User:Slave28/B5CCG

The Babylon 5 Collectible Card Game (B5 CCG) is a discontinued collectible card game set in the Babylon 5 universe. The game is ideally set for 5 players but can be played from a minimum of two players to as many as 20 if using multiple Non-Aligned Factions and Home Factions. This CCG is distinct from most others of the genre for being specifically designed to be played by more than two players. The gameplay tends to have strong political elements encouraging significant player interaction aka "table talk" which is appropriate for a game based on a series which featured such a strong element of political intrigue. During its brief six year existence under the Precedence Entertainment banner it released two core sets, five expansions sets and one revision set. There were two World Championships during that time. The game still continues to have a cult following as two further releases were made available online.

History
The first edition, Premier, was released on December 11, 1997. Precedence was the first company to begin the promo chase card program, where various promo cards were made available through different means of acquiring them, some more difficult then others. This, as opposed to other companies who offered relatively common cards as promos, gave Precedence an edge in marketing not seen before. In late 2001 Warner Brothers chose not to renew Precedence's license to produce the game. This brought the game to an abrupt ending and tournament prizes in the form of Babylon 5 cards could no longer be provided. The company went out of business in 2002 although this was not as a direct result of the ending of the Babylon 5 licensing agreement with WB.

The Precedence website is still active.

Official Releases
The following are a list of official B5 CCG releases from Precedence Entertainment.

Shelved Releases
When Warner Brothers did not renew the Babylon 5 license agreement with Precedence Entertainment in the summer of 2001, all product was ordered destroyed, which included the Collector's Set which was already at the printer.


 * The Masterpiece Collection : A preview of the cards that would have been available in this set were made available online.
 * A never-released set of 12 special foil cards.


 * Anla'Shok :
 * With the licensing no longer available all the designs had to be abandoned for this expansion. The 132 card expansion was completed by Bruce Mason and released as a virtual set online.
 * Planned Autographed cards were, "Marcus Cole", "Emperor Cotto" and "Stephen Franklin DXb".

Planned Releases

 * The Vorlons:
 * A planned follow up to the Anla'Shok expansion which would compliment the Shadows expansion. Another 145 expansion card project which was worked on by Bruce Mason and posted online.

Surprise
The card Surprise is a special card that is meant for designers only. It allowed them to do various testing when constructing new expansion sets. The finalists at the first World Championships were given a copy of Surprise as part of their prize package. In the history of the game, only one player outside the Precedence development team was ever authorized to be able to legally play Surprise. That player is Hayden Gittens who won that privilege when he was the victor in a "beat the designers" game held at the 1st World Championships. It is listed as one of the top ten rarest CCG cards on Geek.com.

World Championships
During the course of the B5 CCG lifespan, Precedence Entertainment held two World Championships before declining sales force them to abandon the practice. Both featured a large proportion of players from around the world and fierce competition.



First championship
The first B5 CCG World Championship was held at Vorcon 1 in Pomona, California, October 16–18, 1998. Held at the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Conference Center, the eventual champion was Serge Lavergne of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He had used a Narn hybrid Vorlon military speed deck with the “Order Above All” winning agenda.

Opposition came from Australians Steve Green and Les Allen, Marcel Kopper of Germany, UK Champion Mike Pemberthy, Pan-European Champion Hayden Gittings, as well as Americans John Paiva, Pete Simpson, Kyle Bennick, Mike Jasperson, Anthony Oshmago, David Sisson, Paul Beaman, Kyle Sykora and John and Johnna Golden.

Second championship
The second and final B5 CCG World Championship was in Aachen, Germany, October 8–10, 1999. The champion there was Martin Franz who used a Human deck with the agenda “A Rising Power”. The Final table comprised Marco Schütz (Narn), Michael Brand (Minbari), Peter Ender (Centauri) and Paul Sheward (Non-Aligned).

The second World Championship again featured national qualifiers, but there was also a pre-qualifying tournament run the day before. This allowed a number of locally based players to qualify for the World Championship itself and led to the makeup of the "top table" i.e. 4 out of the 5 players were "local" Germans. It was commented upon that this turned the World Final into a team event with the German players ensuring that one of them won the tournament.

