Earth Under Siege: Flashpoint
Earth Under Siege: Flashpoint Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- List of Icons
- List of Components
- Object of the Game
- Winning and Losing
- Card Anatomies
- Rounds of Play
- Setting up the Game
- Making Checks and Rolling Dice
- Actions and Action Tokens
- Tactics Cards
- Focus Tokens
- Areas on a Game Board
- Determining Range and Line of Sight (LoS)
- Aware and Unaware Enemies
- Stealth Checks
- Blips and Spawning Enemies
- Security Cameras
- Rounds of Play in Detail
- Additional Rules
- Glossary
List of Icons
Stats
- Attack
- Defense
- Science
- Stealth
- Perception
- Movement
- Health
Attack Stats
- Range
- Damage
- Noise
Actions
- Order
- Move
- Reaction
- Free Action
Miscellaneous
- Alarm Triggered
- Ballistic Weapon
- Energy Weapon
- Exhaust
- Hit
- Movement (Focus)
- Starter Card
- Teleport
- Threat Level
- Upgrade
- Wild (Focus)
List of Components
- 6 Operative figures
- 32 Basic Enemy figures
- 10 Elite Enemy figures
- 2 Overlord figures
- 32 Game tiles
- 7 double-sided Dashboards (6 Operative/Squad Members, 1 Overlord)
- 1 Escalation Track
- 1 Soldier/Technician card
- 7 Specialist cards
- 3 Training Ground Cards
- 20 Threat cards
- 35 Condition cards (10 Basic, 25 Special)
- 6 Strategy cards (2 of each type)
- 87 Gear cards (12 Starter, 24 Strategy, 28 Allied, 23 Xethan)
- 12 Enemy cards (7 Basic, 5 Elite)
- 20 Wound cards (10 Injury, 10 Trauma)
- 180 Tactics cards (15 Starter and 15 Upgrades per Operative)
- 20 Special Ops cards
- 48 Spawn cards (24 Basic, 18 Elite, 6 Special)
- 13 Dice (6 White, 3 Red, 3 Focus, 1 D6)
- 24 Action tokens (12 Movement, 12 Order)
- 24 Upgraded Action tokens
- 40 Focus tokens (8 of each)
- 10 Overwatch tokens (4 Player, 6 Enemy)
- 15 Standard Blip/Patrol tokens
- 10 Elite Blip/Elite Guard tokens
- 1 Special Blip token
- 4 Soldier/Technician tokens
- 5 Objective tokens (4 'X' and 1 '!')
- 4 Data tokens
- 53 Map tokens (4 Insertion Points, 1 Extraction Point, 4 Cameras, 1 Electrical Box, 4 Defense Turrets, 2 Security Terminals, 16 Doors, 2 Security Doors, 4 Access Points, 6 Spawn Points, 4 Explosive Barrels, 2 Allied Armory, and 2 Xethan Armory)
- 20 Investigate/Surprise tokens
- 8 Special player tokens (3 Remote Explosives, and 1 each of Devastator, Holofield, False Signal, Support, and On-Point)
- 10 Armor/Barricade tokens
- 18 Negative Condition tokens (6 two-sided tokens of: Cripple/Immobilized, Bleed/Vulnerable, and Tracking Device/Mark)
- 10 Wound tokens
- 15 Damage tokens
- 8 Portal tokens
- 56 Valor tokens (23 Basic, 21 Upgrade, 9 Psi-Lab, 9 Weapons Lab)
Object of the Game
In Earth Under Siege: Flashpoint, the players take the role of an Operative of AEGIS (Allied Earth Ground and Interdimensional Security), a military organization formed from the allied nations of Earth to deal with the global threat. Players will carry out various missions to strike back against the invading Xethan, while simultaneously attempting to reveal the mystery of the enemy origins and their connection to the Vormacht.
Earth Under Siege: Flashpoint is a cooperative campaign game for 1-4 players who control a roster of Operatives that improve over time, both in their personal capabilities and their access to equipment. Being a cooperative game, players will be playing against the game itself, with all players winning or losing together.
Golden Rule
If the text of a card or mission ever contradicts the rules of the game, the card or mission text takes precedent.
Breaking Ties
Whenever there are two or more equal choices when resolving an effect, the players always decide which target(s) are affected, or which order the effects are resolved in, with the exception of choosing targets for Enemy attacks (see Resolving Enemy Attacks).
Winning and Losing
Earth Under Siege: Flashpoint is played over a series of missions that form a campaign. To win a mission the players must complete all Mandatory objectives listed in the mission briefing and leave the map via an Extraction Point (see the Campaign Book). The players lose a mission if any of the following occur:
- If all Operatives on the board are downed and all Mandatory Objectives have not been completed (see the Campaign Book).
- If the players would need to draw a Threat card and the Threat deck is empty (see Rounds of Play in Detail).
- If the players cannot spawn a full unit of Enemies when they would need to do so (see Blips and Spawning Enemies).
Card Anatomies
Anatomy of an Operative Dashboard
- Operative name
- Class
- Stats: Attack, Defense, Science, Stealth
- Focus token box and Starting Focus
- Negative condition box
- Available Action token box
- Exhausted Action token box
- Overwatch token
- Backpack
- Undiscovered cards
- Weapon slots
- Utility Gear slots
- Armor Gear slot
Anatomy of a Squad Member Dashboard
Squad Member Dashboards have all of the same elements of an Operative Dashboard, with a few additions.
The Squad Member trait is noted after the class listing (1), and they have a different colored background behind the character art to help make them easily identifiable (2). Each Squad Member also has a unique skill (3) that helps balance their lack of a Tactics deck.
See the Squad Member Rules for more info on Squad Members.
Strategy Cards
A Strategy card is chosen at the beginning of each mission.
Strategy cards may have additional setup rules and/or grant abilities that players have access to during the mission. Each Strategy card also has an icon in the upper right corner that designates which additional Gear cards players may distribute at the beginning of the mission (see example).
Condition Cards
A Condition card is drawn at the beginning of most missions and represents unforeseen situations that the team may not have planned for. These cards will either modify the mission setup or have an ongoing effect for the entire mission. At the beginning of a campaign, the Condition deck will consist of only Basic cards, but certain mission consequences will add Special cards to the deck that remain until the end of the campaign.
Special Ops
These cards represent data hacked from Enemy computers that provide additional missions the players can attempt. These cards will have a card name (1) and a Briefing (2) which will give some background on the mission and add some flavor. The Mission section (3) will show which mission in the Campaign Book to play, while the Consequences section (4) shows what happens if the players do not attempt the Special Op as the next mission. The Reward section (5) shows what the Operatives will earn for completing the mission. At the bottom is the card's level (6).
At the beginning of a campaign, the Special Ops deck will consist of only level I cards, but higher level cards will be added to the deck as the player's HQ level increases (see the Campaign Book for more details).
Gear Cards
- Card name
- Gear slot
- Gear type
- Gear card level
- Ability box
- Some weapons have a Ballistic or Energy icon.
- Class the card belongs to (starter cards only)
- Discovery Value
Each Gear card has an icon in the upper left corner which indicates which slot on the Operative's Dashboard the card occupies when equipped. Each gear slot on a Dashboard can only hold 1 Gear card, except the Backpack and Undiscovered slots which can each hold 3. Each 1 hand slot on a Dashboard can hold a Gear card with a single hand icon, but a Gear card with a 2-hand icon will take up both 1 hand slots.
The upper right corner of the card will have the Gear card's level (from I-IV) or a starter icon. Each class of Operative has 2 cards with the starter icon that they may equip at the beginning of any mission.
Some gear cards will give bonuses to the Operative's stats, listed as a stat icon with one or more dice after it. These dice are added to checks made for those stats while the card is equipped, even if the card is exhausted. Weapon cards only add their dice when making attacks with that weapon.
Upgrades (with an Upgrade icon) are attached to weapon cards (the card will list what type it can be attached to). 2-handed weapons can have 2 Upgrades, and 1-handed weapons can have 1.
When attaching an Upgrade, place it under the card it is attaching to, so that only the text box shows.
Rounds of Play
Each mission in Earth Under Siege: Flashpoint is played over a series of rounds which are broken down into a series of phases, which are in turn broken down into a series of steps. Resolve each round by going through each phase, step by step. See Rounds of Play in Detail for more details on each of these steps.
Refresh Phase (skip on the first round)
- Recover step: each Operative refreshes all of their exhausted cards and recovers 3 Action tokens.
- Draw step: each Operative may discard 1 card, then draws up to their hand size (default 5).
- Threat step: the On-Point Operative draws and resolves a Threat card.
- On-Point step: pass the On-Point token to the Operative on the left.
Operative Phase
- Action step: Operatives perform actions in any order until all Operatives pass.
Enemy Phase
- Alarm Check step: check for alarm trigger and flip Surprise tokens.
- Portal Token step: resolve any Portal Tokens on the board.
- Enemy Movement step: move each Patrol and aware Enemy towards its Target Zone.
- Enemy Activation step: activate each aware Enemy in initiative Order (starting with the highest).
Escalation Phase
- Escalation step (if alarm is triggered): add an Elite Patrol to the Spawn Pool.
- Spawn step: spawn each Blip in the spawn pool, one at a time, starting with Elites.
- Cleanup step: each player discards any Ongoing Tactics cards. Any other effects that state they last "until the end of the round" end as well.
