Blake's 7 rules

These are the rules required by the Blake's 7 (Blake) deck and Blake's 7 (Federation) deck.

Victory Conditions

To win, the Federation Player must have destroyed both the Liberator and Scorpio cards, or there must be no Core Crewmembers (whether Captured or not) currently in play.

To win, the Blake's 7 Player must simultaneously control the Blake, Control is Destroyed, and Alliance cards.

Setup

The Blake's 7 Player starts the game controlling the Blake, Avon, Jenna and Liberator cards. The Liberator is located in Deep Space and Blake, Avon and Jenna are located on the Liberator. The Federation Player starts the game controlling Supreme Commander Servalan and Space Commander Travis, which are located in the Federation Reserve. The Blake's 7 Player takes the first turn.

Location

If a Planet is in play, the Blake's 7 Player's ship is in the Planetary Orbit of that Planet, otherwise the ship is in Deep Space.

A Blake's 7 Player Crewmember may have either of the following locations:

• On the Planet that is currently in play; or
• On the Blake's 7 Player's ship.

A Blake's 7 Player Thing that is not a Crewmember, ship or Planet, and is not attached to any of these, has no location, but merely exists "in limbo".

A Pursuit Ship may have any one of the following Locations:

• With the Blake's 7 Player's ship in Planetary Orbit;
• With the Blake's 7 Player's ship in Deep Space; or
• In the Federation Reserve.

"Federation Reserve" is the default location that a Federation Player Thing adopts if it is not played on or moved to any other location. The Federation Player may only play a Pursuit Ship to the Federation Reserve unless there is already at least one Pursuit Ship at the smae location as the Blake's 7 Player's ship. If any Pursuit Ship is with the Blake's 7 Player's ship in Planetary Orbit or Deep Space, but the Blake's 7 Player's ship then changes its location, the Pursuit Ship is immediately placed into the Federation Reserve.

A Federation Adversary may have any one of the following locations:

• On the Planet that is currently in play;
• On the Blake's 7 Player ship;
• On a Pursuit Ship with the Blake's 7 Player's ship in Planetary Orbit;
• On a Pursuit Ship with the Blake's 7 Player's ship in Deep Space; or
• In the Federation Reserve.

The Federation player may choose to play a Federation Adversary on any of the above locations, except that a Federation Adversary cannot be played on a Planet or on the Blake's 7 Player ship unless there is already at least one Federation Adversary at that location.

An Independent Adversary may have any one of the following locations:

• On the Planet that is currently in play;
• On the Blake's 7 Player ship; or
• In the Federation Reserve.

The Federation player may choose to play an Independent Adversary on any of the above locations, except that an Independent Adversary cannot be played on a Planet or on the Blake's 7 Player ship unless there is already at least one Independent Adversary at that location.

Attachments

The Federation Player may play certain self-specified cards on Adversary cards. The former are considered to be "attachments" of the latter. The Federation Player may also give any Pursuit Ship an attachment by playing or moving any Federation Officer (with the Federation Officer's own attachments) on to that Pursuit Ship.

The Federation Player may, in the Federation Player's turn, make any legal attachments, detachments or transfers of attachments at any time without counting as an Action, provided all Things concerned are in the same location.

Federation Movement

If there is currently any Pursuit Ship in Planetary Orbit or in Deep Space, or if there are any Federation Adversaries on a Planet or on the Blake's 7 Player's ship, the Federation Player may, as an Action, either:

• Move any number of Pursuit Ships (with attachments) between the Federation Reserve and the location of the Blake's 7 Player's ship, in either direction; or
• Move any number of Federation Adversaries (with attachments) from any one location to any other location, however a Federation Adversary cannot be moved to the Blake's 7 Player's ship by this means unless there is at least 1 Federation Adversary already aboard that ship.

An Independent Adversary cannot be moved except as specified by a card.

Close Combat

Close Combat occurs between Adversaries and Crewmembers at the same location. It can be initiated by a card or as an Action by either player during that player's turn.

The first step in resolving the combat is to total the Close Combat Value of all the Adversaries involved in the combat. That total is the amount of Damage inflicted on the Blake's 7 Player's Crewmembers (although the Gan and Cally cards may reduce this Damage). The Blake's 7 Player then must either reduce that Damage to 0 (or below) or destroy all Crewmembers at the location of the combat.

The Blake's 7 Player may reduce Close Combat Damage in any combination of the following three ways:

• By discarding cards from the player's hand. For each card discarded, the Damage is reduced by 1, unless the card otherwise states;
• By announcing the capture of Crewmembers involved in the combat. For each Crewmember captured, the Damage is reduced by 1; or
• By announcing the destruction of Crewmembers involved in the combat. For each Crewmember destroyed, the Damage is reduced by the Close Combat Value of the Crewmember (or by 1 if that is greater).

After Close Combat is resolved against the Crewmembers, those who were not captured return fire and inflict Damage on the Adversaries. The Damage equal to the total of the Close Combat Value of all Crewmembers involved in the combat who either survived uncaptured or were destroyed (dying Crewmembers can return fire, but captured Crewmembers may not). The Federation Player then must either reduce that Damage to 0 (or below) or destroy all Adversaries at the location of the combat.

The Federation Player may reduce Close Combat Damage in one or both of the following two ways:

• By discarding cards from the player's hand. For each card discarded, the Damage is reduced by 1; or
• By announcing the destruction of an Adversary involved in the combat. For each Adversary destroyed, the Damage is reduced by the Close Combat Value of the Adversary.

Capture

A captured Crewmember can take no Action unless a card indicates otherwise, and cannot be attacked. A Crewmember can be rescued (and thus cease to be captured) either by way of an Action on a card, or by destroying all Adversaries at the same location of the captured Crewmember.