Cancelation of World Championships
In January 2000, Precedence announced that it was cancelling the planned Third B5 CCG World Championships. This brought to an abrupt end a very popular aspect of the game. No further World Championships were ever held afterwards.

Zeta Squadron
Zeta Squadron was the official member club of B5 CCG players registered with Precedence publishing. They received newsletters which informed them of upcoming events and expansions. They also received promo cards such as the Na'Toth (variant).

Rangers
The Rangers were tournament organizers from around the world who conducted sanctioned tournaments, game demonstration events on behalf of Precedence in support of the B5 CCG.

Tournaments
There are several variant tournament formats that can be used when playing the B5 CCG. Below is a listed of most commonly used formats.

Players have a 60 card minimum deck and can have a 20 card reserve which they can use to transfer cards to and from between rounds.
 * Basic Constructed deck Tournament:

Players are given one sealed starter deck and normally two or three booster packs. From those cards they must create a 60 card deck to play with.
 * Sealed Deck Tournament:

Third Age is a variant of Basic Constructed Deck, with the following additional rules:
 * Third Age Tournament:

1.Any card, except for characters and fleets, that was printed in Premier or Deluxe is banned in this format. Cards which were in Premier/Deluxe and were reprinted in the Non-Aligned or Psi Corps starter decks, such as Earth, Universe Today Feature, and Trade Pact, are banned (again, characters and fleets are NOT affected, so Drazi Sunhawk and Talia Winters are still allowed).

2.Zhabar is banned.

3.Promotional cards released at the time of Premier or Deluxe are not banned as they are not part of the standard print run.

Battle for Earth Tournaments use the standard Basic Constructed Deck Tournament rules, with the following exceptions:
 * Battle for Earth Tournament:
 * There are three factions, all Human. The starting factional ambassadors are Jeffrey Sinclair, William Morgan Clark, and Bester.
 * All factions have a starting tension of 5 towards all other Human factions.
 * Babylon 5's influence start the game at 0, and no effect in the game can raise or lower this starting value.
 * There are no effects that can generate a Babylon 5 vote. Effects that would do so are ignored.

Also known as the "Highlander Tournament", this is a variant of the "Constructed Deck Tournament" but players may only have one copy of any given card.
 * Spoo Tournament:

Cards
There are various types of cards in the B5 CCG universe which will allow you the opportunity to perform various things at different times. Below is a list of each type of card and what each will allow you to do and when they are permitted to be played. All cards have the following information on them when possible or needed: Shadow and Vorlon marks cannot be found in the same playing field. Thus a player having Shadow marks cannot gain any Vorlon marks and the opposite for a player who has Vorlon marks cannot gain Shadow marks. Marks of Strife increase the damage inflicted during an attack. Other marks (Conspiracy. Destiny, Doom) have effects related to other cards played.
 * 1. Name (top): Identifies who or what the cards represents.
 * 2. Cost (bottom right corner): The influence cost to bring the card into play.
 * 3. Type ( center below image): The type of card is listed here, (character, fleet location, etc.( as well as any other restrictions (race, etc.)
 * 4. Abilities (left side of image): Characters, fleets and locations may possess abilities (if an ability is not listed it is considered zero).
 * 5. Effects (bottom area): This area covers ant special rules a card may have when being played and what its effects will be when played. Also, any special title will be marked in bold type.  The special titles will be used during game play at certain times when called upon by other cards or at specific times during the game.
 * 6. Marks (bottom left corner): Some cards are marked, causing them to have special abilities or receive negative effects.
 * 7. Caption (bottom of card): Quote from the Babylon 5 Universe.  Has no effect on game play.

Card Types
All cards in the B5 CCG collection are color coded to help differentiate them from one another. This in turn allows easy sorting and allows ease of play when cards are combined on the playing field.

Card Types

Influence
Influence represents a player's raw strength. They begin the game with four influence and may build (by spending three influence per turn to gain one) up t ten where afterwards they must gain it from various other sources like conflicts and agendas. Influence also counts as Power which is needed to win the game. Any influence used during a turn is return and available in the next turn of game play. Other types of influence are found with Babylon 5, the Shadows and Vorlons. These three areas cause game play to have a certain direction. Babylon 5 is dedicated to peace where as the Shadows and Vorlons look for war.

