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Warp's Edge – Quick Start Guide for Beginners

Reading time: approx. 5 minutes

Game Objective

You are a lone pilot in space, attempting to destroy an alien mothership.

The game is played as a solo game over several "Warps" – you learn and grow stronger after each attempt.

You win if you defeat the mothership before your attempts run out.

Game Setup

  • Number of Players: 1 player
  • Age: 10 years and up
  • Game Duration: approx. 30–45 minutes (first game approx. 60 minutes)

Components (Base Game)

  • 2 Starfighter Dashboards (double-sided) with individual abilities
  • 3 Mothership Dashboards (double-sided)
  • 27 Enemy Ships / 18 Skill Cards
  • 10 Starting Tokens (white border) & 99 Standard Tokens (no border)
  • 5 Damage Tokens
  • 1 Hull Token (blue)
  • 1 Shield Token (yellow)
  • 1 Mothership Token (red)
  • 1 Warp Token (red/white)
  • 1 Cloth Bag (for the tokens)
  • 1 Reference Card
  • 2 Inlays for the tokens (Original) or Deluxe Insert Variant (ReDesign)
  • 1 Main Insert (Original) or Deluxe Insert Variant (ReDesign)
  • 1 Storybook
  • 1 Rulebook

Preparation

  1. Choose a Starfighter Dashboard with individual power setup ready in the inlay.
  2. Place the hull token on the top number.
  3. Then place the shield token on the top number.
  4. Shuffle the skill cards, draw 2 cards, and keep 1 of them.
  5. Prepare the bag with the 10 Starting Tokens (white border) .
  6. Additionally, place 1 yellow signature power token of your chosen Starfighter into the bag.
  7. Lay out the deck of enemy cards.
  8. Choose a mothership (Boss) and check its associated rules.
  9. Place the warp token on space 1 of the Warp Track (left) on the Mothership.
  10. Prepare the number of damage tokens (number of sections on the Mothership).
  11. Subsequently, draw 5 tokens from the bag and place them in your token pool.

Assembling the Enemy Deck

Sort the enemy cards into 3 face-down stacks and shuffle them separately:

  • Level 1 🟡(yellow) → draw the specified number of cards (see top left of the Mothership Dashboard) and set them aside separately.
  • Level 2 🟠(orange) → draw the specified number of cards and set them aside separately.
  • Level 3 🔴(red) → draw the specified number of cards and set them aside separately.

First, place the 🟥red card stack face down, then the 🟧orange on top, and finally the 🟨yellow on top of that.

Then reveal 4 enemy cards and lay them out as the enemy row.

Gameplay (one Warp)

Each Warp consists of several turns with 4 phases:

1. ENEMY CONTACT

  • Empty spaces in the enemy row are refilled to 4 enemies .
  • New enemy ships appear before you.
  • They are always refilled from left to right.

2. PILOT ACTIONS

Draw tokens from your pool and use them:

  • 🔴 Laser → destroy enemies
  • 🔵 Maneuver → evade / remove enemies
  • 🟢 Energy → repair shields (2 energy = 4 shield repairs), buy tokens, or activate abilities

Important: Enemies assigned lasers or maneuvers are stunned this round and do not attack.

Energy tokens used for payment → discard into the token discard area (discard)
Purchased tokens → directly into the bag

Certain Motherships can not be attacked immediately, but only after all enemy cards have been defeated. 

Defeated enemies immediately give their reward (tokens) to you and go directly into the bag. Defeated enemy cards go to the discard pile.

Tokens can be stored in the "Cargo Hold" and saved for later turns. They also remain between Warps.

3. ENEMY ATTACKS

  • Additionally, depending on the boss rule, the active sections of the Mothership also attack.
  • Enemy cards are resolved from left to right.
  • All enemies that are not stunned, destroyed, or evaded now attack.
  • Damage goes first to your shields, then to the hull.
  • For each shield damage, you must permanently remove 1 token from your discard area/token discard pile and return it to the box (main insert).

4. PLANNING PHASE

  • Draw 5 new tokens  from the bag.
  • All unused tokens from your token pool go into the discard area/token discard pile for tokens before this. Except for the token(s) in the cargo hold.

End of Warp

A Warp ends when, in the last step of a turn (planning phase), your bag is empty, but you still need to draw more tokens.

Then the following happens:

  • All tokens from the token pool, discard area/discard pile, and from enemies return to the bag.
    Important: The damage tokens remain with the Mothership and are not removed!
  • Tokens in the CARGO HOLD remain there.
  • The enemy deck and the discard pile of enemy ships are shuffled together again.
  • Exhausted skill cards (rotated 90° horizontally) are reactivated (rotated 90° vertically). 
  • You draw 2 new skill cards and keep 1 of them.
  • The Warp token moves 1 space on the Mothership (Boss) to the next Warp space.

The next Warp then begins immediately.

End of Game

  • You destroy the Mothership → Victory
  • The last Warp ends → Defeat
  • OR your hull reaches 0 → immediate defeat (except for the "ACHILLES" starfighter)

Warp’s Edge – Tips, Strategies & Common Mistakes

Conclusion

Warp's Edge is a tactical solo game with high replayability. Its special appeal lies in the mix of bag-building, learning curve, and time-loop mechanics, where each attempt makes you stronger.