Game Setup

Steps performed by VASSAL startup wizard are in grey.

  1. Place the fleet token on the "START" square of the jump track, set resource dials, and place ships in the reserves on Galactica.
    Food 8
    Fuel 8
    Morale 10
    Population 12
    Raptors 4
    Vipers 8
  2. Group and shuffle the damage tokens and civilian ships facedown off the board. Place Cylon ships and Centurion markers here as well.
  3. Seperate the decks (5 Skill Decks defined by color, a Destination Deck, Quorum Deck, Crisis Deck, and Super Crisis Deck), shuffle, and place by board. Group Skill Decks under their sections at bottom of board. Place Objective card faceup by the Destination Deck.
  4. Randomly decide the first player; they receive the Player Token. Play proceeds clockwise, with the Token passed at each turn end.
  5. The players choose characters based on turn order. At any time, Support characters may be chosen; otherwise, the most plentiful type must be chosen from (Pilots, Military Leaders, and Political Leaders). Consider well-rounded groups that can receive a variety of Skill Cards (Politics, Leadership, Tactics, Piloting, and Engineering). If there are more than 3 players, one Cylon Leader may be chosen.
  6. Determine who begins with the Admiral, President and CAG titles, based on the Line of Succession. Give the Admiral 2 Nuke tokens and the President 1 Quorum card.
  7. Build Loyalty Deck based on characters and number of players; shuffle the "You are a Cylon" cards seperately, choose facedown however many are required, mix in the appropriate number of "You are not a Cylon" cards, and shuffle thoroughly.
    No Cylon Leader Cylon Leader
    Players Humans Cylons Humans Cylons Agenda
    Three 5 1
    Four 6 1 5 1 Sympathetic
    Five 8 2 7 1 Hostile
    Six 9 2 8 2 Sympathetic
    Seven 10 2 Hostile
    Character Humans
    Baltar +1
    Boomer +1
  8. Distribute a Loyalty Card to each player (2 for Gaius Baltar to start). To protect player identities, it is advisable to agree upon a short duration of time when players must spend reading their card (such as a countdown from 10) before continuing.
  9. If 4 or 6 players and there is no Cylon leader, shuffle the Sympathizer card into the remaining loyalty deck.
  10. Clockwise from the Player Token, players receive three Skill Cards of their choice, restricted by type and number as shown on their character sheet. The beginning player does not receive cards at this time, but will obtain their full range of Skill Cards on their first turn.
  11. Create Destiny Deck by taking two cards from each Skill Deck. Shuffle and place in Destiny Deck location. Repeat whenever this deck is depleted.
  12. Place 1 Basestar and 3 Raiders in front of Galactica, 2 facedown civilian ships behind, and 1 unmanned Viper in each bottom space.