Battleshift is a game of mass starship combat. It is being designed to allow players to run hundreds of ships on the table in a two to three hour game. Ships have enough detail to make them interesting and distinctive, but not so much that they each need record sheets to keep track of them. This should allow small games of a dozen ships per side to be played as enjoyably and effectively as giant games.

Battleshift refers to starships shifting in and out of hyperspace during the battle. Though it is a staple of sci-fi, few games really let players use hyperspace tactically. With good planning, squadrons and taskforces can leap from one part of the battle to another, escaping from certain destruction or closing a trap on an enemy taskforce.

Battleshift also features a suppression system, which causes squadrons to lose accuracy as they take fire.

Fleets are bought at the start of the game, based on a point cost system. Fleets are composed of Taskforces, which are in turn composed of Squadrons. Each squadron may have 1 - 7 ships that must stay within 6” of each other.