Andromeda's Edge: Escalation Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Expansion Components
• Solo Components: The Struggle Against Unity
• 5-Player Setup
• New Factions
• New Event Deck
  • Setup
• Ancient Moons & Relic Modules
• New Region
  • The Nethervoid Action
• Solo Mode - Unity
  • The Struggle Against Unity
  • Setup
  • Turn Order and the Unity Conn
  • Unity Differences
  • Unity Turn Sequence
    • Unity Launch
    • Unity Return to Station
    • Unity in Battle
    • Unity's Final Turn
  • Unity Scoring

Expansion Components

• 16 Modules (4 types)
• 6 Ancient Nebula Moons
• 10 Event Cards
• 1 Nethervoid Region Tile
• 1 Raider Card
• 1 Raider Standee
• 3 Faction Cards (Darkstar Acolytes, Krawln, Nebulon Cloudpeople)
• 3 Faction Ship Upgrade Tiles
• 1 Player Station Mat
• 4 Neutral Ship Upgrade Tiles
• 1 Player Aid (not pictured)

Solo Components: The Struggle Against Unity

• 6 Solo Replacement Event Cards
• 15 Solo Replacement Development Ability Cards
• 24 Unity Action Cards
• 5 Track Markers (1 player/Unity color)
• 5 Unity Upgrade Tokens
• 18 Unity Conflict Deck cards
• 1 Probe Card
• 1 Probe Miniature
• 1 VP Marker (1 player/Unity color)
• 9 Leaders (1 player/Unity color)
• 9 Unity Commander Cards
• 6 Transports (1 player/Unity color)
• 1 Fighter (1 player/Unity color)
• 1 Science Vessel (1 player/Unity color)
• 1 Heavy Cruiser (1 player/Unity color)
• 1 The Conn Token
• 1 Unity Station Mat
• 6 Player Dice (1 player/Unity color)
• 1 Unity Player Aid (not pictured)

5-Player Setup

Game and player setup changes for 5 players.

Follow the rules on page 4 of the Andromeda's Edge main rulebook, with the following changes.

1. Starting Board: When playing with 5 players, the number of drawn planet tiles is 10 planets.
2. We recommend a game of medium or long length to give all players time to maneuver as needed at the Edge. Set the terminus marker to 60 or 70 points.
3. Include the new 3 factions during player faction selection. Those factions are: Nebulon Cloudpeople, Darkstar Acolytes, and Krawln.
4. Mix in the 4 additional neutral ship upgrade tiles to the stacks formed in player setup.
5. Escalation also includes a new tile, The Nethervoid, a new event deck, Shadows of the Void, and an associated C-Class raider, the Void Drake. In addition, this expansion adds relic scoring via new modules and ancient nebula moons. For information and setup instructions on each of these, see the sections that follow.

New Factions

New Factions Arrive at Andromeda's Edge

As the battle for Andromeda rages on, new travelers seek the Edge! The Nebulon Cloudpeople, Darkstar Acolytes, and Krawln are now available to play. Will you skim the nebula for precious resources, command a ghostly presence and lurk among the Alliance Bases, or infest the Edge planets with the power of your hivemind?

Check out more about these factions in the Andromeda's Edge Appendix.

New Event Deck

Shadows of the Void

Shadows of the Void includes 10 event cards that feature effects that depend on the proximity of player ships. Shadows of the Void is recommended for experienced players looking for new dynamic challenges.

Shadows of the Void was designed to be used with the Nethervoid, and the Void Drake raider as a set. If choosing this event deck, use the tile and raider as part of your game as well.

Important: Only players with ships within range of the Nethervoid will be affected by a Shadows of the Void event.

Setup

• When setting up the regions, place the Nethervoid on the specific spot on the board depicting the Nethervoid symbol. The other regions will be placed before and after the Nethervoid.
• Use the Void Drake raider as your C-Class raider. In addition to the regular starting raiders, the Void Drake begins in play. Put it on the Nethervoid.
• Use of Nethervoid does not preclude use of the other special region tiles added to the game.