Victory
The base influence that a player has represents his Power total. Other cards can increase this total if certain conditions are met. At the start of the turn, players can check for Victory requirements.

To score a Standard Victory, you must have either of the following:

1. Have 20 Power and more then any other player; or

2. If Babylon 5 has an Influence rating of 20 or more at the end of a turn - any player in a position to win a Standard Victory and is ahead of all other players wins.

If either the Shadows or the Vorlons have 20 Influence then the Shadow War begins, at which point Standard Victory rules no longer apply and players must win by Major Victory.

To score a Major Victory, you must have one of the following

1. Have at least 20 Power and 10 more then any other player (plus 3 more then your opposing race in Home Faction rules)

2. Fulfill any requirements that are on a Major Agenda that they brought into play; or

3. Special rules for a limited exceptions where less the 20 Power is needed. These are listed on the cards effect text.


 * Note: You may not skip the Victory requirement check to try to score a Major Victory as opposed to a Standard Victory. When it is time to check for victory requirements, you MUST declare victory if you meet ANY requirements to do so.

Deck construction
Building B5 CCG decks have the following restrictions: - Each must have a Starting Ambassador - Each must have a minimum of 45 cards - They may only have 3 of any specific card (unless marked Unique which would be one only)

Only one of each Race may be in play at any time unless the Home Faction rules are in play. There are five races to choose from: - Centauri Republic - Earth Alliance - Minbari Federation - Narn Regime - Non-Alligned Worlds There are four Home Factions that can be used: - Centauri - Earth - Minbari - Narn There is one alternate Faction that can be used - Psi Corps
 * Choosing a Race:

Your starting hand must have four cards with one being your Starting Ambassador. The remaining cards may not be of the same type. You may not have more then one additional character, fleet, agenda, etc.
 * Starting hand:

A part of you playing area should be kept for tracking tensions, unrest, and influence for Babylon 5 the Shadows and Vorlons. Cards are played at specific areas as shown in the diagram below. The row with your Ambassador is know as your Inner Circle, this is where you promote characters. Aftermath cards that remain into play should be placed under the cards that they affect. Agendas should be placed to the left of your Ambassador. New characters, groups and locations are put in a row below your Inner Circle, this is known as your Supporting Row.
 * Playing Field:

Some of the items that may be of use that are not included with the B5 CCG are: - 20 sided dice (to count power and) - 6 sided dice (to count marks) - Glass beads of different colours (used as influence, tokens, damage) - Coin
 * Accessories:

Certain Races have predetermined Tension ratings prior to the game starting and must be set. As the game progresses certain cards may alter these settings. Tension setting are:
 * Set Tension Tokens:
 * Narn/Centauri tension starts at 4
 * Human/Minbari tension starts at 3
 * Human/Centauri tension starts at 1
 * All other tensions start at 2

Influence tokens should be set above the Ambassador. Spent influence should be moved below the Ambassador. This allows other players to see how much influence remains in each players pool. Spent influence is retuned to the top of the Ambassador at the end of the turn. Gaining and losing influence from card effects is different then spending influence, this permanently changes your influence count and either adds or removes an influence counter from play. Gaining additional influence as a one time event does not let you keep that influence permanently.
 * Set Influence Tokens:

Play Structure
The game is played in turns, each turn is sub-divided into rounds. Beginning in Initiative order (the player with the lowest influence) players take turn performing actions during each rounds. Players with the same amount of influence have their Ambassadors abilities used as a tie breaker, beginning with Diplomacy followed by Intrigue, Psy and Leadership. Each turn play progresses through the following rounds:


 * Ready round:

Ready cards: Any cards which were rotated (turned horizontally to show they were put in use since the last turn) are now return to their normal positions (vertically). Any card that can sustain an action does so at this time. Influence restoration: Return all influence that was used back to the top of Ambassadors to show that it is once again available. Initiative determination: Imitative order is now decided. Players with the lowest act first, the second lowest and so on.
 * Step 1:
 * Step 2:
 * Step 3:

