Nemesis: Retaliation Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Endgame Overview
  • Winning and Losing
  • When the Game Ends
• Setup
  • Game Setup
  • Player Setup
• Game Round Structure
  • Player Phase
  • Intruder Phase
  • Event Phase
  • Cleanup Phase
• Golden Rules
• Character
  • Character's Health and Wounds
• Map
  • Sections
  • Rooms
  • Corridors
  • Doors
  • Map Markers and Tokens
• Character Movement
  • Movement Sequence
  • Exploration Sequence
  • Noise Roll
• Items
  • Gaining Items
  • Heavy Items
  • Armor Items
  • Interplay
• Intruders
  • Intruder Types
  • Intruder Bag
  • Intruder Movement
  • Intruder Attacks
• Intruder Health and Combat
  • Shooting
  • Bursting
  • Melee Attack
  • Health of Other Intruders
• The Queen
• Contamination Cards
• Robot
• Lander and Anti-Aircraft System
• Procedures
  • Infection Procedure
  • Eclosion Procedure
  • Autodestruction Procedure
  • Escaping/Hibernating
• End of the Game
• Objectives and Mission Task
• Additional Modes
  • Deadly Mode
  • Solo and Coop Rules

Endgame Overview

Winning and Losing

A game of Nemesis: Retaliation may end up with multiple winners, but it is not a cooperative game. Each Character, in the end, fights for their own agenda. Each Character not only strives to fulfill one of the two Objectives they start with, but they also must survive this mission, and finally find a safe place.

Each Character that meets all the following conditions is considered a winner:

1. Escapes the Facility or Hibernates — each Character must ensure their safety before the game ends. Not only does it mean not dying, but also using one of the Rooms that brings them to a safe location: escaping via the Lander in the Landing Zone, locking themselves in a pod by Hibernating in the Hibernatorium, or escaping the Facility through the Escape Shuttle.
2. Fulfills one of their Objectives — at the start of the game, each player is dealt 2 hidden Objectives: Private and Mission. Private Objectives show a unique Objective for a Character; Mission Objectives correspond to the team's common Mission described on another card, the Mission Task. During the game each player chooses one of their Objectives in hand to fulfill.
3. Survives the Infection and Eclosion Procedures — two end-game Procedures that check if Characters die as a result of being Infected.

A player wins the game if they survive and meet all 3 conditions above.

When the Game Ends

The game ends when one of the following takes place:

• Round 14 ends — Time is up, and all Characters who have not Escaped/Hibernated are beyond saving and are considered dead.

OR

• All Characters have died or Escaped/Hibernated — there are no more players left in the game.

In either case the game proceeds to the End of the Game to determine winners.

Setup

Setup is divided into two parts — Game Setup and Player Setup. Game Setup is straightforward and can be done in advance. Player Setup involves drafting Characters and Support Equipment; since it requires player choices, it should be done with all players gathered at the table.

Game Setup

a. Sections Setup

1. Find the 3 Section border pieces and 3 Round track border pieces, connect them to each other and place them on the table.
2. Place the Undiscovered Hibernatorium tile on top of the Hibernatorium Room. Note: this tile rests there until Characters reach the Hibernatorium. Until then, the Hibernatorium is considered Undiscovered, Noise tokens cannot be placed on the connected Corridors, and the Robot cannot be Activated.
3. Place the Round marker on the 1st slot of the Round track.
4. Place the Lander token on the "10" slot of the Round track.
5. Place the Autodestruction token on the corresponding slot above the Round track.
6. Place 1 Universal marker on the top-most space of the Objective Choice section.
7. Place all 3 Life Support tokens and the Hibernatorium token Inactive side up on the corresponding slots of the 3 Section border pieces.
8. Shuffle all Robot cards, draw 1 without looking at it and place it face down on the Robot slot of the Section "A" border piece. Leave the rest unseen in the box.
9. Place 1 Ammo token (full side up) and 1 Oxygen token on the slots next to the Robot card. Note: Ammo tokens are two-sided — a full side and a half-full side. All Ammo tokens enter the game (during setup or during the game) on their full side.
10. Assemble the Robot model and place it on the Hibernatorium. Note: with the Terrain Expansion, do not assemble the Robot now — place only the base Robot part in the Hibernatorium and wait for the Robot to be revealed to assemble the other part.
11. Shuffle and place both Anti-Aircraft tokens face down, one on top of the other, in the Anti-Aircraft slot on the Section "B" border piece.
12. Place 5 Egg tokens in the Eggs space on the Section "C" border piece.
13. Take 4 Ammo tokens (full side up), 4 Grenade tokens, 4 Oxygen tokens, and 4 Medpack tokens and place them on their corresponding slots next to the Landing Zone.
14. Shuffle all Corridor tiles, put them inside a Corridor insert and place it near the Round track — you will draw Corridors from that insert throughout the game in a way that avoids seeing the fronts (the side with the non-zero value) before they're drawn.
15. One by one, draw 3 random Corridor tiles and connect them to the Landing Zone — place them face up (showing the side with the non-zero values). If any of those Corridors have a Door slot, place them with the slot on an entrance to the Landing Zone.
16. Take all Room tiles. Sort them by their backs into 4 stacks — "A," "B," "C," and "?." Shuffle each stack and place it face down near the Corridor tiles.