Ancient Moons & Relic Modules

Buried among the remnants of the precursor civilization are ancient relics. According to legend, the relics hold a mystical power that is amplified by the presence of other relics.

Choose whether to use only the 6 ancient nebula moons (pink back) or both the ancient nebula moons and the orphaned nebula moons (teal back) from the base game. If using both sets:

• Shuffle all 12 nebula moons together and randomly place 2 in each nebula.
• A player who launches to a nebula that contains 2 nebula moons may claim only 1 of them.

All of the relic modules and 3 of the ancient nebula moons have a relic icon on them. At the end of the game, each player scores VP based on the number of relic icons they have on any modules and moons on their station.

Number of Relics	1	2	3	4	5
VP	2	5	9	14	20

New Region

The Nethervoid Action

When you Launch to the Nethervoid, roll battle dice for the ship you launched (eg. 3 dice if you Launch with your heavy cruiser), and choose 1 of the rolled dice as your result. You are not required to choose the highest result. This is not a battle. Do not follow the steps of battle, however, energy may be diverted to weapons for more dice, and cards and effects that allow adjustments to battle dice or targeting may be used.

Gain the benefit matching the number on the chosen rolled die:

Die Result	Benefit
1	Gain 3 energy
2	Draw 2 tactics cards
3	Gain 2 credits
4	Advance 1 space on any progress track
5	Gain a ship upgrade
6	Gain an available module of your choice

The Shadow Warp ability of the Void Drake sends ships to the Nethervoid during a Raider Strike - for better or worse!

Solo Mode - Unity

The Struggle Against Unity

Seeking a safe place to make a new home, your faction made a desperate journey to the Edge of Andromeda. Unfortunately, you were tracked by a Unity probe. Now Unity is sending starships to the Edge to expand their tyrannical empire, and you stand in their way. Unless you can establish a strong enough presence, it will all belong to Unity, and your faction will be dissolved.

The Struggle Against Unity can be played as a solo game in which a single player plays against Unity, or Unity may be added to a 2 or 3-player game using these rules. Unless otherwise stated, all rules for the base game apply when playing with Unity. Differences from the base game rules are described below.

Setup

For solo, set up the game as if for a 2-player game. When adding Unity to a 2 or 3-player game, set up the game as if there were 1 additional player. Other differences to setup are described below.

Unity Station and Commander: Unity uses a special space station mat for their fleet and a commander card instead of a player faction card. Unity commanders have 3 levels of difficulty. Each commander depicts starting progress track bonuses and a Command Wheel for gaining bonuses throughout the game. In addition, level 2 and 3 commanders have a unique special ability. Select 1 commander to use in the game and place it at the top of the Unity station. Return the rest of the commander cards to the game box.

Unity Setup: Choose a player color for Unity and set up Unity's player pieces as follows. (The default player color for Unity is white, but any color not being used by players may be used.)

• Take all of Unity's ships and place each of them on the indicated spaces of the Unity station.
• Put 1 of Unity's leaders on each Alliance Base in the usual manner, but do not put any Unity leaders in a random nebula. Instead, put those leaders on the leaders area of Unity's station.
• Put Unity's final remaining leader on the first space of the Command Wheel. This leader is no longer considered a leader. For the entire game, this piece will be considered the command marker, and is not subject to any leader rules, effects, or scoring.
• Put Unity's progress track markers on the bottom space of each progress track, and then advance them according to the bonuses indicated on the commander card.
• Corrupted Leaders: Choose an unused player color and take 5 leaders of that color and put them on Unity's leaders area of the Unity station. Unity may use these leaders as if they were their own.
• Shuffle the 3 Unity action card decks (I, II, and III), and place them on the appropriate spaces of the Unity station. Turn the top card of each deck face up.
• Shuffle the Unity conflict cards and set them beside the Unity station.
• Shuffle the Unity upgrade tokens and set them beside the Unity station.
• Put the Unity probe on the top leftmost planet.
• Replace the 15 development cards with their solo variants. The solo cards depict a Unity benefit for building the development.
• Replace specific event cards depending on the deck used this game with their solo variants (see Events, page 8).