Players may choose to keep some cards rotated to show they are continuing to apply their effects. This is known as sustaining an action. Most players will move these cards onto other cards they are affecting. The ability to sustain an action must have no additional requirements then rotating a card. Any costs will cause you to have to ready the card during the ready round. The same applies to cards that state marks need to be purged.
 * Sustained Actions:

Most cards are used only once in a turn. During each turn and mostly in the Action round, cards may perform various things that require them to rotate (horizontally from the vertical position). A Neutralized card is considered Ready for healing purposes and cannot be used for any other purposes unless specified by n individual card.
 * Ready and Rotated cards:

Declaring Conflicts: Players who wish to declare Conflicts now do so in Initiative order by placing their Conflict cards face down in front of them. If they are declaring a conflict from an Agenda they declare it at that time and apply any requirements as well. Reveal and Initiate Conflicts: At this time players reveal and if necessary target to other players in Initiative order. Should the Conflict target a specific item (race, character, fleet, tension, Babylon 5, etc.) the initiator of the conflict declares the target at that time.
 * Conflict round:
 * Step 1:
 * Step 2:

During the Action round, players may perform only one action at a time. Play goes in Imitative order as with previous rounds starting from lowest. Once every player has had a chance to perform one action, the process is repeated again. This continues until all players Pass (take no action). A player who has chosen to pass during the action round at one point may take action during a later time if the action round is still in progress. Actions that may be taken include: - Sponsor a Supporting Card - Promote a Supporting Character to the Inner Circle - Rotate to Build Influence - Use an Effect Which Requires Rotating a Card - Lead a Fleet - Support or Oppose a Conflict - Attack a Conflict Participant - Play an Event or Contingency - Discard, Replace, Reveal or Sponsor an Agenda - Heal a Character - Repair a Fleet or Location - Offer Influence to a Mercenary - Pass
 * Action round:


 * Note: When instructed to draw a card from your Crusade or Corporate Pile, you actually go through your side deck and choose a card.

After all players have passed the Resolution Round begins with the following steps.
 * Resolution round:
 * Step 1:

Conflict Resolution: Each player, in Initiative order, resolves their conflict. abilities are totalled ((including modifiers, damage and effects currently in operation) and applied in support and compared to the total opposition (with the same modifiers). Once resolved, apply the effect of the conflict determined by the success or failure of the conflict as stated by the text on the Conflict card.  If a player had multiple conflicts at once (can be achieved through use of special cards) that player chooses the order of the resolution. Aftermaths: Once the Conflict round is complete, Aftermaths may be played only on the initiators Conflict unless it states "participant".  Beginning with the first conflict and in imitative order, players take turns playing Aftermaths until all have passed then proceed to the second conflict and take turns playing Aftermaths on that conflict until all have passed then move to the following conflict and so on. Aftermath cards that give cards an effect are placed under the affected card in question until the end of the game or if removed by another card. Discard: All Conflict and Aftermath cards which are not attached to other cards at the end of the round are now discarded and play proceeds to the Draw round.
 * Step 2:
 * Step 3:

Discard from playing area: All Neutralized (face down) Supporting cards are discarded at this time. Discard from hand: All players may discard as many cards as they wish from their hands. These cards must be placed face up in the discard pile next to the draw deck. Any player may look at another player's discard pile. Draw Free card: All players draw one free card. Should a player run though their entire deck and have no more cards to draw from, they must discard an Inne Circle character instead. If the only character they have left is their Ambassador, they are considered out of options and must forfeit the game. Buy More Crads: For each three influence a player applies they may purchase one extra card. Check Victory Conditions: Victory conditions are now checked by all players to see if any of them have been fulfilled.
 * Draw round:
 * Step 1:
 * Step 2:
 * Step 3:
 * Step 4:
 * Step 5:

End of Turn: For cards that provide a bonus until end of turn, this applies until after victory check.
 * Step 6:

Card details
Unless otherwise noted, all characters, fleets and groups are Limited, which means only one copy of that card can be in play at any time. They cards may be loyal to a specific race; Centauri, Human, Minbari, Narn, Neutral (which are not loyal to any specific race) or Non-Aligned (which is a combination of independent races joined together).