Setting up the Game
The Campaign Book will go into more detail on beginning a campaign and setting up missions, but a brief overview is as follows:
- Set up the board using the tiles shown in the Mission Briefing.
- Set up the Escalation Track and place the Threat token on the number that matches the number of Operatives in the mission. This is the Threat Level.
- Set up decks: shuffle the Allied and Xethan Gear decks and place them near the Escalation track.
- Do the same with the Basic and Elite Spawn decks.
- Set up the Threat deck.
- Create the Reserves by placing all necessary tokens and figures near the board.
- Based on the Mission Briefing, set up the Display, placing each Enemy in initiative order, from lowest to highest.
- Place the Valor Bag within easy reach.
- Each player takes the Dashboard, Tactics deck, figure, class Gear cards, player Overwatch token and starting Focus tokens for their Operative. Each player also takes a set of Action tokens and places them in the Available Box of their Dashboard.
- Players choose a Strategy card for the mission and follow any setup rules. Take the Gear cards with an icon that matches the Strategy card and distribute them as the player see fit.
- Pick an Operative to be On-Point and give them the On-Point token.
- Each player draws Tactics cards up to their hand size (default 5).
- Each player places their figure in an Insertion Point on the map.
- Draw a random Condition card and put it into play, resolving any necessary effects.
- Players are now ready to begin the mission.
The parts of the game area, once set up, are:
- Map Board
- Escalation Track
- Gear Decks (Allied and Xethan)
- Spawn decks (Basic and Elite)
- Threat deck
- Reserves
- Display
- Valor Bag
- Player areas
- Strategy Card
- On-Point Token
- Tactics Decks
- Insertion Point
- Condition Card
Making Checks and Rolling Dice
Making Checks
Most times an Operative rolls dice, they do so as a "check", which will have a designated stat (Attack, Defense, Science, or Stealth) and a Target Number (TN). Whenever a stat icon is shown with a number after it (such as Attack 7), that indicates the stat used for the check, and the TN.
Dice Pool
To make a check, gather the matching number of dice shown for the indicated stat on the Operative's Dashboard, plus any dice added from other effects (Gear, Tactics cards, etc.). This is called the "dice pool". Then, roll those dice and count the number of Hit results rolled. If the total equals or exceeds the TN, the check is a success.
Rerolls
When an Operative "gains a reroll", it means they may reroll any number of dice in the pool for the check they just made. Operatives may use multiple rerolls on the same check, if able.
Dice Pool Limits
When building dice pools, there is a limit of 6 White dice, 3 Red dice, and 3 Focus dice.
Desperate Measures
If an Operative fails a check and they have no other way to make a reroll (including Valor tokens), they may place an Objective ('!') token on the Escalation Track to gain a reroll. This may NOT be done if the alarm is triggered. This may be done multiple times if the Operative keeps failing the check.
Dice types: White Die, Red Die, Focus Die, and the Hit result icon.
Actions and Action Tokens
Action Tokens
Each player has 3 Order tokens and 3 Movement tokens. These tokens are used to perform actions during the Operative phase.
Types of Actions
There are 4 types of actions an Operative can perform and an icon associated with each. Whenever an ability is preceded by one of these icons, it determines how to resolve that ability, as follows:
- Order: requires exhausting an Order token.
- Move: requires exhausting a Movement token.
- Reaction: reactions are triggered by certain conditions as listed in the effect and can be played whenever those conditions are met, even if it is not the Operative Phase. Reactions do not require an Operative to exhaust an Action token.
- Free action: these actions do not require exhausting an Action token and may be used at any time during the Operative Phase (except while another action is resolving).
Exhausting Action Tokens
When a player declares an action that requires exhausting an Action token, the player moves the token from the Available Box on their Dashboard to their Exhausted Box. If an Operative has no Action tokens in their Available Box, they may not declare any further actions (except free actions and reactions).
If an effect instructs a player to exhaust an Action token but doesn't specify a type (such as by being stunned), that player may choose which type of Action token to exhaust.
Example of exhausting an Action token: Marissa declares an attack and exhausts an Order token.
Recovering Action Tokens
Any time an Operative is instructed to recover one or more Action tokens (such as during the Recover step, or from a card effect that says "recover 1"), it means to move that number of Action tokens from their Exhausted Box into their Available Box. Some effects may give an Operative a bonus or penalty to how many tokens are recovered (such as the Second Wind Tactics card).
If an Operative has more exhausted Action tokens than they are able to recover, they choose which tokens to recover. Any unrecovered tokens stay in the Exhausted Box. Action tokens that have been flipped to their damage side may not be recovered (see Suffering Damage for more details on damage).
If an effect gives an Operative a penalty to recovery, that penalty to recovery applies any time they would recover action tokens, not just during the Recover step.
Example of recovery: During the Recovery step, Marissa can recover 3 Action tokens. However, since damage cannot be recovered, she only recovers 2 tokens.
RESOLVING ACTIONS
If all text on an effect cannot be resolved, resolve as much of the text as possible, ignoring the rest.
Tactics Cards
Each Operative starts a campaign with a deck of 15 starter cards (with a starter icon in the upper right corner) and will gain new cards as mission rewards. Whenever an effect instructs a player to "draw a card" without specifying a deck, it is drawn from their Tactics deck. If an Operative ever needs to draw or reveal cards and there are not enough cards in their deck to do so, the player shuffles their discard to form a new deck. Whenever an effect instructs an Operative to search their deck, always shuffle the deck after searching.
Each Tactics card has an icon in the upper left corner which indicates what type of action it is (Order, Reaction, or Free Action). Tactics cards also have Traits which are only used when referenced by other cards.
When a Tactics card is played, the top half is always resolved, but the bottom half is only resolved if the Focus Cost is paid (see Focus Effects under Focus Tokens). After resolving a Tactics card, it is placed into that player's discard pile unless it has the Ongoing trait (see below).
A Tactics card shows: card name, action type, card level, trait, card effect, Focus Cost, Focus Effect, flavor text, and which Operative's deck the card belongs to.
Ongoing
Some Tactics cards have the Ongoing trait which remain in play until the end of the round. An Operative may only have 2 Ongoing cards in play at once (if playing a third, choose one to discard).
Hand Size
Operatives have a default hand size of 5 cards. Players may exceed this limit, but only draw up to their hand size during the Draw step (Operatives over their hand size do not draw during that step).
Tactics Cards and Rerolls
If an Operative fails a check, they may discard a Tactics card to gain a reroll. This may only be done once per check.
Focus Tokens
The five Focus token types match the Attack, Defense, Science, Stealth, and Movement stat icons.
Gaining Focus Tokens
Operatives gain Focus tokens when rolling the Focus die or from other effects. Any time an effect has the Focus die icon the player adds the Focus die to their dice pool. After resolving the outcome of the roll, the player takes the indicated Focus token and places it in their Focus Box (if there are no tokens of the matching type, no token is gained).
Important: An Operative may not have more than 3 Focus tokens at once. If they would gain one while they have 3, they must either discard an existing token, or discard the new one without gaining it.
Wild: When gaining Focus tokens, the Wild icon indicates that the player takes a Focus token of choice.
Using Focus Tokens
Players may use Focus tokens in two different ways: to modify a check (Skill Boost), or to trigger the Focus Effect on a Tactics card.
Skill Boost
Before an Operative makes a check, they may discard a Focus token to add 1 White die to their Dice Pool. If they discard a token with an icon that matches the stat being used for the check (i.e. Attack, Defense, Science, or Stealth) they add 1 Red die to their Dice Pool instead. This may be done multiple times for a single check.
A Movement Focus token can be discarded at any time during the Operative Phase as a free action to have the Operative move 1 zone.
Focus Effects
When playing a Tactics card, the acting Operative may discard a Focus token that matches the card's Focus Cost to trigger the card's Focus Effect. This must be done before any part of the action has been resolved. An Operative may only trigger a Focus Effect once each time a card is played.
Example: After declaring an attack, Billy reacts by playing the Tactics card "One Shot, One Kill" and discards a token to trigger the card's Focus Effect. As a reaction, he also plays "Make it Count" and discards a second token to trigger that card's Focus Effect as well.
Areas on a Game Board
Zones
Each space divided by gray lines and/or walls on the board is called a zone.
Adjacency
Adjacent zones are zones that border each other along an edge, without an impassable obstacle between them (such as a wall or closed door). Zones diagonal to one another are not adjacent.
Impassible Obstacles
Walls, closed doors, and other objects indicated by the mission briefing, block Line of Sight and may not be moved through.
Zone Limits
A zone can contain any number of Operatives and up to 2 Enemy units at the same time. This is called the "zone limit".
Enemy Units: Enemy units are defined as either a single Blip, or as all figures that spawned from a single spawn effect. A zone may contain up to 2 Enemy units at a time.
Shove
If an Enemy ends a move in a zone that is at its zone limit, or is placed into such a zone, the players must choose one of the Enemy units to "shove". When a unit is shoved, place it in an adjacent zone that is 1 zone closer to its Target Zone (see Enemy Movement Step for details on Target Zones). If the new zone is also at its zone limit, then the players must shove again, repeating this until no zones are over the zone limit. Note that figures and units may move through a zone that is at the zone limit as long as they end their move in a legal zone.