Unity does not receive any tactics cards at the beginning of the game, but Unity will collect tactics cards during the game.

If playing with destiny cards, Unity receives 2 cards. These are kept secret from the players. At the end of the game, Unity scores whichever destiny card results in the most points.

Turn Order and the Unity Conn

Multiplayer: When adding Unity to a 2 or 3-player game, determine player order between the actual players in the usual manner. Then give the last player the Conn. Unity will always go after the player with the Conn. Place victory point markers for each player, including Unity, on the appropriate spaces of the victory point track.

In a multiplayer game, Unity's position in turn order will change throughout the game. After an event is resolved, the player holding the Conn passes it clockwise to the next player, and says, "You have the Conn."

Solo: When playing a solo game, the human player still takes the Conn to remind them that Unity is always watching them.

The human player takes the first turn of the game, and play continues as in a usual 2-player game. The human player's victory point marker is placed on the first space of the victory point track, and Unity's is placed on the second.

Note: Unity will always go after the player with the Conn.

Unity Differences

Unity will interfere with players' plans by occupying regions, battling ships, claiming moons, gaining modules, and building developments. They will not do some of the things that players do, and do some things differently.

Choices: Many of Unity's choices are made following specific rules described here. However, when all else is equal, and Unity must make a choice, that choice is made by the player holding the Conn.

Resources and Tactics Cards: Unity does not gain or use resources in the same manner as a player would. Unity does not gain any resources except tactics cards during the game, and maintains a "hand" of tactics cards. Unity never plays tactics cards. Any time Unity would gain a resource, discard the actual resource if necessary (such as one taken from another player), and instead, take the top card from the tactics card deck and put it in Unity's hand face down. Unity does not have a hand-size limit. Unity does not pay resource costs to perform actions. Whenever Unity must discard a resource or give a player a resource, the resource is a random tactics card from Unity's hand.

Moons: When Unity gains a moon token, put it in Unity's Moons & Tokens area. When Unity gains a nebula moon as a result of the Command Wheel, or by launching their science vessel, they gain the leftmost nebula moon. If none remain, they gain a moon from any planet.

Modules: Unity can gain modules, but does not activate them. Whenever Unity gains a module, they gain the cheapest module from the appropriate column. If Unity would gain a module of unspecified type, they choose the module of a type they have the fewest of. Whenever Unity gains a module, they place it in the appropriate module row of their station, and Unity advances 1 space of the appropriate progress track. Place damage markers on it if needed.

Launching and Moving Starships: Unity ships ignore some of the restrictions on launching. Unlike a player's ships, Unity ships may always Launch to an occupied space (like a fighter can with its Attack ability). Unity ships may also Launch to regions that are already occupied by other Unity ships. No Unity ships have Voyage. They cannot Launch to nebulae, and cannot move into nebulae.

The Unity science vessel has a special Launch ability. On a Launch, Unity immediately gains 1 moon from the leftmost nebula region.

Progress Tracks: Unity advances on progress tracks in the same manner as a player would, triggering the indicated effects, with the following differences:

• Science: When Unity reaches a discovery token stack, randomly draw 2 tokens from the stack and put both in Unity's Moon & Token area.
• Industry: Unity gains Unity upgrade tokens instead of ship upgrades.
• Supremacy: When Unity reaches a supremacy token, take the token and put it in Unity's Moon & Token area.
• Commerce: Unity gains victory points based on the vault bonus at the end of the game, however, this is solely based on the number of tactics cards they have, up to a limit of 15 cards scored.
• Civilization: When Unity reaches the tactics card hand size increase, Unity draws 3 tactics cards instead.

Ships: Unity begins with all of their ships, and they do not build ships.