Primebloods are Intruders: Intruders is a name for all alien races in the Nemesis universe. This box contains a race called Primebloods — during the game, treat the terms Primebloods and Intruders as equivalent.

Deadly Mode: some Corridors contain a second, smaller Noise value. This value is used only in Deadly mode (see Additional Modes).

b. Intruder Setup

1. Take the Exploration deck, shuffle it and place it face down. Leave space for a discard pile.
2. Take all Intruder tokens and separate them into piles by their Intruder type. Shuffle each pile separately and place it model-icon side up.
3. Take the Intruder bag and place the following inside: 1 Blank token, 2 Larva tokens, 3 random Adult tokens, plus 1 additional random Adult token for each Character taking part in the game. Place the bag by the remaining Intruder token piles.
4. Take an insert with the Intruder models and place it nearby.
5. Take the Intruder Attack and the Event decks, shuffle them separately and place them face down. Leave space for their discard piles.
6. Shuffle all Queen Health cards and place them numbers-side down on the Queen Health cards space of the Section "C" border piece. Place a Universal marker on the "0" space of the Queen's Hits track.
7. Take the Intruder Help sheet and place it with "The Queen is Alive" side up near the bag. This component provides a quick reference to the effects of drawing tokens from the Intruder bag.

c. Remaining Components

1. Take the following decks: 3 Item decks (red, green, yellow), Contamination deck, Serious Wound deck. Shuffle each deck separately and place it on the right side of the Facility face down. Leave space for discard piles for each deck.
2. Take the insert with the following components and place it in easy reach: Noise markers, Fire markers, Malfunction markers, Door tokens (with standee bases), Secure tokens, Tactical Gear tokens (Ammo, Oxygen, Grenade and Medpack tokens), Universal markers.
3. Take all 6 dice, the Scanner, and the remaining tokens and place them nearby.

Player Setup

Objective Setup and Character Draft

1. Find Help cards with numbers corresponding to the number of players taking part in the game (e.g. if there are 3 players, find cards "1," "2," and "3"). Shuffle them and deal one Help card to each player. Each player reveals their card. Note: the number shown on the Help card is used in the following Character Draft, as well as for determining some Objectives during the game.
2. Take all Objective cards and divide them into 2 decks — Private and Mission. Also take the Mission Task deck. From each deck remove all cards with a Number of Characters symbol higher than the number of Characters taking part in the game. Then shuffle each deck separately:
   • Deal 1 random Private Objective card and 1 random Mission Objective card to each player face down. Put the rest back in the box unseen. Do not show Objective cards to other players at any point during the game — they can only be revealed at the End of the Game. Objective cards may still be discussed and lied about.
   • Draw 1 random Mission Task card and place it face up on the Mission Task slot on the bottom Round track tile. Put the rest back in the box.
3. Shuffle all Character draft cards. Deal 2 to Player 1 — they remain secret from other players. That player chooses one of those cards (a Character to play as) and reveals it. The other card is shuffled back into the deck unseen. Repeat this sequence for each other player in ascending player number order.

Character Setup — each player performs the following:

1. Take 1 Character board and place it in front of you. Place the Character tile matching your chosen Character in the Character board.
2. Take 1 Universal marker and place it in the left-most slot of the Health track on the bottom of the Character board.
3. Set your Oxygen counter to the max value: 7.
4. Take your chosen Character's miniature, place it in the colored ring matching your Character's color, and place the miniature in the Landing Zone.
5. Take the Backpack card holder with your player number and place it above your Character board.
6. Take all Action cards for your Character, shuffle them and place them to the left of your Character board, face down — leave space to the right for an Action cards discard pile. Note: the Contractor has 5 cards marked as Contractor and 5 marked as Contractor: Consultant — this distinction matters only in Expansions and should be ignored for now.
7. Take your Character Item card — if it's a Heavy Item, place it on one of the Hand slots of your Character board; if it's Armor, place it in the Heavily Injured section of the Health track. If the Item has Ammo slots, place 1 Ammo token from the insert full-side up on each such slot. Note: the Contractor starts with 2 Character Items.
8. Finally, take all Character Draft cards and put them back into the box.

Support Equipment Draft — these steps only apply to Characters other than the Contractor (who already starts with 2 Items and does not take part in the Support Equipment draft):

1. Take the Support Equipment deck, shuffle it, draw 7 cards from it and reveal them to all players.
2. The player with the highest player number chooses 1 of those cards and places it in the appropriate place in their player area — Heavy Item in an empty Hand slot, Armor on the Heavily Injured part of the Health track.
3. Each other player, in descending player number order, chooses 1 Support Equipment, until all players have 1.
4. If any of the chosen Equipment have empty Tactical Gear slots, fill them with appropriate Tactical Gear tokens from the insert. Tactical Gear tokens can be placed only in Tactical Gear slots of the corresponding colors; in Gray slots any Tactical Gear token can be placed.
5. Remove the unchosen Support Equipment from the game and leave the Support Equipment deck close to the Item decks — they may be used during the game.
6. As the last step, each player chooses 4 Tactical Gear tokens of their choice in any combination from the insert, and places them in their Tactical Belt on the left side of the Character board. Ammo tokens are placed full-side up. This choice can be done simultaneously, but if necessary perform it in descending player number order. Note: for the first game, we recommend starting with 1 token of each type.

Beginning of the Game

1. Each player draws 5 Action cards to their hand from their Action deck.
2. Player 1 receives the Starting Player token.
3. The game begins with the Starting Player!

