Combat
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.
Resources
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.
