Win the orbit.
Hold the ground.
A fast, plain-language walkthrough of a full game — built around the v2.3.1 rulebook and the v1.3 errata you already have. Read it top to bottom once and you can play. Your two home factions lead the primers near the end, with the other four right behind them.
What you're actually fighting for
Dropfleet is not a "kill everything" game — it's a game about objectives.
Two (or more) fleets of spaceships battle above a war-torn planet. Destroying enemy ships matters, but you mainly win by controlling Dropsites — the Space Stations and Cities on the board — by dropping ground troops (Battalions) onto them. At set rounds the game scores Victory Points for the Dropsites you hold, plus whatever extra objectives your scenario and your two chosen Secondary Objectives award.
Games run 6 rounds. Most scoring happens in the End Phase of rounds 4 and 6. Highest Victory Points wins; ties are broken by Kill Points (total points of ships and admirals you destroyed). So a balanced fleet that can fight and deliver troops beats a pure killing machine.
The five ideas to learn first
Internalise these before anything else — the whole game leans on them.
1 · Orbital Layers. Ships sit in one of two heights. A ship may change layer only once per activation. Most fighting happens in Orbit; you drop into Atmosphere to reach Cities, but it's slow and exposed.
Orbit
Where ships start and fight. Scenery (debris, rings, moons) lives here and blocks/penalises shooting.
Atmosphere
Move max 2". Non-Descent ships take D3 damage at end of activation (Colossal 2D3). Shots at a non-Descent ship here take −1 Lock; shots at a City or Descent ship only hit on 6+ (no crits).
2 · Groups & Coherency. You buy and move ships in Groups. Ships in a group act together and must stay within Coherency range (3" for Light ships, 6" otherwise). A group in coherency gets Formation Benefits — a 6+ Backup save, ignoring some crippling effects, and measuring range/arcs from one chosen Lead Ship. Out of coherency, a ship can't shoot or launch.
3 · Spikes & Signature. A ship's Signature is how far away it can be shot (range = attacker's Scan + target's Signature). Combat throws off Spikes — each Spike adds 3" to a group's Signature, making it easier to target. Orders like Silent Running shed Spikes; aggressive orders pile them on. Managing your visibility is a real skill.
4 · Tonnage. Ships are Light (L), Medium (M), Heavy (H), or Colossal (C). M/H/C are Capital Ships. Tonnage drives fleet-building limits, explosions, crippling, and many weapon rules (Calibre).
5 · Arcs & the stat bar. Weapons only fire in their arc (Front/Side/Rear, narrow spinal, or Broadside). Learn to read a ship's stat bar: Thrust, Scan, Sig, Hull, Energy/Kinetic/Backup saves, Group size, and Special rules.
Building a fleet
Pick a points total, then balance your tonnages.
Game sizes
- Skirmish · 501–1000 pts · max 16 Groups
- Clash · 1001–2000 pts · max 20 Groups
- Battle · 2001–3000 pts · max 24 Groups
- Reconquest · 3001+ pts · 28 Groups (+4 per extra 1000)
A Clash (~1500 pts) is the sweet spot for learning.
Tonnage limits
- Medium ships are your backbone and set the budget.
- Light: up to the combined points of your Medium + Heavy ships.
- Heavy: no more points than your Medium ships.
- Colossal: 0 in Skirmish, 1 in Clash, 2 in Battle, 3 in Reconquest.
You also pick two Secondary Objectives at fleet-build (e.g. Annihilate, Take Prizes, Decapitate). At game's end you score from one of them. Declare any that require nominating a target before round 1.
The shape of a round
Four phases, always in this order. Repeat for 6 rounds.
Planning
- Generate Ability Points. Each player gains 1 AP plus their highest on-table Admiral's Level. Apply any AP-altering rules first — and spend it this round, as it's lost at the end.
- Generate Pass tokens. If you have 2+ fewer Groups than the busiest player, gain a Pass token (and one more for each further Group fewer) to keep activations even.
- Roll for Initiative. Each player rolls a D6; highest takes 1st initiative (the top-Level admiral on the table adds +1). The order holds all round, but the 1st player may reverse it at the start of any one phase.