If an Enemy is already in its Target Zone when it would be shoved, players may place it into any adjacent zone.
Example of a shove: A Patrol ends its move in a zone with 2 Basic Blips in it, exceeding the zone limit. The players need to shove 1 unit to make the zone legal, so they decide to shove 1 of the Basic Blips into an adjacent zone.
Determining Range and Line of Sight (LoS)
Any effect that targets a figure or object must have Line of Sight (LoS) and range.
Range
To determine range, count the number of zones from the acting figure to the target (do not count the zone the acting figure is in, but do count the zone the target is in). Range may not be counted diagonally. If the number of zones exceeds the range of the effect, that target may not be chosen. Figures in the same zone are considered to be at range 0 from each other, so effects with a minimum range of 1 or more cannot target figures in the same zone.
Line of Sight (LoS)
To have LoS, a figure must be able to draw a line from the center of their zone to the center of the target's zone without crossing an impassable obstacle or touching the corner of an impassable obstacle. Figures do not block LoS.
Figures may draw LoS through open doorways, but may not do so through more than a single doorway at a time.
Effects That Don't Use LoS
Effects that don't specify in their text that they require LoS ignore impassable obstacles when counting range.
Example: a Spawn Event for the Spotter Drones has an effect that moves an Investigate token in range onto the Escalation Track. This effect would move the token ignoring LoS and impassable obstacles since it does not use the word "LoS" in its text.
LoS example: Marissa and a Patrol cannot see each other because drawing a line from the center of her zone to the center of the Patrol's zone touches the corner of an impassable obstacle. Marissa and a Dominator have LoS to each other through the open door, but Marissa and a Blip in the furthest room do not have LoS to each other because LoS cannot be drawn through more than one open door at once. Marissa and a Basic Blip in the room with the Dominator also cannot see each other because an impassable obstacle is in the way. Finally, Marissa and a Grunt down the hall have LoS to each other.
Aware and Unaware Enemies
By default, Enemies begin each mission unaware of the Operatives. While Enemies are unaware, they do not react to the Operatives and are not considered to have LoS to them, even if they can draw LoS to a zone that an Operative is in. Once an Enemy becomes aware, they can draw LoS to Operatives as normal (following LoS rules).
The Alarm: During the Alarm Check step, aware Enemies trigger the alarm (see Triggering the Alarm).
An Enemy unit becomes aware if any of the following occur:
- If they have LoS to a zone where an Operative fails a Stealth check (see Stealth Checks).
- If an Operative makes an attack from a zone in their LoS.
- If targeted by an Operative with an effect (such as a Tactics card).
- If they have LoS to any other aware Enemy.
- If the alarm is triggered (all units on the board become aware, see Triggering the Alarm).
Example of Enemies becoming aware: Marissa performs a Move action and attempts a Stealth check to avoid being seen by the Grunt. Unfortunately she fails the check and the Grunt becomes aware. Because the Blip down the hall can draw LoS to another Enemy that is aware, it becomes aware as well. Both gain a Surprise token.
Note that the Blip does not spawn even though it became aware because no Operative has gained LoS to it yet.
Stealth Checks
As Operatives and Enemies move around the board, Operatives can attempt Stealth checks to prevent those Enemies from seeing them and becoming aware. Operatives can make Stealth checks in the following two situations to prevent Enemies spotting them:
- When gaining LoS to an unaware Enemy (or camera).
- When they move into an Enemy's zone (or vice versa).
The TN for the check is equal to the HIGHEST Perception value of all unaware Enemies (or cameras) that can draw LoS to their zone. If the check succeeds, the Enemies remain unaware. If the check fails, all Enemies that can draw LoS to the Operative's zone become aware.
Notes on Stealth checks:
- Stealth checks can only be made against unaware Enemies, not aware Enemies.
- Operatives do not need to make Stealth checks each time they move in an Enemy's LoS, only when gaining LoS to them, or if moving into their zone.
- If an Operative loses LoS to an Enemy, then later gains LoS to that Enemy again, they must make another Stealth check to avoid being seen.
- Enemies automatically become aware if they can draw LoS to a zone where an Operative makes an attack.
- Operatives with concealment gain 2 automatic Hit results to Stealth checks.
Stealth example: Oscar declares a Move action which allows him to move up to 2 zones. When he moves into the first zone, he gains LoS to a Blip which spawns a unit of Vormacht Grunts.
Although the Grunts have LoS to Oscar's zone, they are currently unaware so cannot see him. If Oscar wants it to stay that way, he must make a Stealth check with a TN equal to the Grunt's Perception value of 2.
Oscar rolls a number of White dice equal to his Stealth. He gets 2 Hit results, which is just enough to pass the TN of 2! Oscar is able to continue his Move action and does not need to make another Stealth check because he is not gaining LoS to any Enemies in that zone.
Enemy Movement and Stealth
When Enemies move around the board, Operatives can make Stealth checks to "hide" and prevent those Enemies from spotting them and becoming aware. This is done under the same circumstances as previously noted:
- When an Operative gains LoS to an unaware Enemy.
- When an Enemy moves into their zone (or vice versa).
Operatives do not need to make Stealth checks each time an Enemy moves, even if the Enemy moves multiple times in their LoS, only when they first gain LoS to that Enemy, or if that Enemy moves into their zone.
Play tip: Operatives can always choose to not make Stealth checks if they want. This is often done to save time when the Operative intends to attack the Enemy which would make them aware anyway.
Important: Enemies gain +2 Perception against Operatives in their zone. It's much easier to spot someone when they're very close, so be careful!
Stealth and Enemy Movement example: During the Enemy Movement step, Marissa and Olivia gain LoS to a moving Dominator. Both of them must make a Stealth check with a TN equal to the Dominator's Perception value of 3 to see if either of them are spotted. Both Operatives roll 3 Hit results which is enough to pass the check. The Dominator didn't see either of them and doesn't become aware!
When the Dominator moves a second time Kyle gains LoS to him and must make a Stealth check to avoid being seen. Olivia does not need to make a check because she is not gaining LoS to this Enemy (she already gained LoS to him during his last move). Marissa, however, DOES need to make a check because the Dominator entered her zone.
Kyle rolls 4 Hit results on his check, which is enough to beat the Dominator's Perception of 3. Marissa also rolls 4 Hit results but unfortunately the Dominator gains +2 Perception against her since she is in his zone, which means she would have needed 5 Hit results to pass the check. Because she failed, the Dominator becomes aware, gains a Surprise token, and now has LoS to all 3 Operatives.
Surprised Enemies
When an Enemy unit becomes aware and the alarm hasn't been triggered, place a Surprise token in that unit's zone (just 1 per unit, not 1 per figure). If that Enemy is a Blip that hasn't been spawned, they still gain the Surprise token but do not spawn (see Blips and Spawning Enemies). If a surprised Enemy moves for any reason, move the Surprise token with them. Being Surprised has no direct negative effects, although some abilities interact with Surprised Enemies as described in their text.
Blips and Spawning Enemies
By default, Enemies begin each mission as Blip tokens which are placed as shown on the mission set up diagram. There are 5 types of Blips:
- Basic: These do not move unless instructed to by game effects. They spawn Basic Enemies.
- Patrol: These move during the Enemy Movement step, even if not aware. They spawn Basic Enemies.
- Special Patrols: These represent a special unit used in certain missions. The Mission Briefing will describe how they behave and what they spawn.
- Elite Patrol: These behave in the same way as a Patrol. Effects that affect "Patrols" affect Elite Patrols as well. They spawn Elite Enemies.
- Elite Guard: These do not move unless instructed to by game effects. They spawn Elite Enemies.
Enemy Initiative and Spawn Cards
At the beginning of a mission, the cards for each Enemy present in that mission will be laid near the board in Initiative order, from lowest to highest. This is called the Display.
Each Spawn card has an Initiative value in the upper right corner and three different Enemy images on it, one for each Enemy that can appear in that Initiative slot in the Display (note that only one Enemy type will ever appear for a given Initiative slot during a mission). When Spawning Enemies (see below), a player only needs to read the text for the Enemy that is in the indicated Initiative slot, the rest is ignored.
A Spawn card shows: Initiative, Enemy Type, and Spawn Event.
Spawning Enemies
The first time an Operative gains LoS to a Blip token, or a Blip token is targeted with an effect, that Blip token spawns. When a Blip spawns, draw a card from the appropriate Spawn deck (Basic or Elite) and match the number in the upper right corner of the card to the Initiative position in the Display to see what type of Enemy to spawn. Then, place the indicated number of figures in the Blip's zone based on the Enemy's Spawn Value. Do not remove the Blip token unless the Enemy becomes aware (see Removing Blips).
When Enemies spawn due to an Operative gaining LoS to a Blip, those Enemies may become aware unless those Operatives succeed at a Stealth check to avoid being seen.
Spawning Thralls
Some spawn values have "+ X thralls". To resolve this, players look at the lowest Initiative Thrall in the Display (typically Vormacht Grunts), and spawn a number of those figures equal to "X" and add them to the unit.
Running Out of Figures
If there are not enough figures in the Reserves to spawn a full unit (including Thralls), instead of spawning that unit, spawn a unit of the next highest Initiative Enemy of the same TYPE (Basic or Elite), or spawn the lowest Initiative Enemy if already at the highest Initiative. Repeat this process until a full unit can be spawned. In the unlikely scenario that players cannot spawn a full unit of an Enemy type (Basic or Elite) when they would need to do so, they immediately lose the mission.
