Infinity Defiance Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What Is Infinity Defiance?
• Contents
• First Game
  • Preparation
  • Equipment Slots
  • Character Card
  • In Contact
• Playing the Mission
  • Activations Phase
  • Allies
  • AutoMediKit
• Enemies
  • Selected Units, Deployed Units and Available Units
  • Activation
  • AI Cards
  • Instruction
  • Hackable
  • Keywords
• Additional Rules
  • How to Solve Contradictions
  • Movement and Line of Sight
  • Aggro
  • Unconsciousness and Death
  • Consequences
  • Reinforcements
  • Alert Level
  • States
• Campaign Game
  • Beginning the Campaign
  • Playing the Missions
  • At the End of a Mission
  • End of the Campaign
  • Specialty Cards

What Is Infinity Defiance?

In Infinity Defiance, up to four players control a commando unit of four elite soldiers in the Infinity Universe. The Characters have been recruited by Bureau Aegis of O-12, with the goal of foiling the Evolved Intelligence's invasion plans. To achieve that goal, they must travel through the Acheron wormhole, infiltrate into alien territory and, once there, destroy the new wormhole gate that is being built, which would give the EI the necessary jump stability to launch a full-scale attack.

Through several missions, the Characters will gain new skills and access to the best equipment and armament, until they reach the final mission, when the fate of the Human Sphere will be in their hands.

Each mission is a survival challenge that's played on a modular board, the configuration of which is detailed in the Campaign booklet included in this game. This manual is meant to teach you how to play, based on the DEMO mission. The rules to play the campaign are explained further below (see "Campaign Rules").

Contents

The game includes: Character cards, State cards, Tiles, Loot cards, Miniatures, Specialty cards, Dice, Consequence cards, Equipment cards, Unit cards, Initiative cards, Damage tokens, Aggro tokens, the Control Panel, A.I. cards, and Symbol tokens.

First Game

The best way to learn how to play is by playing. Extraction is the first mission of the Campaign and it's designed so the players are able to learn the basic concepts of the game while enjoying the game. All missions require the same preparation by the players.

Preparation

1. You will need the tiles A00, A02, A07 and A08. Place them on the table as shown in the graphic.
2. Players must then choose between the four starting Characters: Uma Sørensen, Cadin "Firststrike", Qiang Gao, and Jazmín "Jazz". Each player places their corresponding Character card in their play area. Next, look for the Equipment cards listed on the Character card as "starting equipment" and place them occupying the appropriate equipment slots (see Equipment Slots). AutoMediKits do not occupy space in a Character's inventory.
3. Each player places the miniature that represents their Character on one of the deployment spaces of the mission.
4. The mission Instructions will tell you how to build the Selected Units deck and the Available Units deck. For the DEMO mission, build the Selected Units deck with the following cards: 1 Nox Hacker, 1 Nox Spec-Ops, 1 Nox Leader, 1 Cadmus and 1 Gwailos. Those are all the enemy units that can appear during the mission. Build the Available Units deck by taking the Nox Hacker from the Selected Units deck.
5. Take the Nox Spec-Ops Unit card from the Selected Units deck and place it next to the board as shown in the graphic. Place all the miniatures of the Unit on the board, on the spaces shown in the graphic. From this point on, they become Deployed Units.
6. Build the Initiative deck: take the Initiative card corresponding to each Deployed Unit and shuffle them. Place the deck face down next to the Unit Cards.
7. Shuffle the AI cards into a deck and place it face down in the play area.
8. Place the Reinforcements tokens next to the Available Units deck.
9. Shuffle the Loot cards into a deck and place it face down in the play area.
10. Place the Round marker in the first position.
11. Place the Alert Level indicator in the position marked by the mission's Initial Alert Level. In the case of DEMO mission, the position is 1.
12. Place the Console card and the Symbols tokens next to the board.
13. Place the dice and tokens (Damage and Aggro) in reach of the players.

Equipment Slots

The Character card has tabs with the location icons Head, Torso, Hands, and Backpack. If an Equipment Card has any of these icons on its tabs, the Character can only be equipped with it if they have free tabs with matching icons. For example if the Character is equipped with a pistol on one Hands tab, they cannot also be equipped with a heavy weapon which requires two Hands tabs.

Example: Cadin has both hands occupied, so he cannot equip the Pistol. The Head tab is free, so he can equip the Helmet.

Equipment cards can have more than one tab, each indicating a different location. In this case, only one tab needs to be matched with the corresponding location tabs on the Character card. Any unused tabs on the Equipment card are ignored for all purposes.

Example: 'Jazz's' Hacking device can be equipped by occupying the Head or a Hand.

If the Equipment card does not have a location tab, the item it represents is considered to be very light or small in size, so is easily carried by the Character without occupying a location. When your Character adds this kind of equipment to their inventory, simply place the Equipment card next to the Character card, in your play area.

Being Equipped

For a Character to be equipped with an item, that Equipment card must be matched to at least one location tab, other than the Backpack. Characters cannot use an item unless they are equipped with it.

Backpack

The Backpack represents the capacity of the Character to carry additional equipment that is not being actively used. This can be represented on the miniature by a campaign backpack, compartments in their armor, harnesses, etc. Any Equipment card tab can be matched to a Backpack tab even if the icons do not match, but the Character will not count as being equipped with that item.

Example: Qiang cannot equip the Pistol, since both his hands are occupied, but he can assign it to a tab in his Backpack.

Character Card

The Character card shows the Character's name, special skills, location tabs, and the following Attributes:

• Maximum Aggro.
• Speed.
• Defense.
• Wounds.
• Specialty categories to which your Character has access, and their starting equipment.

In Contact

Two spaces are adjacent if they share a side. The shared side cannot belong to a wall, a closed door, or the purple side of a blocked space.

A miniature or game element (Console, Container, etc.) is in Contact with another miniature or game element if the spaces on which they stand are adjacent to one another.

Example: Cadin is in Contact with both Nox. 'Jazz' is in Contact with Nox #1. Qiang and Uma are not in Contact with each other, since there is a wall between them.

Playing the Mission

All missions begin with one of the players reading out loud the introductory text that puts the Characters in context.

Next, read carefully the Instructions section, which may require you to modify the configuration of some game component before starting to play.

The missions are played across a variable number of Rounds. Each Round is divided into three phases.

1. Start Phase. During this phase, all Effects that are indicated to be applied "At the beginning of the Round" are applied.
2. Activations Phase. During this phase, Activations alternate between the Characters and the Enemy Units. First, the players activate a Character and then the AI activates all the miniatures that compose one Unit. This sequence is followed until both sides have activated all their Units and Characters once.
3. End Phase. During this phase, all Effects that are indicated to be applied "At the end of the Round" are applied.