Activation
- Alternate activations. Beginning with 1st initiative, players take turns activating a single Group — or spending a Pass token to skip — until every Group has gone.
- Order, then act. The active Group picks exactly one Order and fully resolves it in sequence (turn, move, attack, then launch assets) before play passes to the opponent.
- Activate Dropsites. Once all Groups are done, players alternate firing weapons / launching assets from each Dropsite they Control (not Contest), then from any Features they dropped in.
Asset
- Battalion Combat. Wherever two sides share a Dropsite or ship, Battalions are removed equally until only one side remains — so stacking numbers wins the ground.
- Boarding Actions. Battalions delivered aboard enemy ships & Space Stations (by Boarding Pods) fight it out; defending Marines remove attackers first.
- Asset Combat. Persisting craft act in strict order — Fighters dogfight, then Bombers pool onto a target, then Torpedoes strike — with 1st initiative acting first at each step. (Mines wait and trigger on movement.)
End
- Repair. Fire tokens deal their damage first, then roll 1D6 per repairable crippling effect — a 4+ clears one (Orbital Decay needs 6+). A Damage Control order adds extra dice here.
- Score Victory Points. Tally VP per the scenario for the Dropsites you hold and objectives you've met — most scoring lands in the End Phase of rounds 4 & 6.
- Cleanup. Remove all Activation tokens and end any "until end of round" effects. Then the round is over — start the next one.
The whole game lives in that alternating activation rhythm: you only commit one Group at a time, so you can react to what your opponent just did, bait them into moving first, and save key Groups for last. Choosing whether to reverse a phase (going last to get the final word, or first to grab a Dropsite) and spending Pass tokens wisely is where much of the skill sits.
Orders — what a group does on its turn
When a Group activates you pick exactly one Order. It dictates move, fire, and Spikes.
| Order | Move | Shooting | Spikes |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Quarters | Turn 45°, move half–full | Up to half your weapons (round up) | −2 |
| Silent Running | No turn, move half–full | None (Stealth lets one fire) | all removed |
| Weapons Free | No turn, move half–full | Any number of weapons | +2 |
| Course Change | Turn 45°, move ≤half, turn 45° again | One weapon only | +1 |
| Max Thrust | No turn, move full–double | None | +2 |
| Damage Control | Turn 45°, move ≤half | One Close Action weapon | — |
How an attack resolves
Same seven steps every time you shoot.
- Determine targets. Enemy group or a Dropsite you don't control, in range (Scan + target Sig), in arc, and in line of sight. Targeting one ship targets the whole group.
- Assign weapons. Pick a target for every weapon you're firing before any dice are rolled.
- Roll to hit. Roll each weapon's Attack dice. A result ≥ its Lock is a hit. A result 2 or more above Lock is also a critical — crits do nothing alone but power many special rules.
- Roll to save. Defender rolls per hit. Energy (E) uses the Energy save, Kinetic (K) the Kinetic save, Core (C) can't be stopped except by Shield or Backup. Backup saves apply after a failed normal save.
- Inflict damage. Surviving hits × weapon Damage = damage. It hits the group's most-wounded ship first. Saves block hits, never damage directly.
- Roll for Crippling Effects. First time a Capital Ship drops below half Hull, roll 2D6 on the crippling table (fire, systems offline, etc.). Once per ship.
- Roll for Explosion. A destroyed Capital Ship rolls 1D6 — outcomes range from a quiet burn-up to a foldspace catastrophe damaging everything nearby. Heavy +1, Colossal +2 to the roll.
The ground game — assets, battalions & dropsites
This is where games are usually won.
Launching assets. Carriers launch small craft up to their Launch value, within 6" (or a craft's stated range). Some assets deliver troops:
- Bulk Landers → drop Battalions on Dropsites on any layer (2 needed per Battalion if enemies hold it).
- Dropships → Dropsites on the same layer (3").
- Drop Pods → Cities (3").
- Boarding Pods → enemy ships & Space Stations.
Fighters/Bombers/Torpedoes persist on the board and fight in the Asset Phase. Fighters also give Close Protection re-rolls against Close Action & Bomber attacks.
