StarCraft Tabletop Miniatures Game Rules

Bring the interstellar war to your table!

Unlike traditional board games, the key element of wargames is the effort to faithfully recreate the realities of the battlefield. Gameplay is based on strategic and tactical thinking, adapting to changing conditions on the battlefield, and making difficult decisions in real time. To achieve this, wargames employ complex mechanics and rules that shape players’ decisions and influence the behaviour of units on the table.

StarCraft: Tabletop Miniatures Game from Archon Studio is a carefully designed ecosystem that goes beyond the scope of a typical wargame. The game brings the essence of real-time strategy (RTS) straight to your table, retaining its dynamism and style. You can immediately feel the familiar rhythm, from the asymmetry of the factions, considering the technological might of the Protoss, the flexibility of the Terrans, and the overwhelming numbers of the Zerg, right through to the necessity of managing the resources so vital to building your own army. Here, you are not a passive player, but become a leader managing the escalation of the conflict. Your units appear on the battlefield supported by technology from the tactical cards, which you manage by deciding when you want to play them. By controlling the course of the battle, you earn victory points by completing the objectives of the selected mission, striving for dominance on the battlefield.

Features of the game that really set it apart from other combat systems:

• Alternating Activations:

Instead of one player moving their entire army at once, players take turns activating one unit at a time until all eligible units have acted.

• Dynamic Supply System:

A unit's Supply value represents its battlefield presence and drops immediately as the unit loses models. This value dictates how many units you can have on the field at one time, and their ability to hold objectives.

• Reserves-Based Deployment:

Units do not start on the table. All units begin in Reserves and must be deployed onto the battlefield during the game based on the player's available Supply Pool.

• The Surge Mechanic:

Weapons have specific Surge Types (e.g., Light, Armoured). If the target's Combat Tag matches this type, an amount of successfully surged hits bypass the opponent's Armour Save entirely, promoting counterplay.

• Strategic Passing:

The first player to "Pass" (stop acting) in a phase immediately claims the First Player Marker, letting them decide who gets the first activation in the next phase.

• Objective Control by Supply:

Control of Mission Markers is determined by summing the Current Supply Value of units within 3", rather than counting the number of physical models.

• Draft System:

Before the game begins, players use a card draft system to veto and select specific Mission and Deployment cards, preventing one-sided matchups.

• Dual Resource Economy:

Army lists are built using two separate budgets: Minerals are spent on recruiting Units, while Vespene Gas is spent exclusively on tactical cards.

The Supply System

Let’s take a moment to look at the Supply mechanic. Most wargames begin by deploying all forces onto the table. StarCraft changes this. The Supply mechanic limits the current size of the army deployed on the table and the constant flow of reinforcements from the reserves.

Your army starts in reserve. It is up to you to decide when and where to deploy units, reacting to your opponent’s moves. Each scenario specifies a starting Supply level, which increases each round.

A unit’s current Supply value depends on the number of models remaining in it. When you lose units, you ‘free up’ space in the pool, allowing you to immediately call in new reinforcements from the reserves.

The Supply management system is at the heart of the game’s strategic layer. Every unit loss carries consequences that can turn into an opportunity to deploy models more needed at that moment onto the battlefield.

Initiative Strategy

A standard game lasts 5 rounds. Players alternate activating their units and performing the actions available in each phase. Activating units on the table adds a significant layer of gameplay and influences the decisions players make in an interesting way. They must react and immediately adapt their tactics to the changing situation on the battlefield. The key to success is understanding the mechanics of passing. Passing is a powerful tool. Sometimes it is worth passing during the Movement Phase to allow the opponent to deploy, but in doing so, you gain the right to the first strike in the Assault Phase.

Combat Mechanics

Combat in StarCraft: Tabletop Miniatures Game is highly dynamic, but requires a tactical approach. The sequence is as follows. You generate dice for the Attack Pool. You roll for a Hit.The defender then rolls the dice to see if their Armour characteristic will block the attack. Each successful defence removes an attack die. Additionally, the defender may use abilities to gain an extra Evade roll. Any hits that are not blocked in this way inflict damage.