Characters are first brought into play as Supporting Characters, though usually they will be promoted there are exceptions where some cannot enter your Inner Circle. You bring a new character into your supporting row by sponsoring him by applying its influence cost. If the character is not loyal to your race that cost is double. Any requirements such as marks needed must also be observed. Promoting a character to the Inner Circle requires the same amount of influence used t sponsor the character plus one influence for each character in your Inner Circle.
 * Brining Characters Into Play

Because the Ambassador is the leader of a faction it is considered a member of the Inner Faction, it can never be discarded or demoted to the supporting row. However an Ambassador can be replaced with an updated Ambassador card. For the League of Non-Alligned Worlds, players can have a second ambassador card (in addition to the 3 card total starting hand) due to their diversity.
 * Starting Ambassador

The Ambassador's Assistant has the ability of providing a +1 bonus to his Ambassador's Diplomacy, Intrigue and Leadership if the Assistant rotates for that purpose. or you may rotate him to apply 1 less influence to sponsor a card.
 * Ambassador's Assistant

A race geared for war with the Narn, heavy on Intrigue, Their is a good portion of psi available. Diplomacy and leadership, although not their strong suit, are above average.
 * Characters:
 * The Centauri

Evenly balanced in most abilities. Depending on which faction you use some may be stronger. The Psi Corps alternate faction has an extremely high psi pool of characters. Using the Home Faction will leave you dependent of intrigue which is of decent standing. The Humans leadership is somewhat evenly balanced depending which characters you use.
 * The Humans

Strong in Diplomacy and Leadership. Members of the Grey Council are quite strong. Any Warrior Caste character will increase greatly to a fleet it leads.
 * The Minbari

Heavily relies on Leadership, One of the weaker overall races. It has no Psi whatsoever. its Intrigue is quite weak. It does have above average Diplomacy. It makes up for its shortcomings with its aggressiveness.
 * The Narn

A wide variety of characters available to all factions with a wide range of abilities. Specialty characters such as "Media", "Mercenaries", "Soulhunters" and "Techno-mages" can be found here.
 * Neutral characters

Although weak in abilities, they have a versatile group. With 16 different ambassadors to choose from, the various combinations seem endless.
 * Non-Aligned

- Aside from the six main Factions, there are other races that can be played through sponsoring:

You do not begin the game as a Drakh Faction, you must choose one of the five major Factions. You may then sponsor a Drakh Ambassador by a non Drakh character an immediately promote him to your Inner Circle and he becomes your new Ambassador. He cannot be targeted the card "Taunts and Games". Your previous Ambassador remains an Inner Circle character and can never be demoted. Drakh are opposed to Vorlon marks. Once you sponsor a Drakh Ambassador you are now a Drakh Faction but your Race remains as it was when you started. You also retain special designations such as Home Faction or Psi Corps. If your Drakh Ambassador leaves play you immediately lose the game. It cannot seek asylum. Drakh cards can only be sponsored by Drakh cards. Drakh use Chaos Tokens. After any action, a player may move any number of Chaos Tokens from one card to another. Drakh cannot have their racial loyalty change. The Drakh, as a race, cannot be targeted, named, or refered to in anyway by another card.
 * The Drakh

Although this is a non starting race and you may not gain an ambassador, it is possible to construct a deck built around Shadow influence and gear it towards winning a Major Victory by starting the Shadow War. There are several Shadow characters as well Neutral characters to choose from that have Shadow influence. It is worth noting that if another player is using the Vorlons it is expected that a long drawn out battle may result. A Faction with Shadow marks cannot gain any Vorlon marks. Any card giving marks of such type is ignored. Raising the Shadow influence to 20 will begin the Shadow War where all players must then score a Major Victory.
 * The Shadows

Like the Shadow, this is not a starting race and does not have a starting ambassador (even though Ambassador Kosh does exist in the game he cannot be used as a starting ambassador). Until the "Dream Set" Vorlon expansion was released online, the Shadows had a larger card pool selection to choose from making it slightly more advantageous for them. But if players agree to use these cards as proxies, then much balance is restored if not giving an upper hand to the Vorlons. A faction having Vorlon marks cannot gain Shadow marks. Any card giving them such type is ignored. Raising the Vorlon influence to 20 will begin the Shadow War where all players must then score a Major Victory.
 * The Vorlons