Next, do the following, in order:

• Characters untap all tapped cards in their play area.
• Check if the Alert Level reaches Maximum Alert (see Alert Level).
• Check if there are Available Units on the board that can Respawn (see Reinforcements).
• Check if there are Units on the board with a Replacements value (see Reinforcements).

Activations Phase

Characters

During the Activations phase, each Character can perform up to two Actions, choosing any of the following Actions:

• Move.
• Attack.
• Hack.
• Equip.
• Interact.

Characters can repeat Actions, for example: Move and Move, or Attack and Attack.

In addition to these Actions, the Character can perform any Action described on their Character card, Specialty card (see Campaign Rules), Software card loaded on their Hacking device, or Equipment card they are equipped with. Free Actions don't count towards the maximum number of Actions allowed.

Move

When a Character performs the Move Action, they gain as many movement points as the value of their Speed Attribute.

During their Activation, a Character can spend one movement point to advance from their space to one of the six adjacent spaces. Movement points can be spent at any moment during the Activation, before and after performing any other Action. At the end of the Activation, unspent Movement points are lost.

A Character can pass through spaces occupied by other Characters, Allies, and Enemies, but cannot finish their movement on those spaces or perform Actions on them. The cost of entering a space occupied by an Enemy is two movement points.

The cost in movement points can also be altered due to the type of space (see Movement and Line of Sight).

Attack

This action allows the Character to perform an Attack against an Enemy. Choose one of the Attacks of the Weapons your Character is equipped with:

To perform an Attack, the Line of Sight and Range requirements to the target must be met.

Example: Cadin spends three Movement Points (going through 'Jazz's' space). He then attacks Nox #2. He still has 3 Movement Points available, which he spends in moving through the space of Nox #2 and finishing in Contact with Nox #1.

Line of Sight

To determine if there is Line of Sight to a target, it must be possible to draw a straight line from a corner of the Attacker's space to a corner or side of the space occupied by the target, without that line being obstructed by walls, closed doors, purple borders, red borders, or spaces occupied by Characters, Allies, or Enemies.

Range

Range sets the minimum and maximum distance in spaces that the Enemy must be within to be a valid target of the Action.

• The space occupied by the Attacker that declares the Attack is at Range zero, the adjacent spaces are at Range one, the following are at Range two, etc.
• To measure the distance between two spaces, count the spaces between them. Include the final space but not the starting one and always trace the shortest route, even through blocked or occupied spaces.

Range is expressed next to an icon (a Line of Sight required icon, or a no Line of Sight required icon) that indicates if having Line of Sight to the target of the Action is necessary. If the Line of Sight required icon is used, both Range and Line of Sight to the target are required. If the no Line of Sight required icon is used, a target in Range can be selected without requiring Line of Sight.

Example: Hacking devices do not need Line of Sight to the target, so all 'Jazz' needs is her target being within her device's Range (0-6). In this case, the Cadmus is in Range 4, so 'Jazz' can perform her Skullbuster program against him.

Resolving the Attack

To perform an Attack, a Face to Face Roll is made in which the Attacker rolls the dice indicated by the Attack Roll of the weapon being used (Attack Roll), while the Defender rolls the dice as indicated by their Defense Attribute (Defense Roll). Both the Attack and Defense rolls are Combat rolls, and can be modified by Equipment cards, Specialty cards, skills, and other in-game Effects.

By rolling dice, both the Attacker and the Defender can spend the symbols obtained to activate Switches. Symbols that haven't been spent in Switches will be used during the resolution of the Roll.

Example: Jazmín 'Jazz' performs her program, Geist-Aid, on her partner Qiang (in reach 5) by performing a Simple Roll: Tosses the dice and gets Success, Block, Blank, Blank. Before resolving the Roll, she decides to spend Block+Blank to activate the Switch, applying the Focused State on Uma (in Range 4). The final result of the Roll is Success+Blank; since in the result there is at least one Success, 'Jazz' applies the effect of the program (imposing the Focused State on Qiang).

Example: Cadin performs an Attack with his Rippers against the Nox 'Spec-Ops'. The Attacks are resolved with a Face to Face Roll between the Attack value of the weapon and the target's Defense. Dice are rolled at the same time. Cadin gets: Success, Success, Block, Block, Blank, Blank and the Nox: Success, Block, Blank. Before resolving, Cadin could spend Success+Blank to activate the Switch of his Weapon, but since there are no more Enemies, he decides not to. The Nox has no Switches, so the Simple Roll is resolved: the Nox's Success is cancelled by one of Cadin's Block, and one of Cadin's Success is cancelled by the Nox's Block, therefore one Success becomes Damage for the Nox.

Rolls

In Infinity Defiance there are two types of rolls: Simple and Face to Face. Simple Rolls do not require the intervention of a rival: the Character or the Enemy rolls their dice and resolves the Roll. Face to Face Rolls always imply two rivals: A Character and an Enemy.

Apply the following sequence to resolve any Simple Roll:

1. Roll the dice for the Character.
2. If you obtained a Critical Success you can spend it to add two Success symbols to the Roll.
3. If you obtained a Critical Block you can spend it to add two Block symbols to the Roll.
4. In this step you can spend symbols obtained in the Roll to activate any Switches that are currently available.
5. Resolution of the Roll. If you obtained at least one Success the Roll is a success.

Follow the same steps to resolve an Enemy's Roll, but they will spend their symbols in steps 2, 3 and 4 every time they can.

This is the sequence to resolve a Face to Face Roll:

1. Roll the dice for your Character. Have another player roll the dice in the Enemy's stead (or do it yourself if you are playing solo).
2. If the Enemy obtained a Critical Block they will spend this symbol to nullify all the Success and Critical Success symbols of the Character's Roll.
3. If the Character obtained a Critical Block, you can spend this symbol to nullify all the Success and Critical Success symbols of the Enemy's Roll, or to add two Block symbols to your Roll.
4. If the Enemy obtained a Critical Success they will spend this symbol to nullify all the Block symbols of the Character's Roll.
5. If the Character obtained a Critical Success, you can spend this symbol to nullify all the Block symbols of the Enemy's Roll, or to add two Success symbols to your Roll.
6. The Enemy spends symbols obtained in their Roll to activate their Switches.
7. The Character can spend symbols obtained in the Roll to activate any Switches that are currently available.
8. Resolution of the Roll. After activating Switches, the Character nullifies as many Success symbols from the Enemy's Roll as Block symbols are left in their Roll and vice versa: the Enemy nullifies the Success symbols of the Character with their Block symbols. In this step only count the Success and Block symbols that have not been spent to activate Switches. If a Combat Roll or an Antipersonnel program is being resolved, each of the involved parties receives as many Damage tokens as their opponent's remaining unblocked Success symbols.

