05The Supply system

Supply is the strategic heart of the game: it decides how much you can have on the table, who controls objectives, who can leave a melee cleanly and how many points you give away when you lose troops.

What Supply is§6

It represents a Unit’s battlefield presence: its manpower, momentum and the command resources that keep it fighting. It is not fixed: as the Unit takes casualties, its Supply drops.

The Supply Profile§6.1

In the top-right corner of each Unit Card there is a table linking models remaining to the Current Supply Value. As soon as casualties drop the Unit into a lower bracket, update its Supply immediately.

What it is used for§6.2

• Deploying: you may only bring a Unit in from Reserves if its Supply fits in your Available Supply (below).
• Controlling Mission Markers: each player adds up the Supply of their Units contesting the marker; the higher total wins, not whoever has more models. Chapter 11
• Tactical Mass (disengaging): a Unit that Disengages cannot shoot or charge in the following Assault Phase unless, when declaring the Disengage, its Supply is greater than the combined Supply of every enemy it was Engaged with. Chapter 08
• Points: several missions (all the official ones) give VP equal to the enemy Supply destroyed that round; it is added in the Scoring Phase.

Supply Pool and Available Supply§8.3.1 · 8.3.2

• Round 1: your Supply Pool equals the Mission Card’s Starting Supply.
• Each later Round: it grows by the card’s Supply Escalation (e.g. +2).
• Final Round: the Pool is unlimited. You may deploy everything left in Reserves, following normal alternating activations.
• Hard cap: the total Supply of your Units on the table may never exceed the Pool.

A Unit may only enter if its Current Supply is less than or equal to the Available Supply. Units that are Destroyed or lose Supply to casualties free up room for new arrivals.

Units returned to Reserves§8.5.5

Some rules take a Unit off the table and return it to Reserves. It is not Destroyed: its Supply is released at that moment and Available Supply is recalculated. Everything else is covered in the Phase 1 chapter.

In plain wordsImagine your base can only sustain so many troops at once (the Pool), and each round you get more capacity. What is already fighting takes up space; when it falls, room frees up for reinforcements.

What about summoned Units (Roachling, Point Defense Drone, Pylon)? They are not in Reserves or on the list, but once on the table their Supply counts towards your total, and you need Available Supply to summon them §9.1.9.