Game Round Structure

The game is played in a series of Rounds. Each Round is divided into 4 separate Phases: Player Phase, Intruder Phase, Event Phase, and Cleanup Phase.

Player Phase — beginning with the Starting Player (the player who has the Starting Player token) and continuing clockwise, players take Turns during which they resolve 3 steps: (1) Perform 2 Actions; (2) Oxygen Loss — if in a Section with Inactive Life Support Systems, lose 1 Oxygen; (3) Fire Damage — if in a Room with Fire, lose 1 Health Point. This repeats until all players have Passed.

Intruder Phase — (1) Intruders Burning: Intruders in Rooms with Fire receive 1 Hit; (2) Intruder Attacks: Intruders Attack Characters in the same Rooms.

Event Phase — (3) Event Card Resolution: an Event card is resolved; (4) Bag Development: the Intruders' colony develops.

Cleanup Phase — (5) Starting Player Change: the next player in clockwise order becomes the Starting Player; (6) Drawing Action Cards: each Character refills their hand; (7) Time Advancement: the Round marker is advanced and a new Round begins.

Players may also, once per game, choose an Objective during their Turn — this does not count as an Action (see Choosing an Objective, below).

Player Phase

During this Phase players take their Turns in clockwise order, beginning with the Starting Player. If a given player has Passed, they are skipped in Turn order. Note: player numbers on Help cards do not matter in Turn order — after setup they are used only for the purposes of some Objective cards.

Turn Order as Tiebreaker: Turn order is the most common way to break ties in Nemesis: Retaliation. The Rulebook may call out the Character first in Turn order — in any such case it describes the Starting player (the player who currently holds the Starting Player token) or whoever is closest to it in the clockwise Turn order.

When all players have Passed, the Player Phase ends and the Intruder Phase begins.

1. Resolving Actions: in a given Turn a player must perform 2 Actions chosen from the list on the Character board. If they are unable to perform any other Action they must perform the "Pass" Action. Players may perform the same Action multiple times in a given Turn.

Basic Actions List:

• Costing 0 Action cards: Play an Action card; Pass.
• Costing 1 Action card: Make a Move; Place 1 Secure token; Fire a Shot in a Room; Fire a Burst at a Corridor; Perform a Melee Attack; Use an Item; Activate the Robot; Trade; Use any Tactical Gear.
• Costing 2 Action cards: Use the Room; Make a Move Cautiously.

Some Actions (marked "Not In Combat") may only be performed when a Character is not engaged in Combat. A Character is considered in Combat when they are in a Room with at least 1 Intruder.

To perform an Action, the player pays the cost listed above by discarding an appropriate number of Action cards from hand to their discard pile, face up, then resolves the chosen Action. Cost in Action Cards: Action cards discarded to pay a cost of Basic Actions or as a result of any effect are placed on a discard pile without resolving their effects. Note that Pass is itself an Action — a player does not Pass automatically when they have no cards in hand; the "Pass" Action must still be performed, which may sometimes force a player to wait until their next Turn if they have already performed 2 Actions.

2. Oxygen Loss: if you are in a Section with an Inactive Life Support System, lose 1 Oxygen.

3. Fire Damage: if you are in a Room with a Fire marker, lose 1 Health Point.

Playing Action Cards: an Action card is divided into: (A) Not In Combat symbol (some cards cannot be used in a Room with an Intruder); (B) Title; (C) Action Card's Effects — the effect when played; (D) Reaction Effect — some cards have a Reaction available; (E) Character — which Character the card belongs to. When the "Play an Action card" Action is performed, the player reveals the chosen Action card from their hand, resolves its effect, then places it on top of the discard pile.

Effects: when choosing an effect (from an Action card, Item card, Room, etc.) you must be able to resolve the effect entirely — if it's impossible, you may not choose that effect. For example, "Duck and Cover" requires you to discard 1 additional Action card; if you don't have the required number of additional Action cards in hand you can't play it. Some cards may have more than 1 effect to choose from.

Passing: when a player Passes, they may discard any number of cards from their hand (Action cards and Contamination cards) and then their Turn ends. From that point on, their Turns are skipped for the rest of the current Round. Players who have Passed may still use Reactions.

Reactions: some Action cards may be used outside of normal Turn order to react to something happening in the game. At any point, a player may play a Reaction effect if the conditions on the card are met — the Reaction card is placed in front of that player, its Reaction Effect is resolved, and finally the card is placed on top of the discard pile. Reactions are not Actions and do not count toward the Actions-per-Turn limit.

Choosing an Objective: during their Turn, players may choose their Objective. Each player may only choose an Objective once per game, while they still hold 2 Objective cards. An Objective may be chosen before or after any of the 2 Actions in a Turn, but not in the middle of one, and it is NOT considered an Action. To choose, the player takes 1 of their Objective cards and removes it from the game without showing it to other players. The other Objective is kept and must be fulfilled before the game ends. Then the marker on the Objective Choice track is moved down by 1 (if possible) and the player draws Action cards according to the marker — the 1st player to choose draws 3 Action cards, the 2nd and 3rd draw 2 cards, and the 4th and 5th draw 1 card. Effectively, each Objective choice reduces the number of cards drawn by the next player who chooses. The kept Objective card must be fulfilled or that player cannot be considered a winner.