Example: Uma attacks using her Pistol. Since she only got one Blank symbol, she cannot activate the Pistol's Switch. Neither can she use the Blank symbol to activate the Stun Pistol's Switch she has equipped, since it is not the weapon she is attacking with.

Switches

Each time you make a Roll you will get a series of symbols on the dice. Equipment cards, Software cards, and Specialty cards allow you to spend those symbols to apply different Effects.

You can only activate a Switch if you are using the card in which it appears.

To activate a Switch, spend the specified symbols and then apply the indicated Effect. Symbols spent this way will no longer be available for other Switches, nor for the resolution of the Roll.

You can repeat the same Switch as many times as you want, spending the corresponding symbols each time.

All of these points for Switches apply equally to Enemies, with the following exception:

Enemies always activate all their Switches before the Characters, and they will do so whenever they can, as many times as possible and in the order in which the Switches appear on their Unit card. They will not spend symbols to activate a Switch if its Effects will not affect the target (for example: if the target is already Stunned, the Enemy will not activate a Switch that imposes the Stunned State to the target).

Critical Success and Critical Block

Critical Success. In a Face to Face Roll, before activating Switches, Characters and Allies can spend a Critical Success symbol to nullify all the Block symbols of the target's Roll, or they can discard it to add two Success symbols to their Roll. Enemies will always spend this symbol to nullify all the Block symbols of their targets' Rolls. Remember: Enemies always activate their Switches before the Characters.

Critical Block. In a Face to Face Roll, before activating Switches, Characters and Allies can spend a Critical Block symbol to nullify all the Success and Critical Success symbols of the target's Roll, or they can discard it to add two Block symbols to their Roll. Enemies will always spend this symbol to nullify all the Success and Critical Success symbols of their targets' Rolls. Remember: Enemies always activate their Switches before the Characters.

Hack

Characters equipped with Hacking device can perform one of the Actions described on the Software cards installed on their device.

• Each Hacking device has a number that indicates how many Software cards it can have installed.
• Range determines the minimum and maximum distances the target must be from the Character when one of these Software cards requires a target. It is not necessary to have Line of Sight to the target.
• The Hacking Roll indicates the dice to be rolled when the Hacking Action is performed. This Roll can be modified by the Software cards, Specialty cards, or other skills or Effects that are currently being used.

Software cards can be one of three types: Demons, Controllers and Antipersonnel.

Demons are constantly running on the Hacking device. They do not require Rolls, since their Effects are always available.

Controllers represent Actions that require a successful Simple Roll using the Hacking Roll of the Hacking device to apply its Effects. They may require a target, whether it is a Character, an Ally, or an Enemy.

Antipersonnel can only be performed against an Enemy target with the Hackable tag. To apply its Effect, a Face to Face Roll must be resolved between the Hacking value of the Hacking device and the Biotech Protection (BP) of the target. As it is a Face to Face Roll, uncancelled Success symbols become Damage for the opponent during the resolution of the Roll.

Example: Jazmín 'Jazz's' Hacking device can have installed up to three programs. Initially, the Corregidor hacker has installed Geist-Aid, Skullbuster, and Picklock.

Example: Jazmín 'Jazz' performs her Skullbuster program on the Cadmus. Since it is an Antipersonnel program, it must be resolved through a Face to Face Roll between the Hacking value of the device (modified by the Skullbuster itself, which adds a die) and the Biotech Protection of the Cadmus. Both roll the dice; 'Jazz' gets Success, Success, Success, Block, Blank, Blank, Blank, Blank; the Cadmus gets Block. The Cadmus' Block cancels one of 'Jazz's' Success symbols so the other two Success symbols become two Damage. Due to Skullbuster, those two Damage are doubled, so the Cadmus suffers a total of four Damage, enough to fry his brain and kill him.

Equip

Allows the Character to distribute their Equipment between their Hands, Head, Torso, and Backpack. In addition, Equipment can be exchanged with any number of adjacent Characters, including Unconscious ones. A Character that receives Equipment can freely distribute all their Equipment at that moment.

Equipment cards that cannot be assigned to any location on the Character card, or that for some reason cannot be added to the Character's inventory, must be removed from the game.

The AutoMediKit card is personal and cannot be exchanged in any way.

Interact

As long as they are in adjacent spaces, this Action allows the Character to interact with different elements of the mission or to interact with neutral Characters:

• Containers. Interacting with a Container allows you to draw as many Loot cards as the number shown in the description of the mission. Then you can perform an Equip Action for free. After drawing the Loot cards, turn over its Container token to indicate that it is empty.

Spaces containing a Container are obstructed spaces.

• Standard Doors. Doors prevent movement through them and obstruct Line of Sight. These Doors are opened automatically by interacting with them. When you open a Door, replace the closed door marker with the open door marker. You can't move or see through a closed Door (they block Line of Sight).
• Security Doors cannot be opened by performing the Interact Action. To open them, it is necessary to Interact with a Console or fulfill any requirements described in the mission.

Example: Jazmín 'Jazz' performs the Interact Action on Console 1. Instead of rolling a plain die, she chooses to use her Hacking device, so she rolls her Hacking dice, plus an extra die granted to her by her Demon program Picklock. 'Jazz' gets Success, Block, Blank, Blank. First, she is forced to assign the Success and one Blank to inputs 1 and 2, since all possible symbols must be assigned. The second Blank is discarded, since there is no room for it in any input. As for the Block, 'Jazz' can decide whether to assign it to input 1 or input 3.

Once open, Doors and Security Doors cannot be closed unless the rules of the mission specify so.

1. Roll a die. If you are equipped with a Hacking device, you can use its Hacking value instead.
2. All of the symbols obtained in the Roll must be assigned to the inputs of the Console, or discarded if they cannot be assigned.
3. One by one, assign each symbol to one of the Console's inputs. You can only assign a symbol to an input that lists that symbol, and cannot assign more symbols than are listed. For example you cannot assign a second Success symbol to an input that lists Success+Block.
4. You decide in which order the symbols are assigned, but you must assign symbols if possible - you can only discard a symbol if it cannot be assigned to any inputs.
5. Symbols assigned to an input are saved for future Interactions.
6. In numeric order, apply the Effects of each Console input that has been completed with all the necessary symbols during this Interaction.

Use the Symbol tokens to keep track of the symbols assigned to a Console. If Console inputs remain incomplete, you can keep performing Interact Actions until you get the necessary symbols.

Once per Activation, a Character can perform an Interact Action with a Console as a Free Action, by adding two Reinforcements tokens to the Reinforcements Reserve.

A Console whose inputs are all completed cannot be interacted with again.

Spaces containing a Console are obstructed spaces.

