Starling and Fenris decide to play BattleCards. They rock-paper-scissors, Fenris wins because he knows Starling always picks good ol’ rock, and he chooses to go first. They each put ten pennies in front of them, representing each base’s ten hit points, and draw cards to start the game:
Fenris: A, 2, 8, 10, J, K
Starling: 2, Joker, 5, 5, 7, 8, Q, K (Note: two extra cards for going second)
Turn One: Fenris
Fenris has six cards and thus doesn’t need to draw any during his draw phase.
He has no ships in play, so has no upgrade phase.
During his deployment phase, he lays his King down in front of him.
During his attack phase his King can’t do anything, but he plays his 10 card as this turn’s attack card. Starling has no ships in play to block it, and no Ace to negate it, so her base takes three points of damage and is down to seven. The 10 card is placed in the discard pile, and Starling separates three of her pennies to represent the damage.
During his discard phase Fenris sees that he only has one ship in play right now, and thus next turn can’t use more than one upgrade. He keeps the 2 and discards the 8. He now has A, 2, J in his hand.
Turn One: Starling
Now it’s Starling’s turn. She still has more than six cards, so she doesn’t have to draw any.
She has no ships, so she doesn’t upgrade.
For deployment, she lays down her King.
Now it’s time for Starling to attack, and while her ship can’t do anything, she plays one of the 5 (megamissile) cards in her hand. Fenris has a ship in play, but rather than lose it or have his base take damage, however, Fenris plays his Ace (time travel commandos) — even though it’s not Fenris’s turn the Ace is an anytime card so he can do that. The Ace negates the 5 and both are put in the discard pile.
Starling can now discard. But this turn hasn’t been very good news, so to cheer herself up she first decides to play her Joker (it’s an anytime card). That repairs three points of damage to her base, bringing her back up to ten, the maximum. She then discards, choosing to get rid of the 7 and the 8 that she knows she won’t be able to use next turn. She now has 2, 5, Q in her hand.
Turn Two: Fenris
Fenris’s holding three cards, so he draws three to bring himself back up to six. He already had 2 and a J, and he draws an A, 4, 5, and Q.
He has a ship in play, so he can upgrade. Since the only upgrade in his hand is the 2, it’s an easy choice, and he places the 2 under the King card, with it sticking out a little so it’s clear that they’re connected. The King (dreadnaught) still can’t attack, but it now has a defense value of 1 and it’s protected from attack cards.
Now it’s deployment time. Again this is an easy choice, since he only has a Queen (cruiser). He lays it down next to the King.
It would be time to attack now, but Fenris has a plan. He throws down his 4 (cloaked mine), playing it before his attack phase, and using it on Starling’s King (dreadnaught). Since the 4 is an anytime card, Fenris can do that, and because Starling’s ship has a defense value of zero, it’s susceptible to an 4. Fenris’s 4 and Starling’s King both go to the discard pile.
Now Fenris declares his attack phase. His ship still has an attack value of zero, but he throws down his 5. Because there’s no ship in the way now, Starling’s base takes a point of damage, and is back down to 9 total.
He ends his turn holding an A, J, discarding neither.
Turn Two: Starling
Starling’s holding three cards, so she draws three to bring herself back up to six. She already had 2, 5, Q, and she draws A, A, 4. That’s a lot of anytime cards!
Fenris destroyed her ship, so there’s nothing to upgrade. That 2 (shield) she saved isn’t very useful where there’s nothing left to use it on!
Now it’s her deployment phase. She lays down her Queen (cruiser). But not content with that she plays an Ace so that she can also upgrade that new ship with the 2 (shield).
Now would be her attack phase. But first, she’s taking a cue from her opponent, and playing the 4 (cloaked mine) to destroy Fenris’s Queen (cruiser). She can’t harm Fenris’s King (dreadnaught) with it because it has a 2 (shield) upgrade, and thus a defense value of one (which is greater than zero). Fenris, however, plays his Ace to negate the 4. Starling, not to be outdone, plays her last remaining Ace to negate Fenris’s Ace, meaning that the 4 goes through. Fenris’s Queen and Ace and Starling’s 4 and Ace all go to the discard pile.
Now, finally, for the actual attack. Starling’s ship has an attack value of zero, so it can’t do much. However, she has a 5 (megamissile) and plays that. Fenris’s only remaining ship is his King (dreadnaught), which has a 2 (shield) which means it can withstand this attack. Fenris blocks the megamissile with his ship, so Starling’s 5 and the 2 connected to Fenris’s King both go to the discard pile — the King itself does not.
Starling doesn’t have any cards left, so there’s nothing to discard.