Rules of play

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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)

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