The Turn¶
A game of Battlefleet Gothic is unlike many other games such as chess or draughts where you only move one piece at a time. A tremendous amount of action takes place in a real battle: ships manoeuvre and fire at each other, fighters and bombers are launched in vast waves and torpedoes scream towards their targets.
In a real battle, this all happens at once amidst the chaos of combat. A Battlefleet Gothic game represents the ebb and flow of battle, but in order for us to decide its outcome players alternate taking turns moving and fighting with their ships. So in a battle, player A will move and fight with his ships first, then player B will move and fight and then player A will move and fight again, etc.
In his turn a player can move and fight with all of his ships. For convenience, moving and shooting are dealt with one after the other. This means that you move all your ships first and then all your ships, that are able to, fire. This helps everyone keep track of what’s going on and makes it easier to know when each player’s actions are finished.
In a turn the player performs his actions in the appropriate phases – the move, shoot and Ordnance Phases to be precise. Exactly what happens in each phase is described in The Turn Sequence later.
Who Gets The First Turn¶
Which player gets the first turn of the game can be determined in a number of different ways. Normally both players roll a D6 and the player with the highest score can decide to move either first or second. Sometimes the kind of game you are fighting will decide it for you. For example, in an ambush the attacking side will always get the first turn.
Fighting all sorts of different battles is covered in more detail in the Scenarios section later.
Ending The Battle¶
A battle can end in a number of different ways. Most commonly in Battlefleet Gothic fighting continues until either one side surrenders, or has no ships remaining on the tabletop. However, in certain kinds of battles, players might be able to win a “sudden death” victory which ends the game immediately – eg, if they destroy the enemy flagship.
Alternatively you might decide to end a battle at a preset time if you only have a limited amount of time to play in.
Different ways of ending the battle are discussed in more detail in the Scenarios section.
Exceptions¶
There are times when a player will perform certain actions when it is not their turn, such as Brace For Impact! for example. It may also be convenient to interrupt a player’s turn because of some event occurring, such as an enemy ship being detected. The thing to remember is that the turn sequence will always continue after the interruption as normal.
Turn Sequence¶
1. The Movement Phase¶
This is when a player moves his ships.
The player begins by removing any special order dice he placed last turn (except for ships on Brace For Impact! orders. They are stuck with them for this turn).
Next, the player moves his ships and squadrons one at a time. In this phase he may also take Command checks to institute special orders before moving a ship or squadron. If any Command check is failed no further checks may be made in the same turn. Note that ships must always move at least half their speed unless they wish to use the Burn Retros special order in order to hold position. See the Movement rules for more details about how to move your ships.
2. The Shooting Phase¶
Players may fire at each other’s vessels during this part of the turn. The player can shoot with any of his ships that are within range of enemy vessels. See the Shooting rules for more details about how to resolve shooting.
3. The Ordnance Phase¶
Both players may move any Ordnance markers (such as torpedoes or fighter squadrons) which are still on the tabletop, having been launched in a previous turn. See the Ordnance rules for more details.
4. The End Phase¶
Both players may attempt to repair critical damage which has been inflicted on their ships: D6 Blast Markers are also removed by the player whose turn it is. See the End Phase rules for more about repairs and removing Blast Markers.