Upgrades: When Unity would gain a ship upgrade, instead they gain a Unity upgrade token. Draw and reveal the next Unity upgrade token and put it face up beside the Unity station. Each upgrade token provides a one-time bonus, or ongoing benefit.

Damage and Repair: When a Unity ship becomes damaged, it is moved to the Scrapyard. The Unity heavy cruiser has shields, so it can take 1 damage without being sent to the Scrapyard. If Unity must damage a module, choose any undamaged module.

When Unity performs a repair action, it always repairs a module. Which module is repaired is not important. Only if all modules are repaired will Unity repair a damaged ship. If Unity performs a repair action but has nothing to repair, Unity gains 1 VP just like a player would.

Developments: When an action or phase allows Unity to develop, the development is built on the leftmost undeveloped planet that is occupied by a Unity transport, if any. Unity must have sufficient leaders to build the development, but does not pay any resource costs. They must discard the appropriate number of leaders to develop.

Important: If no transports are present or Unity does not have the sufficient number of leaders, Unity does not develop.

If a development is built, Unity gains the appropriate development card, advances on the indicated track, and scores VP for leaders in the developed region and each adjacent region, up to a maximum of 10 leaders scored.

After building the development, Unity immediately receives the following 1-time benefit, and then the development card is turned face down.

• Observatory: Unity gains 2 random discovery tokens from the observatory discovery stack.
• Factory: Unity performs 2 repair actions.
• Obelisk: Unity performs 2 repair actions.
• Spaceport: Unity gains any available module.
• City: Unity gains any available module.

Events: Event effects may be resolved differently for Unity. The following event cards have a modification if used in a Unity game. Unity does not gain the special effect as printed on the cards, instead Unity gains the following:

Galactic Dawn:

• Welcome to the Fleet: Unity gains an industry module instead.
• Fragmented Relic: Unity gains a commerce module instead.
• Energy Surge: Unity gains a science module instead.

Cosmic Twilight:

• Welcome to the Fleet: Unity will rebuild the collapsed development on their next development action.
• Energy Surge: Unity ignores this.

Shadows of the Void:

• Rising from the Shadows: Unity gains any module instead.

Unity Turn Sequence

The Unity probe follows you across the Edge!

Unity's turn always occurs after the turn of the player who holds the Conn.

Unity Probe: Each time you Launch a ship to a planet or Alliance Base (but not a nebula), move the Unity probe to the active region. The Unity probe does not move on Unity's turn or during a turn when you Return to Station.

Unity Launch

Step 1 - Roll D6: The result determines which Unity action card and which of the 3 sections of Unity's Launch Bay will be used this turn. If no ships remain in the rolled section, Unity does not Launch and instead Returns to Station.

Step 2 - Launch Ship: Take the next lettered ship from the correct section of Unity's Launch Bay, and Launch it to the region indicated on the action card. Some cards specifically name or describe a region, and others indicate a Launch to a region relative to the position of the Unity probe.

Important: If there is no permissible region in the indicated location, or no region matching the description, instead Launch the Unity ship to the region containing the Unity probe.

Step 3 - Resolve Region Action: Unity resolves the action for the region in the following manner:

• Planet, claim moon: If Unity launches to a planet, take the next moon token available in that region and move it to Unity's Moon & Token area. If no moons remain, Unity gains a tactics card instead.
• Alliance Base, no region action: Unity does not perform the action depicted on the Alliance Base, instead, advance the command marker clockwise to the next space on the Command Wheel. Unity gains each indicated bonus(es) in the space.

Unity Launch summary: 1 Roll D6; 2 Launch Ship; 3 Resolve Region Action; 4 Recruit; 5 Special Action; 6 Raider Strike; 7 Battle; 8 Discard.

Step 4 - Recruit Leaders and Collect Free Resources: Move any Unity leaders in regions occupied by Unity ships to the Unity station. If there is a bonus resource in any region occupied by a Unity ship, return the bonus resource to the supply, and Unity gains a tactics card instead.

