So I just purchased the game due to a love of BSG as well as boardgames, but I need a couple of clarifications on the rules.

1. At the beginning of the game it says setup three raiders, and a basestar. My question is - if the crisis card drawn from the first player does not have the 'activate raiders' logo, then do those raiders do nothing on that turn? And, if that is the case, are players able to still attack them otherwise?

2. When you are in the process of reading a skill check aloud to all players, do you also tell them the colors (skills-needed) for that skill check? Or, is it part of the secrecy?

3. Kind of a general question - So there are more then one crisis' going on at a time, correct? I say this because the player who draws the crisis card doesn't really solve it himself, as he already used his action step, so it goes to the next person.

Hope that make sense. Sorry if I blatantly missed a post on these questions earlier.

yodaizmyhomie said:

1. Only move cylon ships if they are activated from something in particular (a crisis card, or the Cylon Fleet location). Same goes for all other ships as well (the basestar in setup wont fire missles either, except from something activating basestars).

2. When you're reading a skill check aloud to other players, I tell them the skills needed. The secrecy rules seem to be intended only to include things that are looked at and not read aloud (destinations or crises looked at from launch scout), and indeed, the only rules about what should be secret are cards on top of decks, loyalty cards, and skill card strength.

3. I don't quite understand your question. A player's turn consists of, in order, collecting skill cards, moving, spending an action, drawing a crisis card, and resolving that crisis card (making choices or doing a skill check). I can't imagine a situation in which there was more than one crisis being resolved at one time. If a player draws a crisis with a skill check, each player may participate in turn order, starting with the person on the left, but there is only one crisis. Furthermore, solving crises does not take an action, each player may put in cards, but those aren't actions, they are participating in a skill check. Check out page 16 from the rulebook to see exactly how skill checks work.

Hope this helps,

Sinis

1. Yes, they may just sit there if their icon doesn't come up to activate them. And yes, you may still attack them even if they haven't moved or attacked themselves.

2. Yes, people need to know what cards to play into the Skill check. Secrecy only covers cards that are hidden from other players - cards in your hand, loyalty, things you were privledged to see, etc.

3. Once a Crisis card is drawn, it is resolved immediately by all players. Everyone plays into (or passes) the check the moment it is drawn. The only time you will have multiple crisis cards in play is if the card specifically tells you to leave them in play. Most Cylon Attack crisis cards are left in play because they have some ongoing effect. But the vast majority of Skill Check and Event Crisis cards are resolved and removed the turn they are revealed.

You can check out this "Geeklist" (kind of like a forum with pictures if you are not familiar with it) of an online version of the game we played. It may help you see how the game plays out. Player turns are listed out and then a graphic represents the final board state at the end of each turn.

www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/41003

Very nice. Thanks for the quick response.

I guess to clarify about the third question, let me bring up a scenario mostly relating to the 'Cylon Attack' crisis cards. Let's say a player draws a 'Cylon Attack' crisis card. He then does what the card says (for this example he places two raiders on board, with an 'activate raiders' icon). So then, I believe I am right in saying that the current player can do nothing to thrwart the attack himself (because he has already done his action step), and passes the player token over to the next player, resulting in those raiders (from the crisis card) still being there when the next player takes his turn. Is this correct?

If so, that's what I mean by multiple crisis' at once. Because if the next player draws a 'Cylon Attack' crisis card, then there will be even more ships added and such.

yodaizmyhomie said:

Yes and yes

Try not to think of the cylon raiders on the board as crisis-es..crises..crisi...whatever. They are just an ongoing threat that needs to be dealt with. The only real "crisis" that the game refers to is the Crisis Deck. Cylon ships surrounding Galactica are an entirely different threat, and one that needs to be dealt with separately. I think that's where some of our confusion was coming from. But you are correct, in that outside of destroying them or jumping the ship the cylon ships will remain on the board, threatening Galactica and the civilian fleet.