Allies

Allies can begin the mission deployed on a space if the mission Instructions say so, or they can be Neutral Characters who have been successfully Interacted with. They are represented by an Ally card on which their Attribute values are shown and on which there may be Actions or Skills particular to them that are available during the mission. Place the Ally card in the play area and make it available to all players when they become part of the Character's team.

To all effects and purposes, an Ally is a Character, so each Round they have their own Activation. During their Activation, an Ally can perform two Actions from those available to the Characters. They have their own profile and can be targeted by Enemies. Unless they have location slots, they can only have Equipment that does not require a location. Ally Rolls that have a value of "-" in an Attribute do not get symbols but are considered to be made.

The Ally card shows their Attributes: Biotech Protection, Speed, Defense, Wounds, Attacks and Skills, and Location tabs.

They can gain Aggro but cannot get Intel Packs for themselves nor for the rest of the Characters.

Allies that fall Unconscious can be treated with a MediKit or a Medjector.

Synchronized. Allies with this keyword depend on a Controller, whose name will appear on the Ally's Neutral Character card. Synchronized Allies are always activated immediately before or after their Controller.

Remotes are semi-autonomous support units with little armor but they are very fast and versatile. Only a Repair Kit can be used to heal their Wounds. When a Remote falls Unconscious, remove their marker or miniature from the board and discard all Damage and State tokens they have. Draw a Consequence card and place it face down next to their Ally card. Their Controller then receives the Stunned Status. Remotes can be deployed again by their Controllers as listed in an Action on the Controller's Character card, but only if the Remote's Wounds Attribute hasn't been reduced to zero or less by Consequence Cards. Remotes do not obstruct the Line of Sight of Characters, Allies or Enemies.

• Neutral Character. The Interact Action allows the Character to establish contact with a Neutral Character to automatically turn them into an Ally, therefore becoming part of the team of Characters. Unless otherwise required by a mission, Neutral Characters turned into Allies become part of the crew of the Defiance and cannot be deployed on the board again, but they can play key roles on the ship (see Campaign Game).

AutoMediKit

At the beginning of each mission, all Characters are equipped with an AutoMediKit, a nano-sanitary device embedded in their personal tactical equipment. It is a sophisticated high-tech device. Besides monitoring its wearer's vital signs, it automatically injects them with fast-acting nano-repairers, allowing them to keep fighting.

This Action is only available to Unconscious Characters and it is the only one they can perform while in this State. Having an AutoMediKit Equipment card is required. By performing this Action, the player that controls the Character discards the AutoMediKit card, removes the Unconscious State card and heals up to eight Damage. Next, the Character will suffer a Consequence: draw two Consequence cards, choose and discard one, and place the other next to their Character card. Back on their feet, the Character can perform the remaining Action allowed during their Activation, in addition to any Free ones.

Enemies

Enemies are activated in groups of miniatures called a Unit.

The background color of their name indicates the level of difficulty they provide to the Characters: Blue (Rookie), Red (Veteran) and Black (Personality). Unit cards have a profile on each face with a different level of difficulty. The mission Instructions indicate which difficulty level an Enemy Unit is deployed with, so their card must be shown with that level. The rules of the mission may require the Unit cards to be flipped, representing the Enemies increasing their difficulty level (see Alert Level).

The Unit card of an enemy troop indicates the number of miniatures in the unit. Use the numbered tabs to follow the Damage or States that each Enemy in the Unit suffers.

Unit cards whose names have a gray background color may have special rules described in this manual or in the mission Instructions.

The Unit card shows: the Unit's name, hit points, speed, BTS (Biotech Protection), Defense, the number of miniatures in the Unit and the spaces for their Wounds (Damage) and States, Range/Attack/Weapon Roll, Range/Hacking Roll, Tags, Replacement cost, Reinforcement cost, and Switches.

Selected Units, Deployed Units and Available Units

During the preparation of the mission, Unit cards are grouped into:

• Selected Units. All Units who could be present during the course of the mission are in this deck. All Unit cards that you need when deploying Enemies on the board come from this deck.
• Deployed Units. Units that are currently on the board. Every time you deploy a Unit (either during the preparation of the mission or during its course) take the corresponding Unit card from the Selected Units deck and add it to the Deployed Units.
• Available Units. Unit cards from the Deployed Units that are removed, and have a Respawn value are placed here to form a deck, face up. Always place cards for newly removed Units on the bottom of this deck. The mission Instructions can specify that some Units start as Available. In this case, take their corresponding Unit card from the Selected Units deck and build the Available Units deck so that the Units appear in the same order as listed in the mission Instructions.

Activation

At the Beginning of the Round, pick up the Initiative Card for each Deployed Unit and shuffle them together into the Initiative Deck. Place the Initiative Deck face down next to the Unit Cards. Then, for each Deployed Unit, draw a card from the AI Deck and place it next to that Unit, keeping the card face down.

When it is time to activate an Enemy Unit, draw the first card from the Initiative deck and place it face up to show which Unit is being activated. Next, flip the AI card that was placed next to that Unit. Every Enemy miniature of that Unit will attempt to perform, in order, the Instructions on the AI card that correspond to the Unit's difficulty level (blue or red), until the Enemy has performed a maximum of two Instructions.

Example: It is the turn of the AI to activate a Unit. It draws the next Initiative card and it is the turn of the Nox 'Spec-Ops' Unit. Their AI card is flipped. Both Nox 'Spec-Ops' #1 and Nox 'Spec-Ops' #2 will attempt to perform up to two of the blue column Instructions, corresponding to their difficulty level. If the Unit was showing the other face (red background), the Enemies would follow the Instructions of the column with the red background.

When a Unit is deployed on the board during the Activations Phase, they will have assigned an AI card face down immediately, their Initiative card will be taken and shuffled into the Initiative deck.

If the Initiative card represents a Unit that is no longer Deployed on the board, discard it from the deck and draw a new Initiative card.

Once the Initiative deck has run out, no additional Enemy Units can be activated.

AI Cards

At the beginning of the game, shuffle the AI cards into the AI deck. Place it face down in reach of players in the play area.

AI cards come with a series of Instructions that dictate the behavior of all the miniatures of a Unit. They are divided into two columns, one for each level of difficulty (Blue and Red). During a Unit's activation, the Unit will perform the Instructions corresponding to their color and will ignore the other column.

Although some Units have their Instructions already printed on their Unit card, to represent behavior that defines the Unit, they are assigned an AI card in the same way as other Units (even though they do not perform the Instructions of that card, this helps thin out the AI deck).

At the end of the Round, discard the AI cards that were assigned to the Enemy Units into a discard deck. When the AI deck is empty, shuffle the discard deck into a new AI deck, face down, and increase the Alert Level by one position.

