Battleship Galactica

Here’s a game idea I had last night based on the show Battlestar Galactica and the board game Battleship. I call it, “Battleship Galactica“.

What you’ll need to play Battleship Galactica – 1) a version of Battleship… preferably not the electronic one… 2) a piece of scratch paper and a pen or pencil… 3) two people to play the game.

Set Up
Start by choosing a “side”. One side of the board is the “Human Race” and one side the “Cylons”.

The Human Race sets their ships out on the board. Only use the Battleship (your Battlestar) and both of the Destroyers (Civilian Ships). The Human ships must be set next to each other in either parallel rows horizontally or vertically with no more than one row between them and all facing the same direction. The Civilian Ships cannot be more than one “square” away from either end of your Battlestar.

Example of possible layout of Human ships.

The Cylons set up their ships following the same rules as the Human side. Except they use one Aircraft Carrier (Cylon Base Ship) and all 4 submarines (Cylon Fighters). Just like the Human ships, the Cylon ships must be set next to each other in either parallel rows horizontally or vertically with no more than one row between them and all facing the same direction. The Fighters cannot be more than one “square” away from either end of the Base Ship at the beginning of the game.

Example of possible layout of Cylon ships.

Game Play
Just like in normal Battleship the point of the game is to “destroy” the opponent’s ships. However, in Battleship Galactica the Humans only get to attack if the Cylons “hit” first.

Once the game board is set up the Cylons make the first move asking for a possible “hit” by launching an attack to spoken coordinates just like in the normal game… however Cylons may only “launch attacks” no further than one square around each of their fighter ships… the Base Ship cannot attack.

Example of Cylon attack range.

After each attack the Cylons make the Humans can “jump” their ships. Simply put, they can, if they choose, move their ships to a different location on the board. After the Human ships “jump” the Cylons get another chance to “hit” them.

If the Cylons hit a Human ship two things happen. First, the Humans get a chance to “shoot back” by launching an attack to spoken coordinates just like in the normal game. Secondly the “FTL Counter” starts. This is a simple countdown from 5 to 0. You can keep track of it in your head, or you can use a piece of scratch paper. After every volley of attack (Cylons fire, then Humans fire back) the “FTL Counter” ticks one time. So, in essence, each side will have 5 chances to shoot at each other before the “FTL Counter” hits zero. Once the counter hits zero the Human ships can “jump” to a new location.

If they choose to do so the Cylons may forfeit their “attack” and instead “jump” to a new location on the board. Both the Cylons and Humans must remain in the same configuration during a “jump” only rotating either horizontally or vertically. However, either side can forfeit an “attack” during a fight and instead move their ships one full ship length either forward, backward or side-to-side.

Winning the Game
The winner is the last person standing… or, the first to destroy the other’s fleet. If the Humans destroy all 4 of the Cylon Fighters then and only then can the Cylon Base ship can begin attacking. However, if the Base Ship is destroyed first the Humans win… the Cylon Fighters cannot survive without the Base Ship.

Optional “Earth Counter”
If you’d like you can add an optional “Earth Counter.” Each time the Cylons are successfully evaded, in other words you escape their attacks by letting the “FTL Counter” run down, add one to the “Earth Counter”. If the “Earth Counter” reaches 10 then the Humans have found Earth and they win.

Let me know if you play this, or if there are additions you think might make game play more fun!