Flow of Gameplay

Getting Started
Each player draws 7 cards from their deck. The players then decide who will go first randomly by using either a dice roll, rock-paper-scissors, or other means.

Each player goes through their turn through a series of Stages. On the very first turn of the game, the active player does directly to the second stage.

Start Stage

 * Any units in the Battlezone are moved back to your Rush Zone.
 * Release all of your Held cards.
 * Draw one card from the deck. If your hand now has less cards than the number of damage (face-down) cards in your Power Zone, draw an additional card.

Charge Stage

 * Choose one card from your hand and place it in either your Command or Power Zone, face-up.
 * Cards are placed in the Power Zone Held, and do not Release during the Start Stage. These cards count toward meeting Power Level costs for the cards you play. Any number of cards can be in your Power Zone.
 * Cards are placed in the Command Zone Released. These cards are used to pay the Type cost for the cards you play, by Holding a card of the same type. Up to five cards can be in your Command Zone. If a card effect would cause you to have more than five cards in your Command Zone, that card is discarded instead.
 * Unless noted, cards in the Command or Power Zones do not produce any effects listed on them.

Rush Stage

 * You may play Units from your hand into your Rush Zone, paying all costs. They enter play Released.
 * You may play Operations from your hand, paying all costs.
 * Counter Operations are not played during your Rush Stage, but instead may be played during your opponent's turn, when the condition noted on the card occurs.
 * Most Operations are discarded after use. Permenant Operations, however, remain in play for future use. You may only have one Permenant Operation out at any given time; any new Permenent Operation you play replaces your old one.

Battle Stage

 * You may move any number of units in your Rush Zone into your Battlezone. These units are lined up one at a time from the left of the Battlezone to the right.
 * Many units have a "Combo" ability that triggers when it is attacking, depending on what order a particular unit enters the Battlezone. For instance, a unit with a Combo number of 3 will have its abilities go into effect when it is the third unit entering the Battlezone.
 * As each unit moves into the the Battlezone, you declare whether that unit is attacking an enemy unit, a Normal Attack, or performing a Strike Attack. Units are able to do a Strike Attack if they have a number listed in their Strike Point (SP) stat, or if their SP is ! and the specified condition occurs. If you do not want that unit to attack or Strike, its action ends and it remains in the Battlezone.
 * When attacking an enemy unit, compare your unit's Battle Points (BP) to the enemy unit's BP, after applying any and all modifiers and effects. The unit with the lower BP is defeated. The defeated unit is sent to its owner's discard pile. If both unit's BP are the same, both units are defeated.
 * Units with a SP ability may choose to attack the opponent directly, dealing the number of damage indicated in their SP, after any and all modifiers and effects. For each point of Strike Damage, your opponent turns the top face-up card in his Power Zone face down. If no face-up cards are available, he takes a card from the top of his deck and places it face down into the Power Zone at the bottom of the row.

End Stage
Any effects that last until the end of the turn stop, and any effects that trigger at the end of the turn occur. Play then passes to your opponent.