Instruction

When a Unit is activated, the first Enemy miniature on the Unit Card will attempt to perform the Instructions on the Unit's AI Card (or the Instructions on the Unit Card) in sequence, until the Enemy has performed two Instructions, or cannot perform any further Instructions. Each Instruction must be fully resolved before the next Instruction is performed. Each remaining Enemy on the Unit Card will then follow the same sequence, until every Enemy on the Unit Card has been activated.

Each Instruction has two icons: the first one determines the kind of Instruction (Attack, Acquire target, Assault, Withdraw, or Retreat!); the second one indicates on what kind of target or regarding what kind target must the Enemy perform the Instruction.

Example: It is the Activation turn of the Nox 'Spec-Ops' Unit. Following the numeric order, Nox #1 follows the instructions of the blue column corresponding to the level of his Unit. First, he has Acquire Target - Closest Target. Cadin is the closest target in Line of Sight and, since he is at Range 9 and the Nox's Attack has Range 1-8, the Nox must perform a movement, advancing one space to have Cadin at maximum Range of his weapon. Then, he attempts to perform the next Instruction: Attack - Closest Target. Since Cadin is the closest target, Nox #1 performs an Attack with his weapon against the Ariadnan. Nox #1 has already performed two Instructions, so it is turn for Nox #2. The first Instruction is ignored, since Cadin is in Line of Sight and Range of Nox #2, so he performs the second: Attack - Closest Target. Nox #2 then attacks Cadin. Nox #2 has only performed one Instruction, so he proceeds with the next one: Acquire Target - Closest Target. Cadin is once again the closest target in Line of Sight and Range, so the instruction is ignored and Nox #2 performs the last Instruction: Attack - Closest Target, attacking Cadin once more. With this, Nox #2 has performed his two Instructions.

Depending on the board's situation, it is possible that each Enemy performs different Instructions from the same AI card, that they only perform one, or even no Instruction.

Some Instructions on the AI Card are grouped together. The group of Instructions must be treated as a single Instruction when counting the number of Instructions that the Enemy can perform. Grouped Instructions are performed in the order in which they appear and, unless otherwise stated, the second one can be performed even if the first one cannot be.

Evil AI. If multiple options arise when performing the Instructions of the AI cards or applying the Effects of Enemy Actions and Special Skills, the players must choose the option that is more detrimental to the Characters.

Icon legend used on the AI cards: Most Aggro, Lesser Aggro, Most Damage, Lesser Damage, Most Distance, Lesser Distance, Assault, Acquire target, Attack, Withdraw, Retreat!, Focused.

If there are several options or solutions to resolve an Instruction, the Evil AI rule must be applied.

The target of an Instruction determines which Character or Ally the Enemy will attempt to perform the Instruction against. If performing the Instruction on that target is impossible, the next Character or Ally that meets the requirements will be selected. If there is no available target, the closest one will be chosen. Unconscious Characters and Allies cannot be targets of an Instruction.

When there are two or more possible targets in equal conditions, one will be selected following these criteria:

1. Select an Ally before a Character.
2. Select the Character with the highest Aggro.
3. Select a Character or Ally that hasn't been activated yet.
4. Select the Character or Ally with the most Damage tokens.
5. Select the Character or Ally with the lowest Wounds value.
6. Select a Character or Ally randomly.

Example: Qiang's heavy armor has the Hackable feature, which makes Qiang a Hackable target. During their Activation, the Cadmus performs the Attack Instruction against Qiang. Since he is Hackable, instead of using his Combi Rifle, the Cadmus will perform a Hack Attack against the Yu Jing. To do that, a Face to Face Roll is made between the Hacking value of the Cadmus and the full Biotech Protection of Qiang's equipment. The Cadmus gets Success, Success, Block, Blank and Qiang gets Block. One of the Success symbols of the Cadmus is cancelled by Qiang's Block, but the other becomes one Damage against Qiang.

The possible Instructions are:

• Attack. The enemy performs their Attack against the specified target. If several Attacks are available, the Evil AI rule must be applied. If there are no targets in Range and Line of Sight of any Attack, the Enemy will skip this Instruction.
• Acquire target. If at least one Character is in Range and Line of Sight of one of the Attacks of the Enemy, they will skip this Instruction. Otherwise, the Enemy performs the Move Action, and spends as many Movement Points as needed to place themselves on a space from which they gain Line of Sight to the target, and that is as far away from the target as possible, while still being in Range. If, even with movement, acquiring a target is impossible, the Enemy will move in order to reduce their distance from the closest Character.
• Assault. If at least one Character is in Contact with the Enemy, they will skip this Instruction. Otherwise, the Enemy performs the Move Action, and spends as many Movement Points as needed to reduce their distance from the target, attempting to place themselves at Minimum Range of their Attack and with Line of Sight to the target.
• Withdraw. The Enemy performs a Move Action and spends as many Movement Points as needed to increase their distance from the target.
• Retreat! The Enemy miniature is removed from the board. If it is the last miniature of the Unit, add a Reinforcements token to the Reinforcements Reserve. If the Unit has a Respawn value, place the Unit card below the Available Units deck; otherwise, remove it from the game.
• Hack Attack. Enemies will perform this kind of Attack instead of their normal Attack when the target has the Hackable feature on any of their Equipment cards. To resolve it, a Face to Face Roll will be made between the 'Hack Attack' value of the Unit and the Biotech Protection of the target.

Hackable

A Character is Hackable if at least one Equipment card they have equipped has the "Hackable" feature on it. Hackable Enemies have this keyword printed on their Unit card.

Keywords

The features or the equipment that are common to several Units is expressed by means of a keyword. The following Effects must be applied:

• Surprise Attack. When this Unit deploys or respawns, shuffle their Initiative card into the Initiative deck, but do not deploy their miniatures. When their Initiative card is drawn, do the following for each Enemy miniature, in order: Deploy the miniature on a space adjacent to the most recently activated Character, in Contact with them. If no adjacent space can be occupied, the Enemy will be placed on the closest available space. If the Enemy is the first to activate in the Round, follow the Evil AI rule. The only Instruction in their Activation will be to perform an Attack against the most recently activated Character. Discard the AI card of the Unit as if it had been performed.
• Ambushers. Enemies in this Unit are all deployed in the Hidden State.
• CC Specialist. When targeted by an Attack declared by a Character or Ally in Contact, this Enemy uses their Attack Roll instead of the value of their Defense.
• Big. The Line of Sight to or from a Big Enemy is not obstructed by Characters, Allies or Enemies.
• Natural Born Warrior. Targets in Contact cannot activate Switches nor apply the Effects of the "CC Specialist" Specialty.
• Visor. Line of Sight traced from an Enemy with this feature is not obstructed when crossing low visibility spaces.

