StarCraft: The Board Game

Combat is conducted by the use of the Mobilise Order. In combat, each attacking unit is paired with a defending unit in a skirmish; if the sides are unequal, the excess are assigned to supporting a primary attacker or defender in a skirmish (certain units, however, are always supporters, and cannot be a primary attacker or defender unless all other units on the same side are supporters). After skirmishes are determined, each player must play a Combat Card from their hand face down, with (optionally) a Reinforcement Card, a special type of Combat Card, for each skirmish. A player may also choose to place a Combat Card from the top of their Combat Card Deck in lieu of placing a card from their hand, though in exchange they may not play a Reinforcement Card.

Combat Cards provide the base Strength and Health values for a unit, which is enhanced by supporters, effects on Combat and Reinforcement Cards, and other effects. When both attacker and defender have placed their cards face-down, they are simultaneously revealed, with the attacker choosing which skirmish to be revealed and played out first, (and any Reinforcement Cards without Combat Cards, which may occur if a player places a card from their Combat Card Deck, are discarded and replaced with Combat Cards), and the Strength and Health values of the units are compared. If the Strength value of the primary unit matches or exceeds the Health of the value of the opposing primary unit, the opposing unit is destroyed. Note that, as in the video game, combat outcomes is subject to the type of the unit involved: for example, certain ground units may be unable to attack air units, in which case the unit may not lend its support if it is unable to attack the opponent's primary unit. Similarly, supporting units may be destroyed in place of the primary unit if the opposing primary unit is unable to target the player's own primary unit.

Certain units are also given various combat-related capabilities: for example, units with a Cloaking ability retreat instead of being destroyed, unless in the presence of a unit with a Detector ability. After all skirmishes are resolved, and if any defenders remain, the attackers must retreat their units to another territory. If the attackers are victorious, they claim control of the contested territory, and, during the Regrouping Phase, destroy the defeated player's base and take the territory's Resource Card (if any) from the defeated player.

Like the video game, there are two primary Resources in StarCraft: The Board Game: minerals and Vespene gas. To spend Resources, workers must be sent to harvest them. Each player has a "permanent supply" that cannot be affected by other players, and players may expand to regions that produce Resources. Regions on the game board may be "force-mined" by assigning more workers than the Resources they produce, though doing so twice will render the region "depleted", unable to produce Resources for the rest of the game.

A player may win by eliminating all other players from the board, or more commonly by either fulfilling their individual victory conditions, having accumulated 15 Conquest Points (20 for opposing players if Aldaris has not been eliminated), or by having the most Conquest Points when two "The End is Near" Event Cards are played (if Aldaris has not been eliminated, Aldaris automatically wins in this event).

• Each of the three races, the Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg, are given new units, and new supporting game material to match. These correspond to the new units in StarCraft: Brood War, as well as the Infested Terran, which was omitted from the base game.
• A number of new planets were added to the game, based on planets seen in Brood War. Some planets are divided into territories which may only permit ground units to enter, while some are restricted to flying units. A number of territories on the new planets are also designated "strategic areas" in lieu of producing Resources or awarding Conquest Points; a player in control of this area has the benefit of having any standard Order issued to this planet treated as its corresponding Special Order.
• Three new modules per faction are added, which offer different combat-related benefits.
• A new Order is added: the Defend Order allows players to move units (similar to a Mobilise order) during the Planning Phase, as well as endowing the territory with a Guard token, which may be discarded in a combat situation to give all defending units greater Health (which does not stack with any other defensive bonuses).
• Leadership Cards have been added to the game. The game is roughly separated into three phases, based on which Event Cards are drawn. At the start of one of these phases, each player may choose a Leadership Card from their Leadership Card Deck, and resolve its effects. Some allow a new victory condition for the player, while others designate one unit as a "hero", which grants the unit special abilities. Some Leadership Cards also place special bases termed "installations".

Scenario play, with predetermined fixed setups, is also available for use with Brood War, and a number of scenario-specific parts are provided to aid players in making their own.