Controlling Dropsites. You Control a Dropsite if only you have Battalions/Features on it; you Contest it if you and an enemy both do. In the Asset Phase, opposing Battalions on the same Dropsite cancel out equally — so stacking numbers wins ground.
Features (Military Outpost, Orbital Defence Gun, Comms Station, Power Plant, Hangar) give a Dropsite better saves, weapons, or bonus AP. You can destroy a Feature instead of dealing 4 damage to the Dropsite.
Scoring. Larger Dropsites are worth more (Large = 4 VP controlled). Some scenarios reward Razing (destroying) far Dropsites or Surveying them with a capital ship instead.
Faction primer · Bioficer
Ancient AI fleshcrafters who revel in the kill. Aggressive, modular, close-range.
Playstyle
- In-your-face energy weapons. Lightvice, Bisector and Scythe weapons want to be close, often with Focused, Reave, Fusillade and lots of Bloom (so expect to glow with Spikes).
- Crit-fishing. Reave and Critical rules turn your many critical hits into save-shredding, high-damage strikes — push Lock down and volume up.
- "Cells". Smaller ships use Limited Aegis Bandwidth to pool Aegis defence across the swarm, and Summoner Cells teleport your fighter/bomber wings around.
Signature tricks
- AP abilities: Precision Strike (boost a weapon's Lock), Forcing an Unfair Fight (flood a Dropsite with bonus Battalions), Unsportsmanlike Behaviour (hoard AP into next round).
- Genitor Tower Feature respawns your Battalions whenever enemy Battalions on its Dropsite are removed — superb for grinding ground holds.
- Godray Lightvice flagship guns hit hard both anti-ship and as bombardment.
Faction primer · Resistance
Scrappy survivors in patched-together hulls. Durable, attritional, full of dirty tricks.
Playstyle
- Refuse to die. Duct Tape and Bubblegum keeps destroyed ships fighting until the End Phase; Redundant Ship Systems softens crippling rolls. You out-last opponents rather than out-gun them.
- Modular ships. Cruisers and Dreadnoughts pick hardpoints from a systems list — build them for guns, artillery, or carriers as the mission needs.
- Artillery & bombardment. Vent Cannons and Artillery Cannons reward patient positioning; Telescope tokens (Galileo) make criticals easier to land.
Signature tricks
- AP abilities: Sabotage (core-hit an enemy Dropsite from range), Never Tell Me The Odds (ignore scenery dangers), Manic Repairs & cheap Final Mission.
- Box of Scraps (Triumvir) cheats a ship out of one death; Repair Bay heals nearby friends.
- Subsystem Network / Linked-SSN (Engineer) links two same-name weapons to fire as one — concentrate fire on Medium hulls.
- Typhoon Vasquez's Artillery Strike turns Artillery weapons' damage into unstoppable Core hits.
Faction primer · UCM
The United Colonies of Mankind: an honest, well-rounded human gunline — armour, mass drivers, and the best anti-air net in the game.
Playstyle
- Point your guns and hold. A disciplined mid-speed battle line (Thrust 6–8") of mass drivers and Cobra/Python lasers, with the best Kinetic saves in the game (KS 3+ almost everywhere) and Backup on capitals.
- Weapons Free pays off. The most Fusillade in the game means going Weapons Free spikes your volume hard; Burnthrough / Focused lasers and Penetrator torpedoes punch through armour.
- No tricks, no Reave. It can't crit-shred saves, so against very tanky hulls you lean on raw volume and Penetrator — forgiving and beginner-friendly.
Signature tricks
- Aegis umbrella. By far the most Aegis, plus an Aegis-4 Platform Feature — the premier anti-fighter/bomber faction. Intensify Point-Defence buffs a group's Aegis further.
- Defence & ground abilities: Next-Gen Armour Plating re-rolls failed Energy saves, Atmospheric Bombing Run gives Bombers the Bombardment rule, Colonial Legions replaces a lost Battalion.
- Three Features (Aegis, Comms, Torpedo Platforms) fortify a Dropsite. Famous admirals like Tayne (a Warsaw Heavy Cruiser) push the engines for aggressive bursts.
Faction primer · Scourge
Parasitic invaders: fast, fragile ambushers that close to knife range, erase a target, and vanish.
