secondary:

    • Spend 1 token from your strategy pool to draw 1 secret objective.
This work is hosted on GitHub and maintained by Michael Scott. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license and based on the Twilight Imperium 4th Edition board game by Fantasy Flight Games. The contents, copyrights, and trademarks of everything involving Twilight Imperium 4th Edition are exclusively held by Fantasy Flight Games; I make no claim to any of these in any way.