Orders and Commands: some effects allow Characters to perform an Action using another Character. The owner of that effect chooses the target of an ordered Action. Characters who have Passed may still be ordered. For example, if you make a Character Burst, you decide which Corridor that Character Bursts at. Commands Restrictions: you are never allowed to perform an Action using another Character that would result in an Intruder Opportunity Attack, such as ordering another Character to Move out of a Room with Intruders or through a Corridor with them.

Intruder Phase

In the Intruder Phase, Intruders will burn and attack, in 2 steps resolved in order. After the last step, the Event Phase begins.

1. Intruders Burning: each Intruder in a Room with Fire is dealt 1 Hit. If Fire is in the Nest, 1 Egg is destroyed. Note: since no die is rolled, this Hit can never kill an Intruder (except a Larva).

2. Intruder Attacks: each Intruder in each Room Attacks a Character (if any). If there is more than 1 Character in a Room, it Attacks the Character first in Turn order. Each Attack is resolved separately, starting with the Room on the top-left of the Facility and going row by row. If there is more than 1 Intruder in a Room, start with the largest Intruders first — they all Attack the same Character first in Turn order, unless that Character dies or leaves the Room, in which case the Intruders who have not Attacked yet do so against the next Character in Turn order.

Event Phase

In this Phase an Event card is drawn that can drastically alter the situation, then the contents of the Intruder bag are modified.

3. Event Card Resolution: draw a card from the Event deck and resolve it as follows. If the card describes an effect that is impossible to resolve, ignore that sentence and continue resolving the rest of the card (for example, if an effect instructs you to place a Malfunction marker in a Room that already has one, ignore that effect).

1. Intruder Movement — Intruders described by the card move toward the closest Characters. Corridor-orientation icons show which Intruders in Corridors of that orientation move. Note: Intruders move in different ways depending on whether they enter a Corridor, a Room with a Character, or an empty Room.
2. Resolve the Event Main Effect.
3. Resolve the Event Secondary Effect.
4. Discard the card.

The Event card is divided into: (A) Intruder Movement icons — which Intruders move during an Event Phase; (B) Event Main Effect — a major effect severely impacting the game; (C) Event Secondary Effect — a lesser effect, mostly revolving around adding Noise markers to Corridors.

Order of Effects: all effects mentioning Characters should be done in Turn order. All effects mentioning Noise markers in Corridors are resolved starting with the Corridor on the top-left of the Facility and going row by row.

4. Bag Development: the Intruder bag represents Intruders living in the Facility outside Characters' reach — in this step their numbers shift. Draw a random Intruder token from the bag and resolve it according to the Intruder Help sheet (only its front matters — disregard the back). Then discard the token to the bottom of the matching Intruder token pile. Intruder tokens are always placed in the bag from the Intruder token piles and are discarded from the bag back to those piles. Note: effects on tokens change upon Queen death — see "The Queen is dead" side of the Intruder Help sheet.

Bag Development results (Intruder Help sheet, "Queen is Alive" side):

• Queen token — if the Queen is on the map, Activate the Queen. Otherwise, add 2 Larva tokens to the bag.
• Drone token — add 2 Queen tokens to the bag.
• Adult token — add 2 Queen tokens to the bag.
• Larva token — add 2 random Drone tokens to the bag.
• Blank token — add 2 random Adult tokens to the bag, and return the Blank token to the bag. Note: the Blank token is the only token that is returned to the bag after each time it is drawn and resolved — all other tokens are discarded afterward.

Cleanup Phase

5. Starting Player Change: the Starting Player token passes clockwise to the next player.

6. Drawing Action Cards: each player draws Action cards from their deck until they have 5 cards in hand. Action Deck Reshuffle: whenever there are no more cards in your Action deck to draw and you need to draw another (even in another phase), first reshuffle all cards from your discard pile to form a new Action deck, then continue drawing.

7. Time Advancement: advance the Round marker by 1. If the Round marker is already on the last space, proceed to the End of the Game instead. If the Round marker enters a space with another token, resolve it immediately:

• Autodestruction token — if a Round marker enters a space with the Autodestruction token, the Facility explodes and the game ends. All Characters still inside the Facility (as well as Hibernating ones) die, every Room is considered destroyed, and all Intruders are considered dead.
• Lander token — if a Round marker enters a space with the Lander token, the Lander tries to land in the Landing Zone Room. Check the Anti-Aircraft systems by revealing the top Anti-Aircraft token: if Inactive (or the Anti-Aircraft tokens have been removed from the game), the Lander lands successfully — place it in the Landing Zone Room and remove the Anti-Aircraft tokens from the game (they cannot be changed); from now on Characters may use the Landing Zone Room to try to Escape. If Active, the Lander is destroyed instead — remove the Lander token from the game. If the Lander landed, it is available to Characters from that point on and they may Escape the Facility using it.

Begin a New Round: start a new Round with the Player Phase.

Golden Rules

Nightmare Rule — if you are at any point unsure about a certain ruling, order of effects, or cannot find an answer to your questions, you should always resolve the particular situation in the worst possible scenario for the players. If the situation is still unclear, perform it in the worst possible scenario for the Character first in Turn order.

Local Effects — every effect in the game whose target is not clearly specified or defined is local, meaning it is resolved in the same Room as the Character performing the effect. For example: "Discard a Malfunction marker" means you discard a Malfunction marker from the Room your Character is currently in, or any object in your Room (like a Weapon your Character is holding).