Additional Rules

How to Solve Contradictions

If two or more rules appear to contradict each other, the following guide for solving contradictions, which is order from highest to lowest priority, must be applied:

1. If a rule states that something cannot happen, then this prohibition prevails over all else.
2. The mission Instructions prevail over the effects of any card and of this manual.
3. The effects of the Equipment cards, Software cards, Specialty cards, and Unit cards have priority over the Character cards and the rules described in this manual. If there is a conflict between two of these cards, the Evil AI rule must be applied.
4. Rules from the Character cards have priority over those described in this manual.

Movement and Line of Sight

All spaces on the board are considered free spaces by default and do not affect the Movement or Line of Sight of Characters and Enemies. Some marks on the board or game elements can affect Movement and Line of Sight:

• Purple. A side marked in this color always obstructs Line of Sight and prevents movement across it. Spaces surrounded by this color are Blocked spaces.
• Red. A side marked in this color always obstructs Line of Sight, but does not prevent movement across it. Spaces surrounded by this color are Low visibility spaces.
• Dotted blue. A side marked in this color does not obstruct Line of Sight, but two Movement Points are required to cross it.
• Yellow. Spaces surrounded by this color have special rules described in the mission Instructions.
• Obstructed spaces. These spaces can be entered by spending two Movement Points instead of one, but ending movement on them is prohibited. They do not obstruct Line of Sight. Spaces occupied by a Container, Console or Unconscious Character are obstructed.

Aggro

Aggro is a measure of how threatening the Character is for the Enemies. The more successful a Character is (inflicting Damage, Hacking, etc.), the more they draw attention from the security systems. Instructions in the AI cards will often target the Character with the highest Aggro, considering them the main rival to defeat; or the one with the lowest Aggro, considering them the most harmless.

During their Activation, Characters gain 1 Aggro if:

• During their Activation they have inflicted at least 1 Damage to Enemies.
• They Interact with a Console.

At the end of the Character's Activation, the Character's player must compare the number of Aggro tokens on the Character with the Maximum Aggro Attribute on the Character card. The player must remove Aggro tokens from the Character's card until they have as many as their Maximum Aggro, then each removed Aggro token is replaced with a Reinforcements token and added to the Reinforcements Reserve.

Unconsciousness and Death

When a Character suffers as much Damage as the value of their Wounds Attribute, the player that controls the Character must remove all states and Aggro tokens from the Character card, and receives the Unconscious state. A Character cannot have more Damage tokens than their Wounds value: all Damage that surpasses the Wounds value is discarded.

A Character in the Unconscious state cannot be the target of Attacks, Actions, and Effects by Enemies. Furthermore, the space they occupy is an obstructed space (entering the space costs two Movement Points, movement cannot end on it and it does not obstruct Line of Sight).

An Unconscious Character is activated as usual, but cannot perform Actions during their Activation until the AutoMediKit Action is performed. You can choose not perform AutoMediKit and let the Character's activation pass. While Unconscious, a Character cannot apply the Effects of their Specialty cards.

A Character can drag an adjacent Unconscious Character. For every two Movement Points spent, both Characters can advance one free space each, as long as they remain on adjacent spaces (this must be checked every time the two Movement Points are spent).

An Unconscious Character can recover in two ways:

• By performing the AutoMediKit Action (only if they have the AutoMediKit Equipment card). In this case, the player discards their AutoMediKit card, removes the Unconscious State card, heals up to eight Damage and suffers a Consequence: draw two Consequence cards, choose one and discard the other.
• By having another Character use a MediKit, a Medjector, or a Skill that allows recovery from Unconsciousness. In this case, apply the Effects of the Equipment or Skill used.

Effects from Consequence cards must be applied immediately.

A Character that ends a mission Unconscious receives two Consequence cards face down.

When an Enemy miniature suffers as much Damage as the Wounds Attribute value of their Unit, or more, they die and are removed from the game board. If they are the last member of their Unit, add a Reinforcements token to the Reinforcements Reserve. If the Unit has a Respawn value, place the Unit card below the Available Units deck; otherwise, remove it from the game.

Consequences

When a Character recovers from Unconsciousness, they suffer the Consequences of having suffered as much Damage as their Wounds Attribute. They can also receive Consequences when specified by Enemy Attacks or Skills, or a mission rule.

When a Character receives a Consequence card, place it in the play area, next to their Character card. The Effects of a Consequence card are applied from that point on, until the card tells you to flip it, or the card is discarded. Each flipped Consequence card that shows its back permanently applies a -1 Wounds to the Character.

Consequence cards can be discarded during the Sickbay and Workshop step in the Campaign game.

Discarded Consequence cards go into a discard deck. When the Consequence deck is empty, shuffle the discard deck into a new Consequences deck, face down. If both decks are empty, no Consequences can be assigned to a Character or Ally.

Reinforcements

As the mission progresses, the Reinforcements Reserve will accumulate Reinforcements tokens, which can be used by the AI to redeploy previously eliminated Units that have a Respawn value, or to redeploy killed miniatures to Deployed Units that have a Replacements value.

A Reinforcements token is added:

• When a Unit is eliminated (when its last miniature is removed from the board).
• At the end of the Activation of each Character, the player must compare their Character's Aggro tokens with the value of their Maximum Aggro Attribute. The player must remove from their Character the Aggro tokens that exceed their Maximum Aggro and turn them into Reinforcements tokens that they add to the Reinforcements Reserve.
• At the end of a Round in which no enemy Unit has been activated (only Characters or Allies have been activated).
• When specified during the performance of an Instruction by the AI (for example: Retreat!).

At the end of the Round, check if there are Units that can Respawn:

Respawn. If there are Unit cards in the Available Units deck at the end of the Round, follow these steps to check which Units return to the board:

1. Compare the number of Reinforcements tokens in the Reinforcements Reserve with the Respawn value of the top card of the Available Units deck.
2. If there are fewer tokens than the Respawn value, stop checking.
3. Otherwise, remove as many Reinforcements tokens from the Reinforcements Reserve as the Unit's Respawn value, place the Unit card in the Deployed Units zone and deploy the miniatures in the space marked for "Respawning" in the mission Instructions. If the marked space is already occupied, the Enemies are placed on the spaces closest to it, starting with adjacent ones.
4. If there are Reinforcements tokens left in the Reinforcements Reserve, go back to step 1 and repeat with the next card on the top of the Available Units deck.

Once Units that Respawn have been checked, check among the Deployed Units for those with the Replacements keyword.

Replacements. Check if the Deployed Units have Replacements Value. Begin with the Personalities (black background), then the veteran (red background), and finally the rookies (blue background). If the Unit has Replacements value, remove as many Reinforcements tokens from the Reinforcements Reserve as their Replacements value indicates in order to redeploy one of the miniatures as close to another miniature of the same Unit as possible before moving forward to the next Unit.

This step ends once there are no more Reinforcements tokens or all the Units with Replacements value have been completed.