Spawn Events
Each Spawn card has a Spawn Event for each Enemy on the card which is resolved after placing the Enemy figures on the board (only resolve the text for the actual Enemy spawned, ignore the rest). This is done even if the Enemy being spawned isn't aware. Resolve any required shoves before resolving Spawn Events (see Shove). Any Stealth checks that Operatives want to make to avoid being seen by the spawned Enemies must be done before resolving any Spawn Events.
Spawn Event Requirements
Some spawn events have requirements in order to be resolved, such as only triggering for Basic Blips, or if the alarm has been triggered. If the listed requirements are not met, the Spawn Event does not resolve. If a unit cannot spawn due to running out of figures (see above), do not resolve its Spawn Event, instead, draw and resolve a Threat card.
Spawned Enemies that Remain Unaware
When Enemies spawn but remain unaware, that Enemy will continue behaving in the same way that a Blip of their type would behave (Patrols move, Basic Blips do not, etc.). Leave their Blip token in their zone (and move it with them if necessary) to indicate that they are unaware and still behave as a Blip.
Removing Blips
When a spawned Enemy becomes aware, remove that Enemy's Blip token from the board. They no longer will behave as a Blip and follow the rules for aware Enemies. When a non-Patrol Blip is removed from the board, it is placed back in the Reserves. When a Patrol or Elite Patrol is removed from the board, it is placed into the Spawn Pool on the Escalation Track.
Example: Olivia enters a room with a Basic Blip and a Patrol in it. As soon as she gains LoS to the Blips, a Spawn card is drawn for each. As a result, a unit of Grunts and a Dominator unit spawns. Olivia must make a Stealth check if she wants to keep the Enemies unaware of her. If she succeeds, both Blips will remain with the units to indicate that they are not aware and will continue to behave like Blips.
Unfortunately, Olivia fails her Stealth check and both Enemy units immediately become aware. When this happens, a Surprise token is placed in each Enemy's zone, and their Blips are removed. The Basic blip is placed back into the Reserves, while the Patrol Blip is placed into the Spawn Pool on the Escalation Track. During the Spawn step of the next Escalation Phase, the Patrol will return to the board at a random Spawn Point.
Security Cameras
Many maps will have camera tokens on them which pose as obstacles for the Operatives to overcome.
Technicians and the Control Room
Technicians in the Control Room (tile CR1) watch the camera feeds for signs of intruders, and each camera token has the Perception value of these technicians printed on it as a reminder. If the technician's Perception value changes for any reason, the camera token should be considered to have that new value as well.
Technicians in the Control Room may draw LoS from each camera token on the board, so if a camera ever has LoS to a zone where an Operative fails a Stealth check or ever has LoS to an aware enemy, all technicians in the Control Room become aware.
If all of the technicians that started the mission in the Control Room are killed, then all cameras on the map are disabled for the rest of the mission.
See the Additional Rules for more info on Technicians.
Camera Facing and LoS
Cameras only have LoS in the direction of their facing which is shown by the way the camera is pointing on the token.
Important: cameras cannot draw LoS to the zone their token resides in, because Operatives can hide underneath the camera, out of its field of vision.
Disabling Cameras
Camera tokens can be disabled through a Sabotage action (see Orders), or certain other effects. When a camera is disabled, flip the token to its disabled side as a reminder that it provides no LoS.
In this example, Oscar performs a move action and attempts to make a Stealth check to avoid being seen by the camera. Unfortunately, he fails his check. Because the 2 technicians in the Control Room can draw LoS from any camera token on the board, they see Oscar when he fails his check. As a result, both technicians become aware and gain a Surprise token. The Basic Blip in the Control Room also becomes aware and gains a Surprise token because it can draw LoS to another aware Enemy (the technicians). Oscar is in some trouble...
Rounds of Play in Detail
Refresh Phase (skip on the first round)
Recover Step
Each Operative refreshes all exhausted cards, and recovers 3 Action tokens from their Exhausted Box (see Recovering Action Tokens).
Exhausted and refreshed cards: Some abilities require Gear cards to exhaust in order to be used. These are indicated by the exhaust icon just before the ability's effect. When a card exhausts, turn it 90 degrees sideways. An exhausted card cannot be exhausted again, so any abilities that require exhausting cannot be used until the card is refreshed. Abilities and effects on cards that do not have the exhaust icon still function normally while the card is exhausted. When a card is refreshed, turn it upright once again.
Example of exhausting: Billy makes an attack with his Prowler and decides to exhaust the card to gain a Focus die. Billy can continue making attacks with this weapon even though it is exhausted, although he cannot Focus with it again until it is refreshed.
Draw Step
During this step each Operative may discard 1 card from their hand then draw up to their hand size (default of 5).
Threat Step
During this step the On-Point Operative draws the top card of the Threat deck and resolves it. If the alarm has not been triggered, resolve the top section of the card. If the alarm has been triggered, resolve the bottom section of the card. The Overlord Behavior icon in the lower left corner is only used during Overlord encounters (see the Campaign Book).
A Threat card shows pre-alarm text (top) and post-alarm text (bottom), plus an Overlord behavior icon.
Important: If the players would need to draw a Threat card and the deck is empty, the players have run out of time and immediately lose the mission.
On-Point step
The Operative with the On-Point token passes it to the Operative on their left. The On-Point token is used to resolve certain effects (usually from Threat cards).
Operative Phase
During the Operative Phase, players perform actions with Operatives under their control. Operatives may take a number of actions per round up to the number of Action tokens in their Available Box but do not need to take all of them if they choose not to. Players can perform actions in any order. For example, one Operative might perform a Move action, then another Operative might make an Attack, then the original Operative might perform a Search action, etc. The Operative phase ends once all Operatives are no longer able, or willing, to perform any more actions.
List of Operative Actions
Movement Actions
- Standard Move: Move up to 2 zones.
- Careful Move: Move up to 1 zone, then Take Cover.
Orders
- Act: Perform an action on a Tactics or Gear card.
- Attack: Make an attack.
- Discover: Make a discover check for a Xethan Gear card in your Undiscovered Slot.
- Overwatch: If no enemies have LoS to you, go into Overwatch.
- Pick up: Pick up a downed figure or object in your zone.
- Plan: Discard a card to gain a Focus token that matches the Focus Cost of the discarded card.
- Revive: Make a revive check on a downed Operative in your zone (Science 5).
- Sabotage: Take a Sabotage action if at an appropriate location.
- Search: Search an Armory token.
- Trade/Reorganize: Reorganize your Backpack, or trade with another Operative.
Movement Actions
To perform a Movement action, a player exhausts a Movement token, then chooses one of the following:
1. Standard Move
An Operative that is not engaged (see Being Engaged, below) may perform a Move action to move up to 2 zones. Whenever a figure moves, that movement must be into an adjacent zone (figures cannot move diagonally).
Opening and closing doors: When an Operative moves, before or after the movement, they may open or close a door in their zone for free (once per movement action).
2. Careful Move
A Careful Move follows the same rules as a Standard Move, but the Operative may only move 1 zone. After moving, the Operative Takes Cover in their zone. To indicate the Operative is Taking Cover, move their figure to the side of the zone. While Taking Cover, Operatives gain cover and concealment against any Enemies NOT in their zone. The Operatives retain these bonuses until they move into a new zone.
An Operative may perform a Careful Move and choose to not actually move, just to Take Cover.
Being Engaged: An Operative in a zone with 1 or more aware Enemies is considered engaged (an Operative that moves into a zone with aware Enemies may not move further with that action). While engaged, an Operative may not leave their zone by any means except a teleport or by disengaging.
Operatives do not become engaged by unaware Enemies and may move out of zones containing such Enemies without needing to disengage.
Note: Enemies do not become engaged and can move into or out of zones with Operatives without penalty.
Disengaging
To move out of a zone with Enemies in it, an Operative must exhaust an additional Movement token for each Enemy unit in their zone. If the required number of tokens is exhausted, that Operative moves as normal. If an Operative does not have enough available tokens, that Operative may not move.
Example: An Operative in a zone with a Dominator and 2 Thralls (Enemy unit #1) and a Headhunter (Enemy unit #2) must exhaust 3 Movement tokens to move out of that zone.
Automatically disengage: If an engaged Operative would be moved as a part of an effect, such as Oscar's Med Evac card, that Operative may not move unless the effect says they Automatically Disengage with enemies, in which case the Operative may move freely out of zones with aware Enemies without needing to disengage.
Orders
To perform an Order, an Operative exhausts an Order token, then chooses one of the following:
1. Act
An Operative may perform an ability printed on a Gear card, Tactics card, or other effect that has the Order icon.
2. Attack
See Resolving Attack and Defense Checks for more details on performing and resolving Attack actions.
3. Discover
When an Operative gains a Xethan gear card, it is placed into the Undiscovered slot of their Dashboard. These cards may not be equipped until an Operative has discovered how to use it. This is done by declaring a Discover action and making a Science check with a TN equal to the Discovery Value of the gear card. If the check succeeds, the gear card may be used by any Operative and may be immediately equipped by the Operative that performed the Discover action, or placed in their Backpack. If the check fails, the gear card remains in the Operative's Undiscovered slot until a successful check is made.