Component Limits — most components are limited and have special rules on what happens if they run out. For any other components, consider them limited with no special rules — if they are to be used and no more are available, nothing happens instead. For example: Characters cannot gain Ammo tokens if all are already in players' possession.

Character

During game setup, Character tiles are placed into universal Character boards. From that point on they are referred to as a singular Character board. A Character board shows all possible Actions that may be performed by a Character; all effects, Wounds, and other statuses impacting the Character are also placed there.

a. Name and Rank — each Character has their Rank. Several effects may interact with the Rank, for example by allowing Characters of higher Rank to command Characters of lower Rank via specific Action cards.

b. Health Track — shows the current vitality of the Character: how many Injuries they have taken so far, their exhaustion, etc. (see Character's Health and Wounds, below).

c. Tactical Belt — each Character has their own Tactical Belt, consisting of 4 Tactical Gear slots which can hold Tactical Gear tokens. Tactical Gear Slots: you can find Tactical Gear slots not just on your Tactical Belt but also on your Weapons and other Items.

Use Any Tactical Gear Action: choose any number of your Tactical Gear tokens and use them, applying their effects, then discard all chosen tokens (apart from Ammo tokens, which are moved to Weapons as part of their effect). You may also move any number of your tokens between your Tactical slots.

Gaining Tactical Gear Tokens: newly gained Tactical Gear tokens can be placed in empty Tactical Gear slots of the corresponding color — meaning Ammo tokens can be placed directly in Weapons' Tactical Gear slots. Gray slots are universal, and any Tactical Gear token can be placed there.

Ammo tokens are 2-sided — one side shows a Full Ammo token, the other a Half-full Ammo token. Using an Ammo token allows you to Reload a Weapon: choose a Weapon and move an Ammo token from your Tactical Gear slot onto the slot on the chosen Weapon. You may never move an Ammo token that is already loaded into a Weapon — Ammo cannot be swapped between Weapons.

Grenade tokens are an effective way of fighting large groups of Intruders in Corridors. When used, the Character chooses an adjacent Corridor, rolls a Burst die, and adds 2 to the result, then deals that many Hits in the chosen Corridor. Rolling a miss result has no effect. This roll does not count as a Character Bursting (Weapon effects do not apply to the result).

Oxygen tokens — when used, the Character gains 3 Oxygen (rotate the Oxygen dial); a Character's Oxygen supply can never exceed 7.

Medpack tokens are used by Characters to patch up light wounds — when used, the Character restores 2 Health Points.

Discarding Items and Tactical Gear Tokens: all Characters are allowed to discard any number of their Tactical Gear tokens and/or Items at any point. Tokens are placed back into the pool and Items are placed in the Items discard pile.

d. Hand Slots — all Characters have 2 Hand slots on the top part of their Character board. All Heavy Items must be carried in Hands — 1 Heavy Item per Hand slot at any moment.

e. Oxygen — even though there is Oxygen in the Facility, it is heavily contaminated and cannot be used without Life Support Systems working. Each Character starts with some personal supplies of Oxygen, but it dwindles every turn, while gaining Oxygen supplies is not so easy. At the end of each Turn (including a Turn in which a Character Passes), if a Character is in a Section with an Inactive Life Support System, they lose 1 Oxygen. Spending Oxygen: some Items or effects may instruct you to spend Oxygen by rotating your Oxygen dial an appropriate number of times. You are unable to use Actions that require spending Oxygen if you would drop below 0 as a result. Staying in a Section with Active Life Support Systems does NOT replenish Oxygen personal supplies — to replenish it, Characters must find appropriate Items or Tactical Gear tokens.

When an Oxygen Counter reaches 0, the Character gains a Suffocating token and immediately turns their Oxygen dial back to "0," following the token's instructions: "Next time you lose Health, you die. Discard this token when: you gain Oxygen, OR end your Turn in a Section with an Active Life Support System." Effectively, the Character has 1 more Turn to find Oxygen before they risk dying.

f. Actions List — this section of the Character Board lists all available Actions in the game (see Game Round Structure, above).

g. Action Card Deck and Discard — the Action cards deck is placed on the left side of the Character board face down, and the Action card discard pile on the right, face up.

Character's Health and Wounds

A Character's Health track is divided into 3 states: Healthy, Injured, and Heavily Injured. A Character is considered in a given state when their Health marker (Universal marker in the Health track) is on one of the slots of that section. These sections do not affect the game on their own, but Intruder Attacks frequently interact with the current state of the Attacked Character, sometimes even killing them outright.

Intruder Attack Example — Bite: if you are Heavily Injured, you die. Otherwise, gain 1 Serious Wound and 1 Contamination.

Characters may lose or restore Health points during the game — simply move your Health marker to the right or left accordingly. When a Health marker would move to a section with an Armor Item, discard the Armor and continue moving the Health marker (Armor does not prevent any Health lost unless specified by the Item itself). When a Health marker is moved from the last slot onto the Skull icon, the Character dies.

Restoring Health: when restoring Health points, a player may always choose to restore fewer Health points than described.

Death: when a Character dies, remove their miniature from the board. All Items they were carrying are lost as a result. This Character lost the game and no longer takes part in it.