The game’s Surge mechanic adds individual characteristics to the weapon used by your units during an attack. If the target’s type matches the weapon’s Surge Type (e.g. Light, Armoured), you roll an S Die. The result indicates how many dice from the attack pool immediately bypass armour and go into the Damage Pool.

Designing Victory: StarCraft TMG Command Center

Welcome to the Command Center. At Archon Studio, we know that passion for the StarCraft universe is best expressed through the creativity of the players themselves. That is why we are putting a tool in your hands that goes beyond standard battle game scenarios. Every player can now become an architect of the battlefield in the Koprulu Sector. The interface available in the Command Center app allows you to transform theoretical ideas into playable maps, giving players full control over the dynamics of battles in StarCraft TMG.

First Steps for Recruits

Before a player, as a prospective recruit, can start using the Command Centre, they must complete an authorisation process. Their email address will be registered, and the system will send a secure link to set a new password. This is a key element of the security protocol, ensuring that the player’s operational plans do not fall into enemy hands.

The Command Centre eschews standard technical jargon in favour of thematic elements that enhance the player’s immersion in the StarCraft universe. In this environment, you are not a ‘user’ or an ‘account holder’. You are a ‘new recruit’. Once you have entered your login details, the system will begin synchronising your local projects with the Archon Studio global database.

The main interface consists of three specialised modules:

• The Game: this is where players can familiarise themselves with the rules of the game, unit details, and browse the cards of their chosen faction and its tactical cards.

• Tools of War: the main design office. It contains map editor, a mission objective generator, and unit deployment plans to be set before the game begins. It serves as a hub for strategic discussion, where players can publish their designs and test maps created by other veterans.

• Community: this section contains information on planned events, meetings, tests and all kinds of player activities.

Creating Maps and Missions

The application will help you create a mission worthy of the greatest, legendary battles between the Terrans, Zerg and Protoss. The player defines the dimensions and background of the battlefield, and then applies a tactical grid to it in accordance with StarCraft TMG standards. This affects the aesthetics and clarity of the terrain elements. Next, they place terrain elements available in the system library. After these steps, they can sit back and plan the mission scenario, its objectives and duration, ensuring it is consistent with the victory point mechanics in StarCraft TMG.

Determining Army Deployment Areas

The true balance of a map is revealed by how it manages space. When designing drop zones and Entry Edges, ensure symmetry in the distance to key strategic points. When laying out the terrain, use obstacles to block Line of Sight, allowing melee units to approach the enemy more safely. Well designed starting points should offer natural protection in the early stages of the game, whilst also forcing players to leave their base to gain control of the map.

The evolution of the Command Centre depends on the cooperation of recruits. The Tools of War module is used to publish players’ creations; by sharing their maps, they allow others to evaluate them in terms of the playability of different factions.

And so, after this brief introduction, you’re ready to sit down at your system’s desktop and create a mission ready to be uploaded, where it will bring an epic StarCraft TMG adventure to life. We encourage you to explore the capabilities of the Command Centre, experiment with unit deployment, and create battles that will go down in the history of the Koprulu Sector.

The Strategic Depth of the Koprulu Sector

StarCraft: Tabletop Miniatures Game is a game of quantifiable risks. Every choice, from whether to use a Move action to secure a charge in the next round, to the moment you spend resources on a key tactical card, brings you closer to dominance or defeat on the battlefield. The Supply system ensures the conflict evolves, and you must adapt to the changing ‘tactical mass’ on the table.

If you’re interested in the game mechanics and want to see how it all works in practice, be sure to check out the How to Play video:

It’s a great starting point for understanding the rules, the pace of play and key tactical decisions, before you even sit down for your first game.The Koprulu Sector awaits. Do you have the discipline to hold the line, or will you opt to go in with a merciless swarm? The choice is yours.

GOOD LUCK, COMMANDER. SEE YOU ON THE BATTLEFIELD.