When an Operative makes a successful Discover check, they draw a Valor token (see Valor Tokens).
4. Overwatch
An Operative not in LoS of an Enemy may take an Overwatch action (remember, unaware Enemies do not have LoS to Operatives). When an Operative goes into Overwatch, flip their Overwatch token to its active side. When an Operative makes an Overwatch attack, or loses Overwatch due to some effect, flip the token to its inactive side.
An Operative with an active token may, as a reaction to any trigger, flip it to its inactive side to declare an immediate attack for free (even if it is not the Operative Phase).
If an Operative performs an Order or moves into a different zone while in Overwatch, they lose Overwatch.
Overwatch notes: A figure may not go into Overwatch if they already have an active Overwatch token. If a figure in Overwatch is stunned, they lose Overwatch.
5. Pick Up
An Operative taking this action may pick up a mission object, Objective token, or downed figure in their zone. Place a picked-up figure or object on the Operative's Dashboard, while Objective tokens are placed on the Escalation Track in the Objective and Data tokens box.
While a figure is being carried, it may not be targeted by Enemy attacks or abilities. An Operative may, as a free action, drop a figure or object it is carrying into their zone. An Operative may only carry 1 figure or object at a time. Important: While an Operative is carrying a figure, they move 1 less zone whenever they would move.
6. Plan
An Operative discards a card to gain a Focus token that matches the Focus Cost of the discarded card.
7. Revive
If an Operative becomes downed, another Operative in their zone may attempt to revive them by making a Science 5 check. If successful, place the revived figure upright, remove all negative conditions, and heal 3 damage on them. See Suffering Damage for more details.
When an Operative successfully performs a revive check, they draw a Valor token (see Valor Tokens).
8. Sabotage
An Operative in a zone with certain types of tokens may attempt a Sabotage action, which is a Science check, with a TN based on the type of token they are sabotaging (see below). If the check is a success, the Operative resolves the effects as indicated. If the check is a failure, place an Objective ('!') token in the Operative's zone. Many of these effects disable one or more tokens. While a token is disabled, it has no effect on play (cameras provide no LoS, security doors are not locked, etc.).
When an Operative successfully performs a Sabotage action, they draw a Valor token (see Valor Tokens).
Data Token — Extract Intel (Science 5): If successful, remove the token and place it on the Escalation Track in the Objective and Data Tokens box. These tokens are used to acquire Special Ops (see the Campaign Book).
Security Cameras — Loop Camera Feed (Science 4): If successful, flip the camera to its disabled side to show that it no longer provides LoS for Technicians for the rest of the mission (see Security Cameras for info on security cameras).
Electrical Boxes — Cut Power (Science 4): if successful, the power is cut to the building. Resolve the following:
- The Lights Out condition is in effect for the rest of the mission (see Additional Rules).
- Place 2 Objective ('!') tokens from the Reserves onto the Escalation track.
- All cameras, laser grids, and security doors are disabled until the end of the round.
Note: An Electrical Box can also be destroyed by dealing it any amount of damage (attacks automatically hit), but doing so creates a Noise 2 check in its zone.
Security Doors — Bypass security lock (Science 5): Security Doors can only be opened by a successful sabotage check. If successful, flip the token to its open side immediately. Once opened, Security Doors may not be closed again.
Security Scanners — Bypass security scanner (Science 5): A security scanner will be linked to a particular object on the game board (as described in the mission rules) which will be disabled when the linked Security Scanner is sabotaged.
9. Search
An Operative may take this action to search an Armory token in their zone to draw Gear cards. When drawing cards from a Gear deck, Allied cards may be equipped immediately, or placed in the Operative's Backpack. Xethan cards are placed in the Undiscovered slot of the Operative's Dashboard (see Discover, above, for details on the Discover action).
Armory tokens: Armory tokens come in 2 types: Allied and Xethan. They also have 2 sides, labeled "1" and "2". By default, each mission begins with Armory tokens on the "2" side. An Operative that searches an Armory token draws a card from the appropriate gear deck (Allied or Xethan), then, if that token is on its "2" side, flip it to the "1" side. If it was already on the "1" side, discard it.
Backpack and Undiscovered slots: Each Operative has a Backpack and an Undiscovered slot on their Dashboard that can hold up to 3 gear cards each. Cards stored in these slots may not be used in any way until equipped (cards in the Undiscovered slot must be discovered first).
10. Trade or Reorganize
An Operative may take this action to move any number of Gear cards between their Backpack and the equipment slots on their Dashboard, and/or trade any number of Gear cards with other Operatives in their zone. Operatives are not required to exchange cards, and Operatives may receive cards without giving any in return (or vice versa). Any cards that are exchanged this way may be immediately equipped unless they have not yet been discovered (see Discover, above). When equipping cards to a slot that already has a card in it, the existing card may be placed in the Backpack, or discarded. Operatives may not trade their class specific Gear cards.
Resolving Attack and Defense Checks
Anatomy of an Enemy Card: 1. Enemy Name; 2. Initiative Value; 3. Spawn Value; 4. Enemy Type; 5. Attack Area; 6. Defense Area; 7. Perception; 8. Movement; 9. Health.
Anatomy of an Attack Bar: 1. Attack Type; 2. Focus Value; 3. Dice Added to Attack; 4. Range Value; 5. Damage Value; 6. Noise Value; 7. Negative Conditions.
When performing an attack action, an Operative performs a series of steps to determine the outcome:
Making Attacks
- Choose an equipped weapon.
- Choose a target in range and LoS.
- Determine TN.
- Build dice pool and perform attack check.
- Perform rerolls.
- Determine outcome.
- Collect Focus tokens.
- Noise Check.
1. Choose an Equipped Weapon
Whenever an Operative makes an attack, that Operative must use an equipped weapon. Every attack has an Attack Bar, which lists the type of attack it makes, either melee, ranged, psionic, or AoE. Some weapons allow players to add Focus dice to their Dice Pool (which may require exhausting the card); those that do will have a Focus Value listed after the attack type.
The Attack Bar also shows a series of icons that describe how to resolve the attack, including any dice added to the dice pool when attacking with this weapon, the Range Value, the Damage Value, and the attack's Noise Value. If the attack applies any negative conditions when it hits, those will be listed at the bottom.
2. Choose a Target in Range and LoS
A figure must have range and LoS to its target to declare an attack against it (see Determining Range and Line of Sight). If a target lies outside of an attack's Range value, that target may not be chosen. Figures in the same zone are considered to be range 0 from each other, so an attack with a minimum range of 1 or greater cannot target figures in its own zone. For example, an attack with a range of 1-3 could not target a figure in the attacker's zone (range 0), nor a figure 4 or more zones away.
When targeting Enemies, Operatives must choose their target based on Initiative Priority (see below).
After choosing a legal target(s), read any text in the Defense Area of the target, as well as any other Enemies in the zone, and resolve any applicable effects. Many Enemy Defensive abilities trigger when being attacked, damaged, or killed, and sometimes when other Enemies in their zone are attacked or killed, so be sure to read ALL Enemy Defense abilities in the target's zone.
Attacking through doors: When making attacks through an open doorway, the target receives cover.
Initiative Priority: When an Operative makes an attack and there are different types of Enemies in the same zone, the Operative must target the Enemy with the lowest Initiative before targeting Enemies with higher Initiative values. This only applies to Enemies in the same zone, and only to attacks, not abilities or other effects.
Attacks that have accuracy ignore this rule and may target any Enemy freely. Enemies that are stunned may be ignored for Initiative Priority.
Example: Kyle is in a zone with a single unit consisting of a Dominator and 2 Grunts. He would like to use his Wetwork Blade to target the Dominator, but because the Grunts have lower Initiative, he must target them first.
3. Determine Target Number
The base TN for the attack check is the Defense value of the target. Take that value and apply any modifiers from cover and/or other applicable abilities listed in the Enemy's Defense Area. The resulting number is the final TN of the attack check.
4. Build Dice Pool and Perform Attack Check
The player takes a number of dice equal to their Attack stat on their Dashboard and adds any dice from their weapon's Attack stat, as well as any dice from other modifiers (such as from Tactics cards). If the weapon has any Focus dice, the player may add those dice to their Dice Pool now (exhausting the card if necessary). The player then rolls all of the dice in the pool and counts the number of Hit results rolled. If they rolled any Focus dice, they do not collect those tokens yet.
Focusing: Most weapons that add Focus dice require the card to exhaust to gain the Focus die, but some will have just a Focus die icon with no exhaust symbol, which means that the weapon adds the Focus die every time an attack is made with it, without needing to exhaust.
5. Perform Rerolls
A player may perform any available rerolls by either discarding a Tactics card (see Tactics Cards and Rerolls), or some other effect (such as certain Valor tokens).
6. Determine Outcome
If the total number of Hit results rolled is less than the TN, the attack check misses; skip to step 7. If the total number of Hit results rolled equals or exceeds the TN, the attack check is a success and deals damage equal to the attack's Damage value plus any modifiers. If any targets survive, apply negative conditions (if any).
7. Collect Focus Tokens
The Operative collects any Focus tokens that were generated during the attack.
8. Noise Check
If the attack has a Noise Value greater than 0, perform a Noise Check (see Resolving Noise Checks).
Performing reactions: Players and Enemies will often have reactions that trigger during attacks. An Enemy figure will always use any such reactions, if able, but players only do so if they choose. Stunned Enemies cannot use Reaction abilities.
