“I’m here to offer a truce between human and Cylon…and a chance for you to complete your journey.”
      –Leoben Conoy

The Battlestar Galactica, humanity’s last beacon of hope, falters and crumbles. A tenuous solidarity between human and Cylon wavers under overwhelming desperation and doubt. For those seeking the promise of peace, a single vessel guards the future. The Demetrius, guided by unknown forces, plots a course through the stars…a course for home. Many would oppose this vision of the future. In this desperate time, both human and Cylon are driven to take matters into their own hands. For some, this means risking everything. For others, this means mutiny.

The Daybreak expansion for Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game brings humanity’s plight to its gripping climax. With two supplemental game boards and hundreds of cards and tokens, Daybreak invites players to undertake desperate missions, struggle under the constant threat of mutiny, and bargain with Cylon Leaders driven by motives of their own!

New Characters, Crises, and More

Daybreak introduces twelve new character sheets, thirty new Crisis cards, twenty-five new Skill cards, and much more. Patch your fellow crew members up as the crotchety Doc Cottle , or argue your way out of a tight spot as the clever Romo Lampkin . Push your viper to its limits as Hot Dog , or take the com as Lieutenant Louis Hoshi . Do you prefer to stand against the humans? Daybreak also features four new Cylon Leaders, including the cunning and charismatic D’Anna Biers .

Over the course of the fleet’s harrowing journey, each member of Galactica’s crew has been fundamentally changed by humanity’s many trials. Some have evolved, filling new and much-needed roles. Others have fallen into depression and despair. One thing, however, is certain: the crew that reaches Earth will be very different from the one that escaped Caprica. To reflect these profound evolutions of character, Daybreak includes four alternative character sheets for familiar crew members. Lee Adama, for example, grows to become more than just a viper pilot; he becomes a politically savvy man of the people . Which version of Lee Adama will you choose to help guide the fleet home?

Whoever you choose, you’ll face a range of never-before-seen Crisis cards. Even as the fleet falls apart from years of wear and tear, it is plagued by religious turmoil, an openly insubordinate crew, and constant harassment by Cylons. Luckily, their time at war has also honed the crew’s skills; in addition to adding Assault Raptors to their arsenal, new Skill cards represent the level of adaptability and fearlessness you’d expect from seasoned veterans.

Mutiny, Motives, and Miracles

Inspired by the events of the fourth season of the television series, the Mutineer mechanic represents the fleet’s unraveling command structure in the face of overwhelming tension and desperation. As hope fades, even human crew members begin to question their own loyalty to their leaders. Accordingly, the Mutineer mechanic involves a change to the game’s Loyalty deck; in short, it optionally replaces the base game’s “Sympathizer” rules.

When constructing the Loyalty deck at the start of any game that uses the Daybreak expansion, the players include the new “You Are the Mutineer” Loyalty card in lieu of the “You Are a Sympathizer” Loyalty Card. And since the Mutineer immediately draws an additional Loyalty card (after his Mutineer Loyalty card), he can still be either a human or an unrevealed Cylon! This means that compounding their challenges, the human team will have to grapple with yet another dilemma: there’s a mutineer in their midst...but is his rebellion motivated by a genuine concern for humanity’s well-being, or is that just a convenient cover for his underhanded Cylon agenda?

The Colonial Fleet isn’t the only one in which loyalties are divided and motivations are muddled, however. Daybreak also introduces new cards that convey the enigmatic personalities of the Cylon Leaders (first introduced in the Pegasus expansion). Similar to Agenda cards (also introduced in Pegasus ), each Motive card presents an “Allegiance” and a condition. At setup, the Cylon Leader receives two Motive cards, and then he receives two more during the game’s Sleeper Agent phase. He may choose which of his Motive cards will drive his actions, but if he hopes to win, he must work to complete a certain number of Motive cards, and the allegiance on these cards must correspond to the winning side. With so many factors in play, Daybreak makes the Cylon Leader a truly unpredictable force.

In the face of such awesome challenges, humanity will need more than a miracle. It will need several. A miracle token is a component that represents a character’s “once per game” (or “miracle”) ability. At the start of the game, each player receives one miracle token (and can only hold one at a time), spending it when he uses his character’s miracle ability. The subtle addition of this mechanic opens the door to a score of exciting game elements. 

For example, while miracle tokens remain appropriately difficult to come by, new Crisis cards can jeopardize them and especially powerful Skill cards can award them. What’s more, the alternative version of Gaius Baltar is a beloved cult leader...and a veritable dealer in miracles.

The Search for Home Concludes

As humanity enters its darkest hour, a glimmer of hope appears on the horizon. By undertaking a series of dangerous missions, the Colonial Fleet has an opportunity to not simply survive to see another day, but to once and for all defeat their enemies and find a home to start their new lives.

“The Search for Home” is a collection of rules and components that together make up an optional Battlestar Galactica experience. A new endgame plus much more, “The Search for Home” option adds a game board for the Demetrius, the sewage processing ship that becomes the fleet’s best hope of salvation.

The crews of the Galactica and the Demetrius will go on challenging missions, represented by new Mission cards, as they gradually approach a new life on Earth. These high-risk, high-reward Mission cards offer potentially game-changing effects...if you can earn them. The “ Cylon Civil War ” Mission card, for example, allows either the humans or the Cylons to control a powerful Rebel Basestar.

With all of these options (and much more), the struggle between humans and Cylons has never been more desperate. Can you overcome treachery, the threat of mutiny, and the enigmatic motives of Cylon Leaders to survive? Find out with the Daybreak expansion for Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game !