Example: At the end of the Round, there are 5 Reinforcements tokens in the Reinforcements Reserve, so the AI can spend two Reinforcements tokens to Respawn the Nox 'Hacker' Unit in the Available Units deck. Their Unit card is placed in the Deployed Units area. Nox #1 is deployed in the Respawn space and Nox #2 in an adjacent space. Since there are no more Units in the Available Units deck, it is checked if there are any Unit with Replacements value with casualties left to be covered. That is the case for the Cadmus, so the AI spends one Reinforcements token (it had three left) to deploy the eliminated Cadmus on a space adjacent to the Cadmus of the Unit that is on the board. Although there are 2 Reinforcements tokens left in the Reinforcements Reserve, there are no more Units with Replacements, so the Reinforcements step concludes.

Alert Level

The Alert Level represents the status of the Enemy's defensive systems. At the beginning of the mission, place the indicator in the position indicated by the mission Instructions.

The Alert Level increases one position:

• When the AI deck is empty and the discard deck is shuffled into a new AI deck.
• When stated in the mission Instructions.

The Alert Level has six positions, each with immediately applied Effects. The Effects of each position higher than 0 are cumulative, and apply when the indicator is on that position or higher.

Example: When the Maximum Alert Level is reached, all Unit cards of the Deployed Units are flipped to increase their level of difficulty (red side). By doing so, the eliminated Nox in Contact with his partner is deployed. The Cadmus increase in number, so a new Cadmus is deployed in Contact to one of them.

0. Enemy Units do not activate, therefore they do not receive AI cards nor are their Initiative cards added to the Initiative deck. Enemy Units will receive an AI card and will add their Initiative cards to the Initiative deck when: any of the Enemies that are part of it become the target of an Attack, Skill, or Specialty card; or if, at the end of the Activation of a Character, any of the Enemies that are part of it have Line of Sight to a Character in Range 1-8. The Alert Level will increase to position 1 if: at the end of the Activation of an Enemy, it remains on the board; or a Character performs an Attack with a weapon other than a CC Weapon.
1. Position 0 effects are cancelled. This level has no other effects.
2. At the end of each Round, before checking which Units can Respawn, add one Reinforcements token to the Reinforcements Reserve.
3. Interacting with Consoles adds two Aggro tokens instead of one.
4. In the Activations phase, the AI activates a Unit before the Characters.
5. Maximum Alert.

Maximum Alert. When the Alert Level reaches the last position, or Maximum Alert, do as follows:

Remove all Damage and State tokens from all the Deployed Unit cards.

Flip all Deployed Unit cards to the side with the highest difficulty level, so that the Rookie Units (Blue) become Veteran (Red). If a Unit card has the profile with the highest difficulty level facing up already, it is not flipped. Personality cards and Structures are not flipped, since they only have one side.

If, by flipping a Unit card, the number of Enemies increases (for example, from two to three), deploy the new Enemies as if they had a Replacements value, but without consuming Reinforcements tokens. If the Unit had suffered any casualties, replace them in the same way and without spending Reinforcements tokens.

Once the Maximum Alert position is reached, and until the end of the mission, all Units will be deployed showing the profile with the highest difficulty level, even if the Alert Level has since decreased.

States

Effects of Actions, Specialty cards, Equipment cards or Software cards can impose States to Characters and Enemies. When a Character receives a State, place the corresponding State card next to their Character or Ally card. When an Enemy receives a State, place the corresponding State token on their numbered tab in the Unit card (for example, if the Nox "Spec-Ops" #2 receives the Stunned State, place a Stunned token on tab #2 in their Unit card), and place the State card next to the Deployed Units area. In the State cards is indicated when or how they are discarded, after which the Character – or Enemy – will no longer be under the effects of that State.

A miniature (Character or Enemy) cannot be affected by the same State twice. If a miniature is going to receive a State that they already have, do not place the State card.

Campaign Game

Infinity Defiance is designed to be played as a succession of games that share a single narrative thread as part of a campaign. Infinity Defiance's campaign narrates the adventures that an elite group of soldiers experience while carrying out their duty in the Infinity Universe. At the end of each mission, the Characters receive Intel Packs according to how well or badly they achieved the objectives of the mission.

Intel Packs represent the experience gained by the Characters in the form of packages of valuable information that act as currency to be traded for new Equipment.

Intel Packs cannot be transferred and each Character has their own, but Intel Packs can be pooled together to acquire new upgrades for the Defiance.

Beginning the Campaign

Beginning a Campaign is very simple. Follow these steps:

1. Select the Characters. Infinity Defiance is designed to offer a complete and balanced experience with four Characters. It is best to play in a group of four players in which each one chooses to play a Character, but if you have fewer players, some of you will have to play with more than one Character, or you could manage the extra Characters between all of you. If you are going to play the Campaign by yourself, you will be responsible for managing all Characters. The selected group of Characters will play the entire Campaign until the end.
2. Each Character is given the Equipment cards corresponding to the Initial Equipment listed on their Character card.
3. Each player is given the Specialty card of the chosen Character. The function of these cards is explained below (see "Specialty Cards").
4. Prepare the 'Extraction' mission. Follow the steps described in the "Preparation" section under "First Game" in this manual to set up the game components required to play the first mission of the Campaign: Extraction.

Playing the Missions

Starting with Extraction, the missions of the Campaign must be played in consecutive order until the twelfth mission is completed: Mission 12. To set up a campaign mission, follow the same steps as the 'Extraction' mission:

• Place the tiles that form the board as shown in the graphic of the mission.
• Players set up their play area by placing their Character card and assigning the Equipment cards, Specialty cards and Consequence cards from previous missions.
• Each player places the miniature that represents their Character on one of the deployment spaces of the mission.
• Build the Selected Units deck and the Available Units deck.
• Place the miniatures representing Enemies on their starting spaces as indicated by the mission, draw their Unit cards from the Selected Units deck and place them next to the board as shown in the graphic of the mission.
• Build the Initiative deck.
• Build the AI deck.
• Group the Reinforcements tokens next to the Available Units deck.
• Build the Loot deck.
• Place the Round marker in the first position.
• Place the Alert Level indicator in the position marked by the mission's Initial Alert Level.
• Place the Console cards and the Symbols tokens next to the board.
• Place the dice and tokens (Damage and Aggro) in reach of the players.

At the End of a Mission

When they finish a mission, players must follow these steps in the Campaign game:

• Loot
• Redistributing the Crew
• Sickbay and Workshop
• Acquiring Specialties
• Spending Intel Packs
• Check Equipment
• Upgrade Specialties

Loot

All the Loot cards that the Characters still have are discarded. Reassemble the entire Loot deck and shuffle it, ready for the next mission.