Friendly fire: In some instances, Operatives may hit other Operatives with AoE attacks. When this happens, the TN for the Defense check is equal to the Attack check of the attacking figure.
When Enemies hit other Enemies with AoE attacks, the attack hits if the attacker's Attack value is equal to or higher than the target's Defense value.
Resolving Enemy Attacks
Enemies do not roll dice when making attacks. Instead Operatives make Defense checks to avoid being hit (Note: Operatives do not make checks against Enemy abilities, only attacks). This is resolved in the same way as resolving attacks above, but with these changes to the following steps:
Choose a Target in Range and LoS
When an Enemy must pick a target for an attack or ability, they target the nearest Operative. If there is more than one Operative tied for the nearest, the Enemy targets the On-Point Operative if present, or the most damaged Operative if the On-Point Operative is not present. If it is still a tie, players decide which of those Operatives is targeted.
The only exception to this rule is AoE attacks. During an AoE attack Enemies will target so as to hit the maximum number of Operatives as possible, even if the targets are not the nearest. If the Enemy has multiple options for targeting that hit an equal number of Operatives, they will choose the option that hits the fewest friendly figures.
Determine Target Number
The TN for the Operative's Defense check is equal to the Enemy's base Attack listed in their Attack Area.
Example: If a Dominator attacked, the base TN for the Operative's Defense check would be 5, which is equal to the Dominator's Attack stat.
Building Dice Pool and Rolling Dice
The player takes a number of dice equal to their Defense stat on their Dashboard, and adds any dice from Gear cards or other modifiers (such as from Tactics cards). If the Operative has cover against the attack, they gain 2 automatic Hit results to their check.
Determine Outcome
If the number of Hit results equals or exceeds the TN, the check succeeds and the attack misses. If the player failed the Defense check, apply the Damage value of the attack and any other listed effects (such as negative conditions).
Simultaneous Attacks
If a unit contains multiple figures with the same name (such as a unit of 3 Grunts), those figures resolve their attacks simultaneously.
The TN for the Defense check of a simultaneous attack is equal to the base Attack of the Enemy, +1 for each additional figure beyond the first.
Units With Mixed Enemy Types
If a unit has multiple type of Enemies in it (such as a Dominator with two Grunts), those units also resolve their attacks simultaneously, and do so based on the highest Initiative Enemy in the unit. When resolving such an attack, the TN is equal to the base Attack of the highest Initiative Enemy in the unit, +1 for each additional figure beyond the first (ignoring those figures' Attack stats).
Note: Figures from different units do not resolve their attacks simultaneously even if they are identically named (i.e., 2 different units of Grunts).
Suffering Damage from Simultaneous Attacks
When failing a Defense check against a simultaneous attack, the Operative suffers damage equal to the base Damage value of the attack, +1 Damage for each additional figure beyond the first. Negative conditions and other effects are only applied once.
Example: A unit consisting of a Dominator and 2 Grunts would attack on the Dominator's Initiative (since it is higher than the Grunt's) and resolve their attacks simultaneously. The TN for the attack would be equal to 7 (the Dominator's base Attack of 5, +1 for each Grunt in the unit). If the attack hit, the target would suffer 3 Damage (1 Damage for the Dominator's base attack, +1 for each Grunt in the unit).
Enemies in Overwatch
When an Enemy goes into Overwatch, place an Enemy Overwatch token in their zone (max 1 per zone). All Enemies in that zone are considered to be in Overwatch. These tokens do not move with Enemies, and if at any time there are no Enemies in the zone, remove the token.
Enemies in Overwatch will discard the token to make an attack against the first Operative that comes within range of any of their attacks, even if not all figures in the zone are able to attack.
Suffering Damage
When an Enemy suffers damage, place the appropriate number of Damage tokens near the figure's base to track it. If an Enemy ever has damage equal to or higher than their Health, they are killed and removed from the board.
When an Operative suffers damage, they flip one of their Action tokens in their Available Box to its damaged side for each damage suffered. Those tokens are immediately exhausted. Unless otherwise specified, players may flip either Order or Movement tokens as they see fit. If there is still damage to suffer after flipping all Action tokens in their Available Box, the Operative then flips tokens in their Exhausted box until all damage is taken.
Suffering damage example: Oscar suffers 1 damage. He decides to flip an Order token to its damaged side, which immediately becomes exhausted.
Damage and Recovery
Action Tokens that have been flipped to their Damaged side may not be recovered and stay flipped until healed.
Downed
When all of an Operative's Action tokens have been flipped to their damaged side they are immediately downed. Place that Operative's figure on its side. A downed figure can take no actions and is not affected by any game effects until they are revived (see Revive). A downed Operative drops any carried figures or objects into their zone and may not be On-Point (if they are already On-Point, immediately move the token to the Operative on their left). Whenever an Operative is downed, that Operative gains an Injury token (see below).
If an effect would cause an Operative to become downed without dealing damage, flip all of that Operative's Action tokens to their damaged side (and exhaust them) before downing them.
Wound Tokens
There are two types of Wound tokens: Injury and Trauma. Operatives gain Injury tokens whenever they are downed or are affected by an ability with the Injury trait. Operatives gain Trauma tokens when they are affected by an ability with the Trauma trait. During the HQ Phase of a mission, Operatives will discard these tokens to gain Wound cards (see the Campaign Book).
Injury and Trauma tokens are placed in the Negative Condition Box, but are NOT considered Negative Conditions.
Wound Cards
Wound cards represent various injuries and traumas that Operatives can accumulate. These cards are added to the Operative's deck during the HQ Phase (see the Campaign Book). Whenever a player draws cards, resolve all Wound cards in hand after the full number of cards have been drawn.
Armor Tokens
Whenever an effect says to gain x Armor, that figure takes x Armor tokens and places them on their Dashboard (if an Operative), or next to their figure (if an Enemy). When a figure suffers damage, they may discard Armor tokens to reduce the damage by 1 for each discarded token. An Enemy will always discard as many as needed to reduce damage to 0. Unused Armor tokens at the end of a mission are discarded and do not carry over to the next mission. Operatives may only have a max of 3 Armor tokens at once.
Healing Damage
When an Operative is healed, flip a number of Action tokens of the player's choice from their Damaged side to their Action side equal to the amount of damage healed. Those tokens stay in the Exhausted Box until recovered.
Area of Effect (AoE) Attacks
Attacks with the AoE trait target an entire zone, as opposed to an individual figure. Ranged AoE attacks target ALL figures in the target zone, including friendly figures (see Friendly Fire), while melee AoE attacks only target opposing figures. To resolve an AoE attack, choose a zone within range and apply the results to all targets (which may mean that some figures are hit, while others are not). Because AoE attacks target all figures in a zone, the Initiative Priority rule does not apply to such attacks.
Resolving Noise Checks
Each effect that generates noise will have a Noise Value. Whenever an effect has a Noise Value greater than 0, it creates a Noise Check. When this happens, it does so from the zone the figure is in, unless the effect says otherwise. To resolve the Noise Check, count a number of zones from where the noise originated equal to the Noise Value. If there are no unaware Enemies in that range, the Noise Check has no effect and nothing further happens (aware Enemies are ignored during Noise Checks). If, however, there are any unaware Enemies in that range, place an Investigate token in the zone the noise originated from (see Enemy Movement Step for details on Investigate tokens).
Noise checks and Blips: Important: If any unaware Enemies in range of a Noise Check are Basic Blips or Elite Guards, flip those Blips to their Patrol side.
Marissa makes a Noise 2 check. She does this by counting 2 zones away in each direction to see if there are any unaware Enemies in that range. The Patrol and the Basic Blip in the armory are too far to hear the noise. However, the Blip in the next room is 2 zones away and hears the noise.
Since there was an unaware Enemy within range of the Noise Check, Marissa must place an Investigate token in her zone. The Basic Blip that heard the noise is flipped to its Patrol side as a result. Marissa is in for some company!
Negative Conditions
Gaining Negative Conditions
Whenever a figure suffers a negative condition, take the matching token and place it on their Dashboard (if an Operative) or next to their figure (if an Enemy). A figure may never have more than 1 of any given type of negative condition at a time. See the Glossary for descriptions of each negative condition.
Removing Negative Conditions
Many negative conditions will state how they can be removed (see the glossary), and some card effects allow Operatives to remove negative conditions. In such cases, the Operative may choose which negative conditions are removed if they can't remove them all. Note: Injury and Trauma tokens are NOT considered negative conditions.
Valor Tokens
When the last figure of an Enemy unit is killed, draw a random token from the Valor bag and place it in the Team Valor Pool. If it was an Elite unit, draw 2 tokens instead.
Any Operative may use a Valor token in the Pool based on its action type (Order, Free action, or Reaction) and discarding the token. Discarded tokens are set aside and are not added back to the bag until the mission is over.
Players also draw Valor tokens for making successful Discover, Revive, and Sabotage checks.
See the Player Aid for descriptions of Valor Rewards.
Enemy Phase
During the Enemy Phase, Enemies will move and activate depending on their state (aware or unaware). The Enemy Phase ends after all applicable Enemies have moved and/or activated.
