How Long a Game Actually Takes

A full game is two Phases of ten rounds. That is the clock. What actually consumes an evening is activation count and decision time, and both scale with the number of units on the table.

The formal length

| Stage | Rounds | Notes |

| Phase one | 10 | Ends with each player drawing three Tactics cards |

| Phase two | 10 | Same track continues; no reset |

Rounds with no tokens are skipped, so a twenty-round game is not twenty beats of play - it is however many activations the tokens generate.

Real timings

| Format | Miniatures | Typical time |

| Starter 3v3, first game | 6 | 75-90 min including setup |

| Starter 3v3, experienced | 6 | 45-60 min |

| Deluxe 5v5 | 13 | 100-140 min |

| 4-player team game | 10-13 | 120-180 min |

Setup is about ten minutes once you know the steps, and painting time is not included - see gunpla basics for build times.

What makes a game run long

High activation counts. Three units each acting six or seven times is more decisions than three units acting three times. Faster lists are not shorter games.

Slow weapon costs. A squad full of expensive weapons sits idle for rounds at a time, which paradoxically feels slow but plays quick - fewer decisions per round.

Decision time, not dice time. Rolling four dice takes seconds. Deciding whether to spend two timeline on Energize can take a minute. Groups that talk through every activation routinely double the length.

Scenario token count. Objectives and garrisons add board state to track. A scenario with five objectives plays noticeably longer than one with two.

How to finish in an evening

• Set a round cap and agree it at setup. Twenty rounds is the official end; nothing stops you stopping at the end of Phase one for a learning game.
• Play the teaching scenarios first. They exist to be short.
• Use a chess clock for the last five rounds if your group argues.
• Keep the score visible. Arguments about who is ahead cost more time than any rules question.

What a first session looks like

Realistically: 15 minutes opening the box and checking tokens, 20-25 minutes building six miniatures if you build first, 10 minutes setup, 45-60 minutes for the game. That is under two hours for a complete first experience, which is why the starter box is a low-risk purchase.

If you are deciding between the starter and the deluxe, the time difference is the main hidden cost: 5v5 is roughly double the game, not 1.6 times, because activations scale with units. See starter vs deluxe.

How many activations a game actually contains

A twenty-round game is not twenty activations. Count them: each unit starts somewhere on the track and moves forward by its costs, so a value-1 unit with a 3-cost weapon lands roughly every four rounds, and a value-3 unit with a 6-cost weapon lands every nine.

| Squad shape | Activations per Phase, 3 units | Per game |

| Three fast units (TL 1, cheap weapons) | 9-12 | 18-24 |

| Mixed (TL 1-2, mid weapons) | 7-9 | 14-18 |

That is the number that decides session length, not the round count. A heavy squad makes fewer decisions in the same twenty rounds, which is why some games feel long and some feel rushed at the same clock.

What to cut for a 45-minute session

Play one Phase. Nothing breaks: the track continues, both players keep their hands, and you simply stop at the end of round ten and compare VP. It is the cleanest way to teach, and it is how most demo games are run.

The only thing you lose is the mid-game draw of three Tactics cards, which is a real part of the design. If you cut the game short, let both players draw before the final rounds so the hand-management layer still shows up.