Redistributing the Crew

Players must assign the Characters that form the crew of the Defiance to the different areas of the ship in order to fulfill specific tasks between missions. After finishing a mission, Neutral Characters turned into Allies become part of the crew of the Defiance. All Characters have a profile as crew members on their Character card that shows which effects are activated when they are assigned to a certain area of the ship.

Each Character has a token that must be placed on the spaces of the card that represents the Defiance. Changing Character positions is done during this step. At the end of this step, activate the Effects of Characters placed in the areas indicated by their Character cards.

Samples

When an Enemy Unit is completely eliminated (all Enemies and Replacements have been killed), players can obtain Samples from it. Samples can be of two types and the amount obtained is printed on the Unit card:

• Biological Samples
• Tech Samples

Samples from a mission cannot be stored across multiple missions unless the players have upgraded the Defiance with the Cryopreservation Tank (for Biological Samples) or the Sample Container (for Tech Samples).

The use of obtained Samples is explained in the 'Sickbay and Workshop' step of the Campaign Game.

Minotaur Engines

The card that represents the Defiance has a marker to manage the status of the ship's Minotaur Engines. Through the campaign, Characters can gather components to improve the Minotaurs. When Characters get one of these components, place a Minotaur Engine token on the marker's leftmost free position.

At the end of mission 9, the Characters will jump through the wormhole. To determine the extent of the damage suffered after the jump, add the dice and symbols of the marker's remaining free positions into a Roll. For each Character, make a Face to Face Roll between this Roll and the Defense Attribute of the Character. For each unblocked Success symbol the Character suffers -1 Wounds: draw one Consequence card for every -1 Wounds and place it face down next to the Character card.

Sickbay and Workshop Consequences

Characters rest in the Defiance, recovering their strength, healing their wounds and setting up their Equipment. Remove all States, Damage tokens, and Aggro tokens from Characters and Allies.

Characters with Consequence cards can attempt to discard them if they are assigned to one of the cabins of the Defiance. For each Consequence, they must get at least one Success symbol in a Medicine Simple Roll. To be repaired, Remotes such as Billie require an Engineering Simple Roll.

Both Rolls can be modified according to improvements on the Defiance or the assignment of a Character or Ally to the Sickbay or the Workshop.

Samples and Equipment Crafting

During this step, some Characters can also craft items or write software from the Samples obtained during the last Mission, and from any Samples that are being stored. To do so, the Defiance must be properly equipped (see the Defiance Upgrade cards – Appendix).

Characters attempting to remove Consequences cannot craft anything during this step. Medical treatment does not allow the time for it (they must be in their cabin).

Samples that are not used during this step are removed from the game unless they can be stored.

Acquire Specialties

As long as they have seven or fewer Specialty cards, each Character that was part of the last mission gains a new Specialty belonging to one of the three Specialty groups that they have access to. The requirements of the Specialty, if there is any, must be met, and the Specialty cannot have a level higher than the maximum allowed according to the number of missions played.

Spending Intel Packs

Depending on how successful a mission was, Characters will earn a variable amount of Intel Packs as indicated in the End of Mission section of the mission Instructions.

During this step, players can acquire Equipment by spending the amount of Intel Packs indicated on the Equipment card. Characters can use this step to Equip (see the Equip Action).

Equipment cards with an Intel Packs value can be discarded to recover half their Intel Pack value (rounding down). Equipment cards that do not have an Intel Pack value may be discarded, but the player will gain nothing in exchange for them.

Equipment cards discarded in this step are removed from the game and cannot be recovered in any way.

Players can spend their Intel Packs to acquire Defiance Upgrade cards for the cost printed on them. Each player can contribute with different numbers of Intel Packs. Only one Defiance Upgrade can be acquired during this step.

Intel Packs that are not spent during this step are stored for later.

Check Equipment

Characters can trade any amount of Equipment cards between them, except those tagged with their name. Before advancing to the Upgrade Specialties step, players can redistribute the Equipment on each Character between the Character's locations.

Equipment cards that cannot be assigned to any location on the Character card and those that the players mean to discard can be stored in the Defiance (build a deck with them and place it next to the tile of the Defiance). When finishing a mission, during this very step, Players can equip themselves with the stored Equipment cards.

During this step, players can freely remove any Equipment card from the game.

Upgrade Specialties

All of the Character's Specialty cards that are face down are flipped back to being face up and all those that are tapped become untapped, so are available for the next mission.

Once all these steps are finished, the players are ready to play the next mission of the Campaign.

End of the Campaign

The Campaign ends with the mission 12 in which the fate of the Characters and the entire Human Sphere will be decided.

Specialty Cards

As the Campaign unfolds, Characters can improve their combat skills, through Specialty cards.

At the end of a Campaign mission, each Character acquires one of their Specialty cards as long as they have seven or fewer cards, and meet the requirements of that card. These cards are personal and non-transferrable, and once acquired cannot be removed from the game or from the Character.

The effects of Specialty cards of an Unconscious Character cannot be applied.

Through the Campaign, each Character can acquire up to eight Specialty cards from the available thirteen. According to which mission has just been completed, the maximum level a new Specialty can have is:

Mission finished	Maximum level
1	I
2	I
3	II
4	II
5	III
6	III
7	IV
8	IV

For example, when mission 3 is finished, each Character can acquire a level II Specialty or the third one from level I.

Other than the maximum level, the Character must have acquired the Specialties listed on the requirements of the new Specialty.

Specialty cards have the following contents:

• Name.
• Level (I, II, III, and IV).
• Category. Specialties in the same Category form a chain in which the first ones are normally required to acquire the later ones.
• Effects. These add special rules, Actions, etc. They are available to the Character at all times as long as the Specialty card is face up and untapped. The text itself explains how to proceed to apply those Effects. They can also contain some of the following terms:
  • "Action." The Specialty consists of an extra Action available only to that Character.
  • "Free Action." The Specialty consists of a Free Action available only to that Character.
  • "Tap this card." To apply the Effects of the Specialty, the Specialty card must be tapped by turning it to a 90-degree angle. This means it can only be used once per Activation, unless another Effect, Action or special rule causes it to become untapped. All tapped Specialty cards are untapped at the end of the Round.
  • "Store X." The Specialty allows the player to store one or more symbols on it. It can be a specific symbol or one chosen by the player. To store a symbol gained from a die, it is required to remove the entire die from a Character Roll before the Switches step and then placing a token with the selected symbol on the card. Several symbols of the same die can be stored in the same or in different cards. Symbols can be added when making any Roll, before activating Switches.
  • "Flip this card." To apply the Effects of the Specialty, the Specialty card must be flipped face down. This means it can only be used once per mission, unless another Effect, Action or special rule causes it to be flipped face up again.
• Requirements. Most Specialty cards require the Character to be in possession of a previous Specialty card.