Playstyle
- Hide, then strike. Fast (Thrust 8–12") and cloaked — Cloak caps your Spikes and Stealth lets you fire while Silent Running. Stay invisible until you pounce.
- Scald everything. Within Scan range your guns systematically strip enemy Energy/Kinetic saves — Scald appears far more than on any other fleet — backed by the most Close Action and Crippling-Fire. Kill, burn and cripple in one pass.
- Glass cannon. Many hulls are Hull 2–4 with 5+/6+ saves and no Backup. Caught in the open, or pushed out of Scan range (where Scald switches off), you fold fast.
Signature tricks
- AP abilities: Abandon all Hope makes an opponent discard AP; Augmentations swaps a carrier's Bulk Landers for an Orbital Defence Gun; For the Species turns a crippled ship into a suicide bomb.
- Impetuous — your guns lock faster when you strike first, rewarding the ambush.
- Reaving Gaze / Oculus Booster convert Scald into Reave; Energy Siphon (the Parasite) and Corruptor torpedoes round out the kit.
Faction primer · PHR
The Post-Human Republic: elite, slow, hard-to-kill ships that hit with surgical accuracy and shut down your toys before you use them.
Playstyle
- The patient anvil. Battleships move 6", but Hull 22 capitals with Energy saves of 3+ (2+ on the Hull-25 Dreadnoughts), Backup 5+, Reinforced Armour and Regenerate make them a brick.
- Surgical guns. Calibre is the signature keyword — +1 Lock against tuned tonnages — paired with the most Volley and Penetrator (criticals become unstoppable Core hits).
- Soft angle: Kinetic. Kinetic saves (4+/5+) lag the Energy saves, and those huge hulls can be out-manoeuvred for objectives.
Signature tricks
- The Hacks: Countermeasures Hack strips a target's Backup/Aegis/Fighter protection, Weapons Hack punishes their attack dice, Drive Hack can lock a group out of Course Change and Max Thrust.
- Ship of the Line lets Broadside Fusillade weapons fire at full value on any order.
- Features (Shield Platform, Scanner Tower, Heavy Calibre Orbital Gun) mount onto carrying ships; Descent strike carriers (plus a Stealthed corvette) creep into Atmosphere. Energy Glaive, Dark Matter and Apocalypse Cannons do the hitting.
Faction primer · Shaltari
Hyper-advanced aliens: mobile glass skirmishers that defend with energy shields instead of armour and teleport troops around the board.
Playstyle
- Shields, not armour. Printed Energy saves look weak (often 5+) because the real defence is Shield-X: a save against any damage type — including Core — that ignores modifiers, at the cost of a Spike each use.
- Fast and crit-hungry. Thrust 8–12" (up to 20" on light craft), Vectored and Vanguard everywhere. It crit-fishes with Reave and Volley, and is the only fleet with Impel to shove and spin enemy ships out of position.
- Paper hulls. Many ships are Hull 4–9 with no Backup; once Shields are stretched (each use feeds a Spike) it dies quickly. Core hits hurt most.
Signature tricks
- Teleport logistics: Gateship/Mothership chains launch Dropships across the board, and Voidgate Redeployment shuttles Battalions between Gateship-linked Dropsites.
- AP abilities: Lives of Experience copies an ability from any other admiral on the table; Power to the Weapons fires a group's full armament on General Quarters (but no Shields that round).
- Wild Features — Stellargate, Electrosurge Torus, Worldstrider — plus Gravity Coil, Ion Storm, Disintegrator and Microwave weapons.
Your first game
A short checklist to get models on the table.
Bring the basics
- A Fleet Carrier & Troopship to deliver troops
- A Cruiser or two for firepower
- Strike Carriers + combat Frigates
- One support Frigate
Don't forget
- Spend AP every round — it doesn't carry over
- Drop troops early; ground holds take rounds to win
- Watch your Spikes before going Weapons Free
- Score happens on rounds 4 & 6 — be in position
When in doubt
- A special rule always beats a core rule
- Unsure & can't agree? Roll a D6: 1–3 one way, 4–6 the other
- Every term you don't know is in the Fleet Databank