Step 5 - Special Actions: Follow any special icons depicted on the top left of the Unity card.

• Develop: Unity builds a development, if possible.
• Event: Advance the event marker on the event board.
• Repair: Unity performs 1 repair.

Step 6 - Raider Strike: Check for a raider in range.

Step 7 - Battle: If any opponents are in the active region, a battle occurs.

Step 8 - Discard: Take the used Unity action card and put it into a discard pile, and reveal a replacement from the top of the deck. If a deck runs out, reshuffle the cards to make a new one.

Unity Return to Station

Unity Return has four steps: 1 Develop, 2 Command, 3 Scrapyard, 4 Return.

Step 1 - Develop: Unity builds a development, if possible.

Example: Unity will look to build a development on the leftmost undeveloped planet. In the case, Unity would develop, using their transport, building a city on the ice planet.

Step 2 - Command: For each ship Unity has remaining on regions of Andromeda, and each ship they have in the Repair Barge, advance the command marker 1 space clockwise on the Command Wheel. For each advancement, Unity gains the indicated bonus(es). If a Unity ship is repaired and moved to the Repair Barge during this phase, advance the command marker one more time for the newly repaired ship.

Example: Unity has 2 transports, 1 on the board and 1 in the Repair Barge giving Unity 2 advancements of their command marker. Unity gains 1 civilization module, then gains 1 industry module and performs 1 repair.

Step 3 - Scrapyard: For each Unity ship in the Scrapyard, but not in the Repair Barge, Unity gains 2VP.

Step 4 - Return: Return Unity ships to the appropriate sections of the Unity Launch Bay. As you do so, rearrange the transports so they are on the lowest numbered transport spaces. Remove damage from Unity's heavy cruiser, if any.

Unity in Battle

Unity's heavy cruiser will go to any lengths to destroy your forces!

Unity Differences in Battle

The battle steps are: 1 Escalation, 2 Diplomacy, 3 Battle Preparations, 4 Roll Dice, 5 Outcome, 6 Damage Ships.

Step 1 - Escalation: All Unity ships within range will join battles except for transports on undeveloped planets. Transports on undeveloped planets will not move. Note that Unity's heavy cruiser has infinite range, so it will join every battle from anywhere in Andromeda.

Step 2 - Diplomacy: Unity uses a special deck of Unity conflict cards. These cards are not tactics cards and are never mixed with Unity's collection of tactics cards. When it is Unity's turn to play a card during Diplomacy, draw and resolve a card from Unity's conflict deck.

No Tactical Operations: During Outcome, Unity does not gain a bonus from Tactical Operations when they lose a battle.

Unity's Final Turn

On their final turn, Unity will always Return to Station, unless all of their ships are in the Unity Launch Bay, in which case they will take a Launch turn.

Unity Scoring

Icon key

• Relic (game end scoring)
• Nethervoid
• Unity
• Location of probe
• Launch Unity ship here
• Unity Launch to leftmost undeveloped planet
• Nebula moon
• Null (used as a moon input); spend nothing to gain output

Scoring key: Same as player / If included in this game / Only for Unity

At the end of the game, Unity scores VP for the following:

• Tracks: positions on each of the 5 progress tracks.
• Developments: score based on track progress: I, II, or III.
• Quasars/Vortexes: score bonus points for adjacent developments.
• Damage: -2 VP per damaged module.
• Moon Tokens: 2 VP each.
• Discovery and Supremacy Tokens: 3 VP each.
• Vault: Unity gains 0, 1, or 2 VP for each tactics card up to 15 cards, as determined by their position on the Commerce track.
• Relics: score 2/5/9/14/20 VP for 1/2/3/4/5 relics.
• Leaders: on Station. 1 VP per leader.
• Destiny: scores the better of the 2 starting destiny cards.

Once totals have been determined, if you have a higher score than Unity, you assert control of the Edge, and drive out Unity. If your score is lower, it means that Unity now controls the Edge. You are thanked for your developmental assistance, but your services are no longer required.