Warpgate Game Rules

Components

1 AI player board
8 Double-sided Faction boards
13 Double-sided board tiles
72 Plastic Ships in 6 colors
180 Tokens
220 Cards
6 Plastic Research Drones in 6 colors
Rulebook

Object of the Game

Warpgate is a strategic board game in which you represent one of the factions, competing for control of the galaxy. Unlock Technologies, establish trade routes, and conquer planets to lead your faction towards triumph.

The player with the most victory points (VP) at the end of the game wins.

Setup

Each player picks a faction board at random (or allow players to choose) and then chooses which side of the faction board to play with. The two sides are marked "A" and "B" in the bottom right corner of the faction board.

Each faction has its own unique background and special ability. For your first game, it is recommended to use the A-side faction
Each player chooses a player color to use during the game, takes all of the pieces in that color: 12 Ships, 12 Outpost/ Colony markers, and 1 Research Drone, and places them in their supply.

There are two different sculpts
for Research Drones.
Take the 12 Action cards in your player color, shuffle them, and place them face down to the left of your faction board as your Action deck. Leave space next to it for a discard pile.

Draw a hand of 4 Action cards from your Action deck as your starting hand.
Take all 8 Basic Tactics cards in your player color: (A) Heroic Sacrifice, (B) All or Nothing, (C) Pitched Battle, (D) Glorious Victory, (E) Heavy Resistance, (F)) Outmaneuver, (G)) Salvage and (H)) Hit and Run.

Tactics card card back.

All types of Tactics cards - Basic Tactics cards, Advanced Tactics cards, and Hero Tactics cards - have the same card back for all players.

The Blue player's Basic Tactics cards
(Basic Tactics cards have colored borders in player's color).

Take the Hero Tactics card with the same name as the one listed on your faction board. Look at the letter next to the card's name. This Hero card replaces the Basic Tactics card marked with the same letter. Return the replaced Basic Tactics card to the box.

The Sol Olo Hero card replaces the Pitched Battle Basic
Tactics card in slot "C" for the Roguu Conglomerate faction player.

Shuffle your 7 remaining Basic Tactics cards together with your Hero card and place them face down to the right of your faction board as your personal Tactics deck. Leave space next to it for a discard pile.
Shuffle together all remaining Hero Tactics cards and all Advanced Tactics cards and place them face down nearby as the Promotion deck, shared by all players. Leave space for a discard pile.

Advanced Tactics cards and Hero Tactics cards all have a chevron watermark in their text box
Place the hex-shaped and diamond-shaped board tiles together to form the game board as shown (based on the number of players):
Each player places 3 of their Ships and their Research Drone at the Warpgate of their color on the game board.
Take 4 Trade Goods per player and place all of them into a single pile next to the game board as available Trade Goods. Return the rest to the box.

4 per player.
Randomly select 2 Technology cards, plus 5 Technology cards per player. Return the rest to the box, without looking at them. All the selected cards are shuffled and placed face down as the Technology deck.

Then, take the top 2 cards of this deck and place them face up next to the Technology deck as available Technologies.
Randomly select 5 Objective cards per player. Return the rest to the box, without looking at them. All the selected cards are shuffled and placed face down (with the banner icon, and a planet, side up) as the Objectives deck.

Then, take the top 2 cards of the Objectives deck and place them face down next to the Objectives deck as the available Objectives.

Then, deal 1 Objective card from the Objectives deck face down to each player as their starting Objective.
Randomly select a first player. Give that player the first player marker.

Solo Variant Setup

Set up the game as if playing with 2 players. Follow all the normal setup steps for the human player. For the Artificial Intelligence (Al) player follow these steps:

Choose an unused player color to be used by the Al player.
Take the Al board titled "The Gatekeepers".
Take 5 unused Objective cards - 1 of each planet type; 1 random Technology card , 1 random Advanced Tactic card, and any 1 Action card in the Al's color.
Shuffle these 8 cards to form the Al Action deck.
Take the 8 Basic Tactics cards in the Al's color and shuffle them to form the Al Tactics deck. The Al player has no faction Hero card in its combat deck at the start.
Place 3 Al ships on the Al's Warpgate and its remaining ships next to the Al Faction board

Game Play

The game is split into rounds. In each round, players will take turns, one at a time, beginning with the first player and going in clockwise order, until all players have taken 4 turns. I.e. all players take their first turn, then all players take their second turn, and so on.