Alarm Check Step (skip if alarm has been triggered)
During the Alarm Check step, if there are any aware Enemies, trigger the alarm (ignoring stunned enemies). If the alarm was not triggered, flip each Surprise token in a zone with no Enemies in it to its Investigate side. Do not flip Surprise tokens in zones with stunned Enemy units, those units will remain surprised until the next Alarm Check Step. After the alarm is triggered, this step is skipped for the rest of the mission.
Portal Token Step
During this step resolve each Portal token on the board, one at a time. To do this, choose a Patrol on the board, and teleport it to the token's zone, then discard the token. If there are no Patrols on the board, flip the Portal token to its Patrol side.
Enemy Movement Step
Enemy movement is resolved based on if the alarm has been triggered or not, as follows:
If the alarm has not been triggered
Move each Patrol (Patrol and Elite Patrol), one at a time, 2 zones towards its Target Zone (see below). If there are multiple Patrols to move, they are moved in an order of the players' choosing.
Target Zone
A unit's Target Zone is defined as the zone it is trying to reach when moving. If the alarm hasn't been triggered, the default Target Zone for Enemies is the zone with the nearest Investigate token. Certain effects or conditions may change the Target Zone for Enemies.
Insertion Point
If an Enemy is ever in a position where there are no Investigate tokens on the board (such as at the beginning of a mission), that Enemy's Target Zone is the nearest Insertion Point. An Enemy in an Insertion Point will not move unless an effect alters their Target Zone, such as an Investigate token being placed on the board.
Example of flipping a Surprise token to its Investigate side.
Removing Investigate Tokens
If at any time an Enemy is in the same zone as an Investigate token, remove that token from the board and place it onto the leftmost open spot on the Escalation track. See the Escalation Phase for more on the Escalation Track.
Running out of tokens: If at any time you would need to place 1 or more Surprise or Investigate tokens and there are none in the Reserves, the alarm is immediately triggered.
Token limits: Each zone may only have 1 Investigate token in it at a time. If one would be placed into a zone where one is already present, place the new token directly onto the Escalation Track instead of into the zone.
In this example, a Patrol moves into a zone containing an Investigate token which is immediately removed from the board and placed in the leftmost open spot on the Escalation Track.
Unaware Enemies and Movement
When unaware Enemies move, Operatives may need to make Stealth checks to avoid those Enemies becoming aware (see Stealth Checks). If an Enemy becomes aware DURING its movement, that Enemy will continue moving (if necessary) until an Operative is within range of any of its attacks, or until it has moved its maximum allowed movement for the phase. Note, Enemies that become aware during their movement do NOT trigger the alarm since you only check for an alarm trigger at the beginning of the Enemy Phase.
Doors
If a unit would need to move through a closed door, they do so, and the door is closed again after they move through it unless the Enemy gains LoS to an Operative when the door opens, in which case the door remains open. Enemies do not move through Security Doors, and will not move at all if they cannot reach their Target Zone without moving through one (see Sabotage for more info on Security Doors).
If the alarm has been triggered
After the alarm is triggered, Investigate tokens are removed from the board and will not be used to determine Enemy movement for the rest of the mission. Instead, each Enemy treats the nearest Operative as its Target Zone regardless of range or LoS (ignoring downed Operatives). Patrol blips move 2 zones, as normal, but spawned Enemies move up to their Movement value. Enemies move until an Operative is in range of any of its attacks. If an Operative is already in range of any of that unit's attacks, that Enemy does not move.
If an Enemy activates and it cannot make an attack because the only Operatives in LoS are in its zone and it does not have an attack with a range of 0, it will move out of its zone if possible, and will move as far as able until an Operative is in range of any of its attacks.
Note: Like Operatives, when Enemies move, they must do so into an adjacent zone (they do not move diagonally).
Enemy Activation Step
During this step, each aware Enemy unit activates, one at a time, in initiative Order, from highest to lowest.
When an Enemy activates, they attempt to perform each attack and ability listed in their Attack Area from top to bottom (for more information on how to resolve Enemy attacks, see Resolving Enemy Attacks).
Units composed of mixed Enemy types (such as a Dominator with 2 Vormacht Grunts) will activate as a single unit, and will do so based on the highest Initiative Enemy in the unit (in this case, the Dominator). When activating such a unit, only the Enemy with the highest Initiative actually activates, with other figures in the unit supporting that activation (see Units With Mixed Enemy Types for rules on Simultaneous Attacks).
Example: during an Enemy Activation step, there is a unit consisting of a Dominator and 2 Grunts, a separate unit of 3 Grunts, and a Vormacht Heavy. Since Enemies activate in Initiative order from highest to lowest, the Dominator would act first with his Initiative of 3. The Grunts in his unit will activate with him instead of activating on their own Initiative. After the Dominator unit finishes its activation, the Heavy would act with his Initiative of 2. Lastly, the unit of 3 Grunts would activate on their Initiative of 1.
Escalation Phase
The Escalation Track
Each time an effect would place one or more Investigate tokens on the Escalation Track, place the token on the leftmost open space on the numbered track at the top of the board. When a token is placed on a spot that has an icon listed on it, immediately resolve the effect as follows:
- Patrol: Add a Patrol to the Spawn Pool.
- Elite Patrol: Add an Elite Patrol to the Spawn Pool.
- Alarm: Trigger the alarm.
Escalation Step
If the alarm has been triggered, place an Elite Patrol into the Spawn Pool. Otherwise, skip this step.
Spawn Step
During this step each Blip in the Spawn Pool is spawned at a random active spawn point (use the D6). Resolve each Blip, one at a time, beginning with Elite patrols.
Spawning and zone limits: If you would need to spawn at a Spawn Point that is at the Zone Limit (see Zone Limits), spawn that Blip at the next highest numbered Spawn Point instead, or the lowest numbered Spawn Point if already at the highest, continuing until a Spawn Point not at zone limit is found. If all Spawn Points are at zone limit, do not resolve any more spawns this phase. Instead, discard 1 card from the top of the Threat deck for each Blip that could not be spawned.
Cleanup Step
During this step, Operatives discard any ongoing cards, and any effects that were in play "until the end of the round" end now as well.
Threat Level
The threat level is used to determine the power of many effects, such as some Enemy Health totals, Threat cards, and Spawn Events. At the beginning of each mission, the Threat level is set to the number of Operatives. When you see the Threat Level icon, it means check the Threat Level and apply that number to the text in question.
Ending the Round
After completing all of the steps for each phase, the round ends. If the Operatives have not won or lost the mission yet, a new round begins, starting with the Refresh Phase.
Triggering the Alarm
The alarm can be triggered in 1 of 3 ways:
- If there are any aware, non-stunned Enemies during the Alarm Check step.
- If you would need to place 1 or more Surprise/Investigate tokens but there are no more in the Reserves.
- If a token is placed on the Alarm Triggered space of the Escalation Track.
Once the alarm has been triggered, resolve the following effects:
- Remove all Surprise and Investigate tokens from the board.
- Flip all Blips to their Patrol side (if not already).
- Remove all Technicians on the board.
After the alarm is triggered, the following rules apply for the remainder of the game:
- When resolving Threat cards, resolve the text on the bottom half of the card (ignore the top half).
- Enemies can no longer be surprised and Surprise tokens are no longer used.
- Investigate tokens are no longer placed on the board.
- Enemies are always considered aware, including Blip tokens.
- Effects with the Alarm Triggered icon will trigger.
- Noise checks are no longer made (all Enemies are aware).
Additional Rules
Barricade Tokens
Enemies in a zone with a Barricade token are considered to be in cover. Only 1 Barricade token can be in a zone at once and they do not move with Enemies. If at any time there are no Enemies in a zone with a Barricade token, that token is removed. Operatives do not gain benefits from Barricade tokens.
Lights Out Condition
The Lights Out condition can be put into effect by sabotaging an electrical box (see Sabotage), or through other effects, like the Black Op strategy. When the Lights Out condition is in effect, all Operatives gain concealment until the end of the mission.
Ventilation Shaft Tile
On many maps there will be zones that contain Access Points which Operatives can use to access the Ventilation Shaft tile and move about the map unseen. The Ventilation Shaft tile is a special tile that is set near the board, but not attached to it.
Moving into and through the Ventilation Shaft: To move into or out of a Ventilation Shaft, Operatives must do so through an Access Point. By default, Access Points begin the mission closed and, once opened, cannot be closed again. To enter the Ventilation Shaft, an Operative in a zone with an Access Point exhausts a Movement token and flips the Access Point token to its open side (if not already), then places their figure on the "Enter" zone of the Ventilation Shaft tile. When an Access Point is opened, place an Investigate token in that zone.
An Operative may exhaust another Movement token to move from the "Enter" zone to the "Exit" zone. From the Exit Zone an Operative may exhaust another Movement token to place their figure in any zone on the board with an Access Point (flipping the token to its open side, and placing an Investigate token, if necessary).
Kyle performs a Movement action to enter the Ventilation Shaft, opening the Access Point and placing an Investigate token in his zone.
Kyle exhausts another Movement token to move to the Exit zone of the Ventilation Shaft tile.
Kyle exhausts another Movement token and moves to a zone with an Access Point.
Tokens and effects while in Ventilation Shafts: If an effect would cause a token to be placed in an Operative's zone while inside the Ventilation Shaft (such as from a Threat card) place that token into the zone that the Operative originally entered the Ventilation Shaft through instead. If the Operative did not enter from an Access point (such as by using the HALO ability of the Black Op level II Strategy card), place the token at a random Access Point.
