Thunder's Edge is a planet based battle between up to five factions. Units are "conventional forces" (cannon fodder) and squadrons of mechs. Board is set-up from hex tiles like other FFG games, but terrain has only minimal effect. Combat is "bucket of dice" with players choosing their own losses. Some hexs have locations within them that are treated as separate spaces; these have a defensive value that allows the defender to ignore a number of hits, and a resource value. These location can only be attacked from the "surrounding" hex, or they may be besieged.

There is a "Senate phase" which plays like Pit. Players trade cards until they have enough support to declare themselves "Consul", which gives victory points and a sequence of play advantage for that turn. The political cards are also used to achieve "missions" (another deck of cards) which also score victory points. These missions are not easy to achieve. The Mission deck also contains action cards that affect combats and allow control of off planet locations (more VPs and special powers).

Resources are used to buy units, and some missions.

There is a Tension index that increases every turn and when players play the more difficult missions. When this reaches 30 the game ends and VPs are counted. There is an instant win if one play controls the capital and three other "population centers", (one of the three types of locations.)

The players (up to five) are each a Faction, and have a special ability.

Good points: Unit mix is interesting; cheap Conventional forces, two grades of mechs that can do "breakthroughs" (second combat), artillery and Obliterators which have the best attack but bad defense and movement. Units drop onto the board into friendly occupied, or empty hexes (not locations). If you concentrate your forces to attack. you are leaving empty space for others to drop into. Units on the board have low movement which makes drops critical. Defensive values allow make attacking tricky, while sieges are appropriately time consuming. Landing sites, built by players to allow more efficient drops, are expensive and can be captured. Rules are simple (16 pages), with good examples.

Bad: Much of the weight of the game is do to the (unmentioned on box) insert of "GolfMania", a game good only as a gag gift to a non-gaming golfer There are not many terrain effects. Clear and Badlands hexes are identical. Mountain and Volcanic hexes have only small differences. There is too much money. Payers can easily buy more units than they have room to land. The counter set is a limitation on units, so players that are doing well will quickly run out of units to buy. (see below for expansion effect on this).

The Expansion Set includes more hexes, with two more terrain types; plateau (natural landing site) and acid lake (impassable to all but flying units. Two new unit types are given: Siege (reduces defense values) and Gry-phon (flyer). Also new are Shield Generators which protect against artillery and bombardment from space.

Bombardment comes from new Fleet cards that represent a space navy. They may bombard the surface or fight each other. The largest of three types is also worth VPs. A new off-planet location is a shipyard. Also new mission cards and five new factions (but still limited to 5 players) come with the expansion. I have not played with the expansion yet, but the Fleet cards are expensive enough to solve the money problem. This seems typical for FFG; the game is designed to work right only with the expansion.

FFG has clarified that the six Military Lobby Bloc members are not senators, only the General and the Admiral.