An average game lasts 6 to 8 rounds.

During your turn:

Play an Action card from your hand into the slot for the current turn on your faction board.
Perform 1 of the following 3 actions:
If this is your 4th turn of the round:
- Move your Action cards played this round from the faction board into your discard pile.
- Discard any remaining Action cards from your hand.
- Draw 4 new Action cards to use next round.
Whenever you need to draw a card, but your Action deck is empty , shuffle your discard (but not the cards on your faction board) to form a new deck.

After all players have taken 4 turns, the round ends. Perform the end of round sequence.

Ready To Go

After you are done reading through this page, you should be ready to make your first steps in conquering the galaxy. Make sure that all players understand the concepts of Turn Multiplier and Range.

You can refer to the detailed rules for specific actions as they become necessary.

You can safely skip the rules for battles until the beginning of the second round.

Warp Speed!

You don 't have to wait until it's your turn to decide which card to play . Do that during other players ' turns and place the card face down on your faction board when ready.

When it's your turn - simply flip the card face up and perform the action as normal , or play a different card if you have cahanged your mind.

Performing Actions

All the actions are covered in detail on pages 6 to 9, but two key concepts - turn multiplier and range - are explained here.

Turn Multiplier

Turn multiplier is displayed on each of the 4 turn slots on your faction board as "1X", "2X", "3X", and "4X". It determines the strength of all your actions: how far your ships can travel, how many ships you can deploy, how many cards you can draw, etc. The later in the round you resolve an action, the more powerfull it will be.

In the Action card's text it is referenced as "X". For example, the Warp-in action lets you deploy X ships at your Warpgate. If used on turn 1, you will be able to place up to 1 new ship at your Warpgate.

You may always resolve an action as a weaker action. I.e 3X as 1X, or 0X r.ange

Range

The hex grid covering the board tiles is used to calculate the range for many of the actions. To determine the range, count the number of empty hexes (without planets) between a ship and its destination. Do not count the starting hex or the destination hex!

The function of the light blue areas will be explained later.

There are 2 empty hexes between the Desert planet (yellow) and the Jungle planet (green), so the range between them is 2.

You must go around the Volcanic planet (red) to move from the Oceanic planet (blue) to the Arctic planet (white), so the range between them is 4.

End of Round Sequence

After all players have taken 4 turns, perform the following steps:

Check available Technologies.

At the end of a round, if all of the available Technologies are of the same planet type (page 7), reveal the top card of the Technology deck and add it face up to the available Technologies.

If the newly-revealed Technology is also of the same planet type, do not repeat this step; only one additional card may be added this way during a single round.
Check available Objectives.

At the end of a round, if all of the available Objective cards are of the same planet type (page 8), take the top card of the Objectives deck and add it face down to the available Objectives.

If the newly-revealed Objective is also of the same planet type, do not repeat this step; only one additional card may be added this way during a single round.
Change the first player.

Pass the first player marker clockwise to the next player.
Investigate the Ancient ruins (6 Players only).

A player with a Colony on the Ancients homeworld ( pictured on the right) claims one of the following: 1 available Technology, 1 available Objective, 1 available Trade Good, or the top 2 cards from the Promotion deck.

Ancients homeworld

End of the Game

At the start of the round, if one or more of the following conditions are met, then this round is the final round of the game:

The Technology deck is empty (not counting the available Technologies).
The Objectives deck is empty (not counting the available Objectives).
There are no available Trade Goods left.

After the final round is finished, the game ends and players calculate their score.

Final Scoring:

Players earn victory points (VP) at the end of the game as follows:

5 VP for each completed Objective.
0 VP for each failed Objective.

Completing Objectives is a difficult task, yet it is often the most decisive winning factor. Neglecting it may cost you victory.

Many Objectives require establishing Outposts or Colonies on specific planets. The same planet may count for completing multiple Objectives.
3 VP for each Trade Good - both spent and unspent.
1 VP for each Hero card and advanced Tactics card in their Tactics deck.

This includes the starting Hero card, but not the basic tactics (they have no VP value printed on them).
Variable number of VP for each researched Technology.

Technology is worth 2VP.

Technology is worth OVP.

VP value is based on the card's text.

At the end of the game, score an additional 1VP for each of your Trade Goods.