Serious Wounds: Characters can sometimes gain Serious Wounds (mostly as a result of Intruder Attacks). Serious Wounds are cards introducing major negative effects to the Character, as well as reducing current and max Health points (the Health marker may never move to a slot covered by a Serious Wound). They can only be healed using certain Items and Rooms. Whenever a Character gains a Serious Wound, a random card is drawn from the Serious Wound deck and placed in the leftmost Health section without a Serious Wound. It is entirely possible to have 2 identical Serious Wounds — do not stack their effects. If the Health marker is in a section where a Serious Wound card is being placed, move the Health marker to the first empty slot in the next Section (this may result in discarding an Armor Item).

Serious Wound example — Eyes: +1 to all your Shoot results.

Discarding Serious Wounds: there are multiple ways to discard Serious Wounds, most commonly found on Items and Rooms. Whenever a Character resolves an effect that discards a Serious Wound and they have more than one, they may choose which to discard — in such a case, slide the remaining Serious Wounds to the leftmost Health sections. Discarding a Serious Wound does not move the Health marker in any way.

Map

The Map shows a Facility divided into 3 Sections — A, B, and C. The Facility consists of Rooms, always placed in one of the 3 Sections, connected by adjacent Corridors. Characters may only be placed in Rooms, while Intruders may be placed in both Rooms and Corridors.

Facility Size: the Section border pieces and the Round track border pieces create the borders of the Facility. No Room and no Corridor can ever be placed on those pieces or outside of those borders — this also applies to the right and bottom side of the Facility.

Sections

There are 2 important pieces of information about each Section: (1) each has its own Life Support System that may be either Active or Inactive, changed in Life Support Control Rooms found in every Section; (2) each Section has its own dedicated Section Rooms (marked "A," "B," "C") frequently required to fulfill Objectives — all other Rooms (marked "?") are random and may appear in any Section.

Section A is an Entrance Section, where you start your mission and most likely end it. Important Rooms: Landing Zone — one of the ways of Escaping the Facility and a place where Characters can restock their supplies; Characters start here. Drilling Room — allows drilling new Corridors. Life Support Control "A" — turns on/off Life Support Systems in Section A; also allows putting out fires. Surgery Room — provides the easiest way to discard Serious Wounds and even a Larva Infection if it were to occur.

Section B is the middle Section with the Hibernatorium Room — one way to safely finish the run in the Facility. Important Rooms: Hibernatorium — provides a way to ensure safety for multiple Characters; it is both Undiscovered and turned off at the start (cannot be Used) but can be turned on in Life Support Control "C". Cooling System — allows you to turn on the Autodestruction Procedure in case of emergencies. Life Support Control "B" — turns on/off Life Support Systems in Section B; you can also check and change the status of Anti-Aircraft systems here. Server Room — its most important function is allowing you to gather a Data token required for some Objectives.

Section C is the most dangerous Section. Important Rooms: Life Support Control "C" — turns on/off Life Support Systems in Section C; you can also turn on the Hibernatorium here. The Nest — dangerous Room with Intruder Eggs (see below). The Reactor — an extremely important Room; completely shuts off the power in the Facility, turning off (and preventing from turning on again) all Life Support Control Systems, the Autodestruction system, and the Anti-Aircraft system. The Escape Shuttle — an emergency escape from the Facility, but only for 1 person.

Rooms

Rooms are the main structure of the game — Characters Move between neighboring Rooms. Each Room has plenty of icons related to it. Rooms are divided into 2 types: Section Rooms ("A," "B," "C") which belong to an associated Section and can always be found in the game, and random Rooms ("?"), which are not certain to appear.

Room tiles contain: (A) Name; (B) Effect — a short description of the Room's effect when Using a Room; (C) Item Icons — which types of Items can be found in the Room, mostly referenced by the Search Action card; (D) Computer Icon — whether the Room contains a connection to the server (does nothing on its own but is referenced by other Actions/effects); (E) Room Type and Room ID — whether it's a Section Room ("A," "B," "C") or random Room ("?"); the identifying number is used for various tie-breakers; (F) Other Icons — some Rooms feature icons showing they can never be Secured (no Secure tokens) or can never be broken (no Malfunction marker ever placed).

Use the Room: whenever any Character Uses the Room (most commonly via the "Use the Room" Basic Action), they resolve the Room's effect. Note: all Rooms are described in detail on the Rooms Help sheet.

Nest: the Nest has its own space on the Section C border piece, containing 5 Egg tokens at the start of the game. This space is considered an extension of the Nest Room tile — Characters in the Nest Room may interact with Egg tokens and are considered to be in a Room with Egg tokens. Eggs are treated as Heavy Items and may be picked up using the Nest Room Action. You can destroy the Nest by removing all Eggs from the Eggs space (via the Nest's Room Action) — when there are no more Eggs there, place a Universal marker on the Eggs space to signify the Nest being destroyed; it stays destroyed even if other effects would add new Eggs there. Fire Destroying Eggs: if a Fire is in the Nest, it removes 1 Egg from there during each Intruder Burning Phase step.

Corridors

To Move from Room to Room, Characters use adjacent Corridors. As a result of Movement and other Actions, Noise markers are placed in Corridors, alerting you to incoming danger. Noise may finally turn into Intruders, which are placed in Corridors and then move between Corridors and Rooms.

A Corridor can hold: a Queen and up to 2 other Intruders, OR up to 6 Adults/Drones/Larvae in total, OR a Noise marker. Intruders and Noise Markers: when an Intruder is placed or moved to a Corridor with a Noise marker, discard the Noise marker first. Noise markers are never placed in Corridors containing Intruders.