Groups are Limited unless otherwise specified. Most have an effect on play. They are supporting cards and do not get promoted to the Inner Circle. If a race type is listed on the Group card the it is restricted to that race.
 * Group cards:

Fleets are a factions primary Military capability. they are limited unless otherwise noted. They are restricted to a particular race if noted on the card and cannot be promoted to the Inner Circle.
 * Fleet cards:

Locations offer a wide variety of benefits, most are race specific, and their military can only be used to oppose conflicts that target it.
 * Location cards:

Enhancements are cards that tend to benefit other cards although some are detrimental. Some enhancements are restricted to specific types of cards (characters, fleets, locations). Enhancements on captured Locations are discarded. Enhancements are not limited unless otherwise stated on the card itself but no two copies of the same enhancement may target the same card. This is true for the game itself, only one copy of a specific Global Enhancement may be in pay at any given time.
 * Enhancement cards:

Agendas is the overall goal of your faction. They offer several benefits such as additional influence, power, and/or benefits to your faction. Some Agendas are race related. You may have only one Agenda in play at one time however you may rotate an Inner Circle character to sponsor a new one or bring one into play if you do not have one. Agendas may be brought into play hidden, these are called Hidden Agendas. They have no effect on play until revealed. It may be revealed as an action during the Action round where it then takes effect immediately. Some Agendas are noted as Major Agendas as part of their card type. They cannot be discarded but may be replaced by other Major Agendas or by cards which specify you can. When you have a major Agenda in play you cannot score a Standard Victory.
 * Agenda cards:

Event cards allow various effects to happen during the action round. The effects of Events are immediate unless specifically stated otherwise. Once an Event has expired it is discarded.
 * Event cards:

Contingency cards are played face down during the action round and only one can be played (unless otherwise stated). They are played in their players faction and they may be viewed by that player at any time. Each has a specific Trigger which activates the Contingency where its effect then is applied. Revealing a contingency is optional, therefore strategy can be a factor when holding back for a key moment prior to victory or to prevent anther layer from claiming victory. If the effect of the contingency has expired place the card in the discard pile.
 * Contingency cards:

Each faction may normally initiate one conflict per turn. Conflicts are played during the Conflict round. Characters and fleets support or oppose conflicts of their choosing depending on how the outcome may affect their faction. A faction which receives more support wins the conflict and one which recieves equal or more opposition loses the conflict. Conflicts with a race name on them are restricted to that race. There are four major types of conflicts: Diplomatic, Intrigue, Military and Psi. Some conflicts combine more then one ability, some will allow more then one ability to be used. In military conflicts, characters may apply their leadership ability to increase their fleets military ability. If a conflict states "Any player may be supported in this conflict" then all players may support themselves, or support another player.
 * Conflict cards:

After the conflict resolution round, players may then play Aftermaths. Most Aftermaths act like enhancements modifying certain cards. Some take immediate effect. These effects are not reversed when the Aftermath is discarded. Only one Aftermath can affect a given target at any one time. If a race name appears on an Aftermath it can only be played by that race. Some Aftermaths have conditions such as "Won" or "Lost" and "Participant", these can only ne played under these conditions.
 * Aftermath cards:

Game Situations
Some cards have triggered effects. These effects take place at the time stated on the card.
 * Triggered effects:

Each of the four main races and the Vorlons can participate in the voting process when called upon by certain cards. The player using the League of Non-Aligned Worlds holds any tie breaker vote. There must be more "Yes" then :No" votes for the vote to pass. Home Factions do not get a vote.
 * Votes:

Tension between races are not linked. If Narn tension with the Minbari is at 4, it is possible for Minbari tension with the Narn to be at 2. If a race is not in play its tension still exists. You may play cards that raises or lowers your unrest. Included in the Great War starter decks was a Status Tracker. This two sided item was used to track on one side Babylon5, Shadow and Vorlon influence, and on the other tension and unrest with other races. Many players used their own versions of status trackers.
 * Tension and Unrest:

Relationships between races are define by their tensions. Through the course of the game races may enter into additional relationships with each other. These are called States. The most common alliances are trade pacts. When home Factions are in use, any benefits to one race benefit the other.
 * States:

