# Forbidden Stars

Forbidden Stars is a board game for 2–4 players. It plays in 120–180 minutes and is meant for ages 14 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 3. It is rated 7.7 out of 10 by 41 Ludoya reviewers.

- **Players:** 2–4 (best with 3)
- **Playing time:** 120–180 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 14+
- **Complexity:** 3.8 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2015
- **Categories:** Science Fiction, Fighting, Bluffing, Wargame
- **Mechanics:** Dice Rolling, Variable Player Powers, Hand Management, Area Movement, Deck, Bag, and Pool Building, Area Majority / Influence, Card Play Conflict Resolution, Modular Board, Order Counters
- **Ludoya rating:** 7.7 out of 10, from 41 reviews
- **Owned by:** 66 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 173
- **Unique players:** 206

**Designers:** Corey Konieczka, Samuel Bailey, James Kniffen

**Artists:** Mauro dal Bo, Shane Pierce, Mariusz Gandzel, Andrew Navaro, Daarken, Alexandr Elichev, Nicholas Kay, Alex Konstad, Igor Kieryluk, Neil Roberts, Vincent Devault, Alex Drummond, Sam Lamont, Dimitri Bielak, Mark Molnar, Andrew Christensen, Imaginary Friends Studios, Matt Bradbury, Taylor Ingvarsson, Sergio Camarena, Nicholas Gregory, Christian Schwager, Diego Gisbert Llorens, Nikolay Stoyanov, Zach Graves, Piotr Foksowicz, Jon Cave, Mathias Kollros, Ramon Contini, Nick Ingeneri, Lin Bo, Erfian Asafat, Jason Juta, John M. Taillon, Oleg Saakyan, Stephen Somers, Ameen Naksewee, Jacob Atienza

**Publishers:** Fantasy Flight Games

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## Rules questions

### Can I place more than one order on the same system during the Planning Phase?

Yes — multiple order tokens may be placed on the same system and form a stack (the most recently placed token is on top); during the Operations Phase players resolve the top token of a stack when chosen (pages 5–6).

### Do routed units still count for movement or combat?

No — routed units are placed on their side and cannot move, trigger combat card abilities, or contribute dice or morale; they are stood back up (rallied) during the Refresh Phase (page 7).

### How far can my ships and ground units move with an Advance, and is there a limit per area?

With an Advance Order you may move ships within the active system and one adjacent system (ships can move to any void in the active system), and ground units along connected paths within the active and one adjacent system; each area has a unit capacity (voids 3, worlds as shown by skull icons) and any units exceeding capacity after resolving an order must be destroyed (page 10).

### If I attack with both ships and ground in a contested area, do they fight together or separately?

They fight together: combat is resolved for the contested area and all unrouted units contribute their dice, morale, and abilities to the same combat (attacker vs. defender) following the combat steps (page 12).

### Do I need to have a unit or structure in the system to resolve a Strategize order or buy upgrades?

Yes — to resolve a Strategize Order you must have a unit or structure in the active system in order to look through and purchase order and/or combat upgrades (page 10).

### Can units move through Warp Storms or are Warp Storms permanent obstacles?

Units cannot move through Warp Storms; Warp Storm tokens block movement and are moved during the Refresh Phase according to event card instructions (page 7).

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/forbidden-stars)
- [Forbidden Stars in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/forbidden-stars)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175155)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-19. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._