If all Crewmembers on board a ship are captured, the Blake's 7 Player has until the end of the player's next turn to rectify this situation. If at the end of the Blake's 7 Player's next turn there is still at least one Adversary on board the ship and all Crewmembers on board are still captured, the ship and the captured crewmembers are destroyed. A ship is also destroyed immediately if at any time there is an Adversary onboard but no Crewmembers (whether captured or uncaptured). In either case, on destruction of the ship the Adversaries onboard remain in play, and are moved to any Planet that is in play. If there is no Planet in play, the Adversaries are moved to the Federation Reserve.

A captured Crewmember otherwise remains in play until destroyed by the Planet it is on being destroyed, or by a card or Action.

Core Crewmember Deaths

If a Core Crewmember card is destroyed, the card is not placed in the discard pile but in a separate Kill pile. The card does not re-enter play except if a card specifies otherwise. Destroyed Ally Crewmembers are laced in the discard pile as normal.

Space Combat

Space Combat occurs between the Blake's 7 Player's ship and any Pursuit Ships at the same location. It can be initiated by a card, or as an Action by either player in that player's turn.

The first step in resolving the combat is to total whilst the Space Combat Value of all Pursuit Ships and of any one Federation Adversary (nominated by the Federation Player) attached to a Pursuit Ship (that is one Federation Adversary for the entire fleet, not one per ship). The total is the amount of Damage inflicted on the Blake's 7 Player's ship. The Blake's 7 Player then must either reduce that Damage to a number below the Space Combat Value of the Blake's 7 Player's ship or destroy that ship.

The Blake's 7 Player may reduce the Space Combat Damage in any combination of the following three ways:

• By discarding cards from the player's hand. For each card discarded, the Damage is reduced by 1, unless the card otherwise states;
• By destroying Force Wall cards. For each Force Wall card destroyed the Damage is reduced by 2; or
• By announcing the destruction of Crewmembers on board the Blake's 7 Player's ship. For each Crewmember destroyed, the Damage is reduced by the Space Combat Value of the Crewmember (or by 1 if that is greater).

If the Blake's 7 Player's ship survives the Space Combat, it returns fire and inflicts Damage on the Pursuit Ships equal to the total of the Space Combat Value of the Blake's 7 Player's ship and of any one Crewmember nominated by the Blake's 7 Player who is aboard the ship. The Federation Player then must either reduce that Damage to a number below the lowest Space Combat Value of the Pursuit Ships or destroy all Pursuit Ships involved in the Combat, along with all their attachments.

The Federation Player may reduce Space Combat Damage in any combination of the following three ways:

• By discarding cards from the player's hand. For each card discarded, the Damage is reduced by 1;
• By announcing the destruction of Federation Adversaries on board the Pursuit Ships involved in the combat. For each Adversary destroyed, the Damage is reduced by the Space Combat Value of the Crewmember (or by 1 if that is greater); or
• By announcing the destruction of any Pursuit Ships involved in the combat. For each Pursuit Ship destroyed, the Damage is reduced by the Space Combat Value of the Pursuit Ship.

Blake's 7 Player Ships

If the Liberator card is destroyed, the card remains out of the game. When this occurs, destroy any Planet in play, destroying with it any captured Crewmembers (but not Federation or Independent Adversaries, which remain in play). Player immediately receives and plays the Xenon Base and Scorpio cards. All non-captured Crewmembers are immediately placed on Xenon Base.

If the Liberator is in Deep Space and there are no Adversaries aboard, the Blake's 7 Player may choose to abandon the Liberator. The Liberator card is destroyed and the card remains out of the game. The player immediately receives and plays the Xenon Base and Scorpio cards. All Crewmembers are immediately placed on Xenon Base. The player then receives two Core Crewmembers of the player's choice from the discard and/or the draw pile. If there are not two or more Core Crewmembers in the discard and/or draw piles, the player draws at random from the Kill Pile to make up the deficiency. The two Core Crewmembers are received by the player and immediately played on Xenon Base.

Crew Limits

The Blake's 7 Player may never have more than 6 Core Crewmembers or more than 1 Ally Crewmember on board a ship simultaneously. There is no limit to the number of Crewmembers of any type that may be simultaneously on a Planet.

Planets

A Planet can only be played if there is currently no Planet in play. An Action on a Planet may only be taken by the Blake's 7 Player, and only if there are one or more Crewmembers on that Planet. Once a Planet's Action is taken, it cannot be taken again until after the Planet has been destroyed and played again later in the game.

Core Planets

As an Action, the Federation Player may move to any Core Planet either any number of Federation Adversary cards that are not attached to Pursuit Ships, or any number of Pursuit Ships and their attachments.

Special Cards

The Blake's 7 Player cards that are have asterixes in the corner are Special Cards. A Special Card does not start in the draw deck but in a separate Special pile. Special cards are introduced into play by other cards or special rules. If a Special Card other than a ship is destroyed, then unless otherwise indicated by a card, it is placed in the discard pile as for any other card, and can later be drawn again as normal.

Traitorous and Double Agent Allies

If an Ally Crewmember becomes a Federation Adversary or an Independent Adversary through the play of the Federation Double Agent or Traitor! Cards (respectively), the Ally in question has all the properties of a card of that type, including the ability to be moved. If an Independent Adversary, the Ally card is deemed to state the following:

Action: Move, with all attachments, to any Inner or Outer Planet. May make an immediate attack on any crew on that planet.

If destroyed, the Ally card loses its property as an Adversary, and is placed in the Blake's 7 Player's discard pile as per normal. It may latter be drawn again as a normal Ally Crewmember.