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© 2015 GMT Games, LLC
RULES OF PLAY
© 2015 GMT Games, LLC • P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308 • www.GMTGames.com
1. Background ......................................................... 2
2. Components ........................................................ 2
3. Sequence of Play ................................................. 3
4. The Impulse Display and Initiative ..................... 4
5. Ships .................................................................... 4
6. Power .................................................................. 6
7. Movement and Turning ....................................... 7
8. Firing ................................................................... 8
9. The Power Phase ................................................. 9
10. Batteries and Afterburners .................................. 10
Advanced Rules ........................................................... 10
11. Retreating from Battle ......................................... 10
12. Fighters ............................................................... 10
13. Missiles ............................................................... 11
14. Bases ................................................................... 12
15. The Big Guns ...................................................... 12
16. Docking and Landing .......................................... 13
17. Terrain ................................................................. 13
18. Black Holes ......................................................... 15
19. Worm Holes ........................................................ 15
Designer Notes ............................................................. 15
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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© 2015 GMT Games, LLC
2. COMPONENTS
2.1 Component List
A complete game of Talon includes the following:
• 1 and a half mounted mapboards
• 3 sheets of ship and planet counters
• 1 half-sheet of information markers
• 1 Impulse/Round Display
• 1 Empire War Map Display
• 2 identical Player Aid Cards
• 1 pad of Fleet Logsheets
• 2 dry erase markers
• This rule booklet
• 1 Play Book
• Two 6-sided dice
2.2 Board
The game includes a single mounted board and a smaller extension
board that is used to expand the board as necessary.
2.3 Ship Counters
The ships in the game are represented by large hexagonal counters.
The ships with a blue background belong to the Terran Confedera-
tion; the ships with a red background belong to the Talon Empire.
2.4 The Impulse Track
Keep track of the current round and Impulse with the Impulse Track.
This display is explained in full in section 4.
2.5 The Empire War Map Display
Used in Empire War mode, see Play Book (section 15).
2.6 The Player Aid Cards
Two identical player aid cards are provided that contain important
ship information and firing tables.
1. BACKGROUND
Long hampered by cost and beset by international problems, real
space exploration did not seem possible for humanity. Amazing
technological breakthroughs would change all of that in the year
2112. The invention of the Near Faster Than Light (NFTL) drive
would make it possible for large ships to move easily in and out of
a planet’s gravity well, and to travel quickly within the confines of
a solar system. Ten years later, the perfecting of Faster Than Light
(FTL) drive would turn the galaxy into an open canvas. United by
a common purpose, the newly formed Terran Confederation began
to paint their picture.
Expansion led to colonies, research stations, and even more techno-
logical discoveries, but it also led to the realization that they were
not alone. Although no sentient alien species had been encountered,
long range scanners had picked up the distinctive signatures of FTL
drives. Sentient races must exist… and they must be space faring.
Terran expansion stopped.
Not knowing what to expect, a period of consolidation followed
which emphasized defensive technologies and fleet building. First
contact was made by the people of Earth with this unknown race in
2227. Over time, they would eventually call these other-worlders
the Talon. It was a shortening of the alien sounds that made up their
name but it was also oddly prophetic—the Talon Empire swooped
in very much like a raptor upon the fledgling Terran Confederation.
The Talon BC has 3 Weapon Groups. It has a Missile weapon group
with 3 Missile launchers and 2 Red boxes in the charge bar, a single
Disruptor Weapon group that only has a forward firing arc, and a
double Disruptor Weapon Group that may fire forward, left or right,
as indicated by the white arrows around the Weapon icons. The
Fire Arc of Weapons Group (5.3.1)
Individual Weapons in a Group (2.10)
Right-side Shields (5.3.2)
Write ship’s Turn Radius here (5.4.2)
Afterburner (10.2)
Power Modifier (8.4.2)
Critical Hull Box (8.4.3)
Forward Shields (5.3.2)
Ship Class (5.2) and Name
Charge Bar (4 yellow and 1 red, 8.1)
Write ship’s Power here (5.4.2)
Write ship’s Speed here (5.4.2)
Hull Box (8.4.1)
Rear Shields
Disruptor Weapon Group on the left has 1 Red box and 4 Yellow
boxes in its Charge Bar. The Disruptor Weapon Group on the right
has 1 Red box and 2 Yellow boxes in its Charge Bar. This Talon
ship has 2 Afterburners and 2 Critical Hull Boxes.
Abbreviations and acronyms —The following abbreviations
and acronyms are used in these rules:
AP = Available Power
FTL = Faster Than Light
NFTL = Near Faster Than Light
BB, CA, FTR, etc. = see Hull Designations (5.2)