Important: While inside a Ventilation Shaft, Operatives are not considered to be on the board and may not draw LoS to anything outside the Ventilation Shaft. The only action that an Operative can take while inside the Ventilation Shaft are the Movement actions listed in this section, unless an effect says otherwise.
Operatives in a Ventilation Shaft may not play Tactics cards, use Focus tokens, or be affected by cards used by Operatives outside the Ventilation Shaft.
Enemies never enter the Ventilation Shaft tile.
Playing with Squad Members
Each Operative has a Squad Member version on the back of their Dashboard. Squad Members can be used in missions with less than 4 players and are designed to be easier to use than a regular Operative so that players can still experience the game with a full team of Operatives, but without the extra hand management.
Squad Members are used like Operatives but instead of a Tactics deck they have a unique skill printed on their Dashboard. Squad Members are controlled by players and follow all the same rules as Operatives for activating, attacking, moving, etc., with the following exceptions and clarifications:
- Game Effects That Target Operatives: Squad Members are considered Operatives for all game effects such as Threat cards or Enemy abilities.
- Draw and Discard Effects: When instructed to draw 1 or more cards, Squad Members instead gain 1 Focus token of choice for each card they would have drawn. If instructed to discard a card, the effect is ignored. Squad Members gain nothing during the Draw step.
- Wound Cards: Because Squad Members do not have Tactics decks, they cannot gain Wound cards. However, they can still gain Wound tokens (see the Campaign Book).
- Rerolls: When Squad Members fail checks, any player may discard a Tactics card to give the Squad Member a reroll. This may only be done once per check (not once per player).
- Support Token: When playing with 1 or more Squad Members, put the Support token into play at the beginning of the mission, active side face up. This token may be flipped to its inactive side once per round at any time during the Operative Phase (does not cost an action). When this is done, each Operative (and Squad Member) may either draw 1 card or gain 1 Focus token of choice, for each Squad Member on the team. Flip this token to its active side during the Recover step.
- Rewards: Because Squad Members do not have Tactics decks, they do not benefit from Tactics card rewards.
See the Campaign Book for more info on taking Squad Members on a mission.
Gun Turrets
Some missions will have Gun Turrets which function like regular Enemy figures, including beginning the mission unaware. They ignore any effect that would normally affect a Surprised Enemy, even if they have a Surprise token. Turrets have the following stats:
Perception 5, Defense 5, Health 3, Resilient 1, Immobile (cannot move).
Auto Turret (Ranged AoE): Attack 6, Range 1-4, Damage 2, Noise 3.
Technicians
Many missions will have Technician tokens on the board as either Enemy or Allied figures. These figures do not move and have no attacks.
Enemy Technicians can gain Surprise tokens, can trigger the alarm, and have the ability:
"Likely to be missed": when this Enemy is killed, immediately flip any Surprise tokens in its zone and place them on the Escalation Track. Do not gain Valor for killing this Enemy.
When setting up a mission with Technicians, place the Technician summary card near the board.
Soldiers
Some game effects put Soldier tokens into play. These tokens are not controlled by players but follow a simple set of rules instead.
Activating Soldier Tokens
Soldier tokens do not perform actions like Operatives. Instead, they activate at the end of the Operative Phase, one at a time. When a Soldier token activates, it does not move but will make a single attack against the nearest Enemy unit in range (Initiative Priority applies when choosing a target). If a Soldier token doesn't have a target to attack, give it an Overwatch token (use an Enemy Overwatch token), which it will use immediately if any Enemy comes into range of its attack (if multiple Soldiers are able to resolve an Overwatch attack at the same time, resolve them one at a time, stopping if there are no longer any valid targets).
If a Soldier token is killed, remove it from the board. If it becomes stunned, it skips its next activation.
Players may not use any effects to modify a Soldier's attack or defense checks. Any Enemy or Threat card effect that would affect Operatives, affects Soldier tokens too, when applicable.
Whenever a Soldier token enters play, place the Soldier reference card near the board (it's on the backside of the Technician card).
Empowered Enemies
Some effects will instruct players to empower an Enemy. To do this, flip the indicated Enemy card in the Display to its Empowered side. All figures of that Enemy type will now have increased stats as indicated.
If an empowered Enemy would become empowered again, empower the next highest Initiative Enemy in the display instead, or the lowest Initiative Enemy in the display, if already at the highest. If all Enemies are empowered when an effect instructs a player to empower an Enemy, discard the top card of the Threat deck for each Enemy that would have been empowered instead.
Glossary
Ability: Abilities are any effect on an Enemy card or Squad Member Dashboard that is NOT an attack.
Accuracy: May ignore Initiative Priority when selecting targets.
Adjacent: Adjacent zones are zones that touch along 1 edge without an impassible obstacle between them. Zones diagonal to each other are not adjacent.
Area of Effect (AoE): Ranged AoE attacks target all figures in the target zone. Melee attacks target all opposing figures in the target zone. Determine the attack result, and apply it to all targets.
Armor Token: Figures may discard these to reduce damage being suffered by 1 for each token discarded.
Attack: An attack is defined as any effect which has an Attack Bar.
Blast (AoE): Blast attacks ignore cover, and Noise Checks (if any) are made from the target zone, not the attacker's zone.
Bleed: At the end of a figure's activation phase, that figure suffers 2 damage. This token is removed if the figure has any amount of damage healed.
Check (Dice Rolling): A check will designate a stat (Attack, Defense, Science, or Stealth) and a Target Number (TN). Players roll a number of dice equal to the stat being used, plus additional from other effects or cards. If the total number of Hit results rolled equals or exceeds the TN, the check is a success. Otherwise it is a failure.
Concealment: Operatives gain 2 automatic Hit results to Stealth checks.
Cover: Operatives gain 2 automatic Hit results to all Defense checks. Enemies gain +2 Defense against attacks. When a figure attacks through an open doorway, the target(s) gains cover.
Cripple: Operatives move 1 less zone any time they move and have -1 Recovery. Can be removed by an Operative in the same zone making a Science 4 check as an Order. Enemies suffer -2 to all stats.
Disabled: When an object is disabled, all effects and abilities it produces are ignored, and it may take no actions.
Discard: When an effect instructs a player to discard one or more cards without specifying a card type, it means to discard Tactics cards from their hand.
Display: Cards for all Enemies in a mission laid out near the board at the beginning of the game in Initiative order.
Downed: When an Operative is downed, flip their action tokens to their damaged side (if not already) and lay their figure on its side. That Operative may not perform actions or be affected by game effects, other than a Pick Up or Revive action.
Equipped: A Gear card is considered equipped if it is located in a gear slot on an Operative's Dashboard.
Immobilized: Cannot move due to their own actions or effects, except for teleport actions. May still be moved by actions and effects created by other figures. Immobilized can be removed by an Operative in the same zone making a Science 4 check as an Order. If a figure teleports, remove any Immobilized tokens on them.
Immune: Cannot be affected in any way (including taking damage) by the thing to which it is Immune.
Initiative Priority: When an Operative targets an attack, they must target the lowest Initiative Enemy in the zone unless the attack has accuracy. This only applies to attacks, not abilities.
Injury: An Operative affected by an attack or ability with this trait gains an Injury token. Injury is not considered a negative condition.
Mark: Operatives automatically fail Defense checks (the check result is considered to be 0). Can be removed by an Operative in the same zone making a Science 4 check as an Order. Non-AoE attacks against marked Enemies gain accuracy and +1 damage.
Reserves: The Reserves are the piles of tokens and miniatures set aside during game set up, but not actually on the board.
Resilient X: Figures with resilient may not suffer more than X damage when suffering damage.
Robotic: Robotic figures are immune to negative conditions (except mark and immobilized) as well as psionic attacks and abilities.
Stun: Stunned Enemies are placed on their sides and skip their next activation. Stunned Enemies do not trigger the alarm, and may be ignored for Initiative Priority. Operatives that become Stunned immediately exhaust an Action token. Stun is considered a negative condition even though it does not have a token associated with it.
Taking Cover: As part of a Careful Move action an Operative can Take Cover (move to the side of the zone to indicate this). While Taking Cover, the Operative gains cover and concealment against Enemies NOT in their zone. Lost if the Operative moves into a new zone.
Teleport: Enemies with the Teleport icon move via teleporting. Teleporting figures ignore impassible obstacles, simply remove them from the board and place them in their destination without passing through any intervening zones. Teleporting Operatives Automatically Disengage with Enemies in their zone. Teleporting ignores immobilized and crippled while moving (the immobilized condition is removed after a teleport).
Threat Level: Determines the power level of many effects and is set to the number of Operatives at the beginning of each mission. When this icon is shown, it means to look at the current Threat Level and apply that numeric value to the effect in question.
Tracking Device: When an Enemy moves, if there are 1 or more Operatives with a Tracking Device, that Enemy moves 1 extra zone. Can be removed by an Operative in the same zone making a Science 4 check as an Order.
Trauma: An Operative hit by an attack or ability with this trait gains a Trauma token. Trauma is not considered a negative condition.
Unit: An Enemy unit is either a single Blip, or all figures that spawned from a single Spawn effect.
Vulnerable: Figures with a Vulnerable token suffer +1 damage whenever they suffer damage.