Broken and battered, the last remnants of the fleet limp through space. Suddenly, DRADIS acquires a new contact - and it’s big. As Galactica launches its alert fighters, a call of “action stations!” repeats over the intercom. The crew erupts into a firestorm of commotion as, outside, Apollo and Kat move to intercept the bogey. In the CIC, Adama calls for an FTL jump and preparations begin... but to everyone’s surprise, DRADIS senses something unexpected: colonial transponders. Apollo’s voice soon crackles through the speakers. “Galactica, Apollo, you are not going to believe what I'm looking at out here! It's like a dream,” he laughs. In the distance, Battlestar Pegasus comes into view. Welcome back to the Colonial Fleet.

And welcome to the first preview for Battlestar Galactica: Pegasus Expansion ! Today we’ll take a look at Cylon Leaders, an all-new mechanic that fans have been asking about, and we’ll get “intimate” with Caprica Six, one of the much-anticipated seven new characters. We’ll also get a brief look at what makes Cylon Leaders such impressive opponents: the new “treachery” skill type as well as their hidden agendas. So strap in, alert the fleet, and get ready to jump!

From the safety of their highly protected basestar, a mysterious inner sanctum of high-ranking Cylons make their sinister plans for the future of the human race - while a select few among them secretly feel compassion for their enemies and regret the horrible genocide in which they’ve taken part. Cylon Leaders bring a new level of strategy and challenge to your Battlestar Galactica experience. This optional role makes one player (in any game of at least four players) a revealed Cylon from the beginning of the game! For the human players, Cylon Leaders can be formidable adversaries or powerful allies, depending on their individual agendas.

This exciting new character type differs from the standard “revealed cylon” in a few important ways. First, each Cylon Leader has an individual Skill set. Rather than drawing two skill cards from any type at the start of each turn, they are limited to the skills displayed on their character cards, forcing strategic choices and reigning in their awesome potential. Second, like their human counterparts, they have unique strengths and weaknesses (including potentially devastating once-per-game abilities) that affect them throughout the game. Third, Cylon Leaders receive Agenda Cards, which provide unique and challenging victory conditions. These agendas can be helpful or harmful to humanity, providing the Cylon Leader with compelling opportunities for deceit and backstabbing. Finally, to further their agendas, Cylon Leaders can “infiltrate” Galactica, moving about the humans and acting like one of them. A clever Cylon Leader might fool the human players into thinking he has their best interests at heart, thereby gaining both their trust and unguarded access to their ships!

“Caprica” Six is just one of the Cylon Leaders who will be infiltrating your tabletop this fall. Beginning the game at the updated Caprica location, this dangerous beauty is adept at walking among, and appearing helpful toward, humans. Her “intimate” ability, used in lieu of movement, can place helpful skill cards in the hands of her allies... or sow the seeds of treachery among her enemies. This, along with her potent once-per-game ability, makes her an invaluable but unpredictable bedfellow.

Like all Cylon Leaders, Six is capable of drawing cards from the new “treachery” skill deck. This powerful skill type provides new abilities for Cylon players and adds an additional menace to every skill check. Since they’ll now appear in the destiny deck, humanity must manage this threat carefully; the crippling text abilities on these cards can only be used by Cylons, and their value is nearly always negative for purposes of skill checks! The Cylons have several nefarious methods for seeing that treachery cards find their way into human hands, where they can do little good... and they can even unleash brutal punishments when human players discard them!

The Pegasus Expansion adds numerous new ways for the Cylons to stamp out humanity once and for all, but the colonial fleet won’t be going down without a fight! In our next preview, we’ll take a look at Battlestar Pegasus itself and the awesome firepower it brings to bear. The Cylons have devious new tactics by which to subjugate their enemies, but the Pegasus can deal out equally savage responses - as long as its crew is a bit flexible with morality...

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is a semi-cooperative game of politics, betrayal, and survival for 3-6 players, based on the hit SciFi Channel series.