Corridor tiles show: (A) Corridor Noise value — used when making Noise rolls to check which Corridors get Noise markers; (B) Deadly mode Noise value — some Corridors contain a second Noise value used only in Deadly mode; (C) Door slot — shows where Doors are available (Open, Closed, or Destroyed); (D) ID number — used to break ties during Intruder movements (always starts with the Corridor front Noise value). Each Corridor connected to a Room is considered adjacent to that Room regardless of other components on the board (Intruders or Doors). In contrast to Rooms, Corridors may sometimes be placed on a border of 2 Sections — such a Corridor is considered to be in both Sections.

Intruder Limits: there is a limit of 6 Intruders in a given Corridor (the Queen counts as 4 Intruders). If at any point Intruders are supposed to move or be placed in a Corridor and there isn't enough space, instead: move/place as many as you can, prioritizing the largest Intruders first; larger Intruders swap places with lower forms if necessary (when moving, simply swap places — this does NOT cause Intruder Attacks; when placing, remove smaller Intruders from the Corridor as necessary to place larger ones); afterward, if any Intruders are left unmoved/unplaced, leave them without moving/placing.

Reinforced Corridor: empty Corridors may be Reinforced by Characters during the game. When a Corridor is Reinforced, discard a Noise marker from it (if any) and flip it to the other side, which shows a "0" value. Noise markers won't be placed on such a Corridor as a result of a Noise roll (since there is no 0 on the die); however, Intruders can still move into such a Corridor. Note: Corridors leading to the Hibernatorium can never be Reinforced.

Common Corridor Keywords: an Empty Corridor is one with no Intruders (a Corridor containing a Noise marker is also empty). An Unexplored Corridor is one connected with only 1 Room.

Doors

Some Corridors may come with Door slots, meaning there are Open Doors there. With appropriate effects, Doors can be Closed — signified by placing Door tokens on Door slots. A Room and a Corridor joined by a Closed Door are still considered adjacent (and 2 Rooms with a Door in between are still neighboring), but the Door imposes limitations, such as preventing Movement or Bursting. Note: all Corridors, at the moment of placement, should be oriented with a Door slot in the direction of the Room just placed.

Blocking Path: Closed Doors block access to anything (except a Noise marker) on the other side. Characters cannot perform Actions influencing objects behind Closed Doors. Note: effects that specifically call out "any object in the Facility," like Moving to any Room in the Facility, still work and allow you to Move even to a Room closed by Doors from all sides — those effects let you reach the Room another way, like through a ventilation corridor. Characters cannot Move, Burst, etc. through a Corridor with Closed Doors — they must Open or Destroy the Door first (mostly via Actions or Item cards). Intruders, when attempting to move through Closed Doors, Destroy them instead.

Interacting with Doors: Doors may become Closed (only in places with Door slots — place a Door token there), Opened (remove the Door token from the board), or Destroyed (a Closed Door may be Destroyed by laying the Door token down — now considered the same as Open, but cannot be Closed again).

Doors and Spreading Fire: Event cards and other effects may spread Fire between Rooms. If Fire would spread between 2 Rooms blocked by Closed Doors, ignore that spread — Closed Doors block spreading Fire.

Map Markers and Tokens

Various markers and tokens may be placed in the Facility portraying various states of Rooms and Corridors. Noise markers may be placed in Corridors (see Character Movement, below). Fire markers and Secure tokens are placed in Rooms and only affect the Rooms they're in. Malfunction markers may be placed on a variety of components.

Fire Markers: fires are a common occurrence in destroyed Facilities, equally dangerous for humans and Intruders alike — the biggest danger is Fire spreading and enveloping the whole base. Fire markers are placed in Rooms; each Room may contain only 1 Fire marker (if one would be placed in a Room with one already, ignore it). Overwhelming Fire: if at any point you must place a Fire marker and there are no more available, the Facility is destroyed and the game ends (see End of the Game).

Fire markers affect the game in three ways: (1) when a Character ends their Turn in a Room with a Fire marker, they lose 1 Health point; (2) during the Intruder Phase, each Intruder in a Room with a Fire marker is dealt 1 Hit — if Fire is in the Nest, 1 Egg is discarded from there; (3) Fire markers may spread as a result of some Events (spreading Fire means placing Fire markers in neighboring Rooms per the card's instructions) — Closed Doors prevent Fire from spreading this way.

Malfunction Markers: represent something broken and impossible to use. They may be placed on Rooms, Heavy Items, and Robot cards; when discarded they go back to the pool. Regardless of what they're placed on, that component cannot be used.

• On Rooms: each Room may only contain 1 Malfunction marker (ignore a second, including for the Malfunction Markers Limit rule below). A Room with a Malfunction marker has its Room Action unavailable and it cannot be performed in any way — it does not affect Item icons in the Room.
• On Heavy Items: the Item cannot be used in any way (its Action cannot be used, and it cannot be used to Shoot or Burst) and is treated as having no effect text and no icons. Tactical Gear tokens on the Item can still be used. If a Malfunction marker would be placed on an Item with one already there, the Item is destroyed and must be discarded instead.
• On a Robot: the Robot cannot be used in any way (neither Rooms interacting with it, nor Robot Actions) — treat the Robot card as having no text and no icons. Tactical Gear tokens on the Robot are still available. Effects that only require a Robot can still be used (e.g., a Secure Action card). If a Malfunction marker would be placed on a Robot with one already there, ignore it.