Unless otherwise specified, when two races enter a state of war, all other states are cancelled (trade pacts). There are a number of ways to enter into a state of War. While in a state of War, players may initiate a War conflict (without a conflict card). This conflict acts as a Military conflict. It may target a race as a whole or a location. If it targets a location and is successful, the location is captured and all attachments are removed and its text is suppressed. Should the original owner of the location recapture it, attachments would be discarded but its text ability would be returned. Should a War conflict be uncontested, the target loses one influence and the initiator gains one influence. Whenever a War conflict is resolved, tensions between the two races increase by one. When two of the same race are at war this is called a Civil War. If Another race causes one of the two sides to lose influence in a War conflict, both sides involved in the Civil War lose one influence.
 * War:

During the discard round, a player may unconditionally surrender to another player they are at war with. That player immediately gains 3 influence. Following the surrender, your Ambassador will request asylum to another faction. The player who offers you sanctuary may add a copy of yur ambassador in his suporting row from outside the game. If a Home Faction surrenders, their Ambassador is removed from the game and no sanctuary is awarded. If all players surrender, the winner scores a Major Victory.
 * Unconditional Surrender:

Some cards require you to target a specific thing, it could be a character, fleet, faction or race. Unless the card states otherwise, you must select a target or you cannot play the card.
 * Legal Targets:

Many cards provide marks to characters, fleets, groups r locations. Marks are always considered to be attached to a card. If a card states that a faction gains a mark, then the mark is given to the Ambassador. If a card refers to a player's or faction's marks, then it includes all marks in play for that player. Marks on neutralized characters count towards totals and they may be manipulated and purged. A faction cannot have both Shadow and Voron marks. If it already has one of those marks, any effect giving it one of the other mark is ignored. Any card that gives a mark while it is in play and then is removed, forces the player to purge a mark of that type.
 * Marks:

There are five types of marks;


 * Conspiracy
 * Destiny
 * Doom
 * Shadow
 * Strife
 * Vorlon

Sometime a player must discard a card to do an effect or event, or may do so voluntarily. Other times cards have effects that expire and then must be placed in the discard pile. Also, neutralized supporting characters get discarded. Any time a player discards more then one card at a time, he may choose the order in which he places them in the discard pile.
 * Discards:

Some cards such as Agendas will offer bonuses while they are in play such as increased abilities to characters.
 * Bonuses:

When a card states that it its text is now blanked, it no longer has any effect. It is as it no longer has any effect text on the card. Boldface text can never be blanked.
 * Blanking:

Some cards have a cumulative effect. Caution is advised when reading the text on these cards so not to misinterpret them with regular round proceedings (like drawing cards).
 * Cumulative Effects:

A Dual Race is any race represented by more then one Faction. - Centauri, Lord Refa - Human, William Morgan Clark - Minbari. Neroon - Narn. Na'Far - Non-Aligned Worlds, Any Species Ambassador
 * Dual Race:
 * Home Faction Leaders:

There is only one alternate faction in the B5 CCG, the Psi Corps led by Bester.
 * Alternate Faction:

Any card that refers to only counting influence as power cannot affect any player whose power is lower then his influence,
 * Negative Power:

Any card with no cost bubble in the bottom lower right corner may have other costs associated with it, like purging marks or rotating characters.
 * Cards with no printed costs:

There are many cards with Specialty text. Some of these cards have defined special abilities.
 * Specialty Texts:

Some cards contain Boldface text. These cards have a special ability. Aside from the usual race specific Starting Ambassador, Ambassador's Assistant, Home Faction Ambassador and Babylon Project Ambassador, text that comes up, here are some of the more frequent cards are:
 * Boldface Text:

Furthermore, each race has Boldface text: Abbai (1), Brakiri (7), Centauri (58) Dilgar (1), Drakh (11), Drazi (4), Gaim (4), Gnome (3), Golian (1), Human (100), Hyach (5), Ipsha (1), Llort (4), Markeb (2), Minbari (58), Narn (45), Pak'ma'ra (6), Shadow (3), Sh'lassan (1), Vorlon (12), Vree (1), Yolu (1)

Online Playing
Since this game is no longer in production, there has been a decrease in the number of players for this game. For those who can not find others to play with in person, programs such as LackeyCCG and Vassal allow players to meet and play online.