Discarding Malfunction Markers: many effects allow you to discard Malfunction markers — you can do so from the Room your Character is in, or any Item/Robot in that Room (unless stated otherwise).

Malfunction Markers Limit: if at any point you must place a Malfunction marker and there are no more available, place a Fire marker in the Room instead, if possible. Example: you must place a Malfunction marker on your Weapon and there are none available — you instead place a Fire marker in your Room.

Secure Tokens: Securing Rooms is one of the Actions that let Characters prepare for Intruder Attacks — Secure tokens protect Characters from Attacks directed by Intruders entering the Room. Many Actions may place Secure tokens in Rooms; there is a limit of 3 Secure tokens in any given Room. Characters may never Secure a Room with an Intruder inside. Note: some Rooms may be impossible to Secure (such as the Nest) and some are always Secured (such as the Shelter Room).

Resolving Secure Tokens: whenever an Intruder enters a Room with at least 1 Character and a Secure token, 1 Secure token is discarded instead of resolving the Intruder Attack. Discarding Secure tokens is a result of Intruder movement and may never be prevented. Secure tokens do NOT protect from Intruder Attacks made by Intruders already in a Room (for example, during the Intruder Attack step).

Character Movement

Movement Sequence

Characters may Move as a result of many different effects, most commonly by performing the "Make a Move" Action. Character Movement is always done from a Room to another Room — Characters are never placed in Corridors. The Movement sequence:

1. Choose Direction — choose an adjacent Corridor your Character is going to Move through.
2. Resolve Opportunity Attacks — if there are any Intruders in the same Room as the Character and/or in the Corridor the Character wants to Move through, for each such Intruder, starting with the largest, resolve an Intruder Attack (up to 3 Attacks maximum).
3. See the effect of your Movement:
   • If Moving to an already Discovered Room — Move your Character there. If Moving Cautiously, place a Secure token there. Make a Noise roll.
   • If Moving through an Unexplored Corridor to an Undiscovered Room — resolve the Exploration Sequence.

Secret Passages: sometimes an effect (such as a Technical Corridor Entrance Room effect) may allow a Character to Move to a specific Room regardless of distance. In such a case resolve the sequence above with the exception of the Choose Direction step.

Exploration Sequence

At the start of the game, the Facility is mostly unexplored. New Rooms and Corridors appear as a result of Characters Moving to uncharted territory and exploring on their own. Whenever a Character Moves through an Unexplored Corridor they must resolve the Exploration Sequence.

The Exploration Sequence is resolved by drawing an Exploration card and resolving it in the empty Room slot at the end of the Unexplored Corridor the Character Moved through. The Exploration card must be oriented the same way as the map — note the North icon on the card and the top-left side of the map. Note: Exploration cards do not always show the Corridor the Character has Moved through, since their purpose is to show new Corridors to be placed.

1. Set up the Room — check the type of Room described on top of the card ("A," "B," "C," or "?"), draw a random Room of that type and place it face up in an empty space at the exit of the Corridor you are Moving through. If there are no more Rooms of the required type, place a random "?" Room instead.
2. Set up the Corridors — around the new Room, place a random Corridor face up in each space shown on the card, if not already there. If a Corridor has a Door slot, place it so the Door slot connects with the newly Explored Room. Two exceptions: (a) no Corridors lead out of the Facility — if a Corridor leads to a space outside the Facility's border, do not set it up; (b) no Corridors lead to already placed Rooms — if a Corridor leads to a Room already placed on the map, do not set it up. Note: Corridors do not lead to already placed Rooms, because Corridors should not appear out of nowhere around Rooms established to have only certain entrances.
3. Set up markers and tokens — place all markers and tokens on Corridors and Rooms as shown on the Exploration card. Do not place a Noise marker in a Corridor that already has one — nothing happens in that case.
4. Movement and Securing Reminder — Move your Character to the Room. If you're Moving Cautiously, place a Secure token in that Room.
5. Entrance Effect — some cards have an additional effect resolved at this point, most commonly a Noise roll.
6. Insider icon — not used in the base game; ignore it.
7. Discard the Exploration card — unless already removed as part of the Entrance Effect.

Empty Exploration Deck: if you ever need to draw from the Exploration deck and it's empty, reshuffle all Exploration cards (except removed ones) and then draw the required card.

Noise Roll

A Noise roll is performed as a result of many different Actions and effects (most commonly Movement) and is the main way Noise markers appear on the map. Noise Roll After Every Movement: a Noise roll must be made after each Movement — even when Moving to a Room with another Character and/or Intruder. Only some special effects allow Movement without a Noise roll.

When making a Noise roll, take the Noise die, roll it, and resolve effects depending on the result:

• Number result (1, 2, 3, 4): find all Corridors adjacent to the Room your Character is in that share the rolled value. For each such Corridor, resolve in order: if the Corridor contains at least 1 Intruder, the largest Intruder from that Corridor moves to the Room containing your Character; else if the Corridor already contains a Noise marker, resolve the Noise marker there per the Intruder Help Sheet; else (no Noise marker), place a Noise marker there. If there is no Corridor of the corresponding value, nothing happens.
• Hazard result: draw an Intruder token from the Intruder bag and resolve it per the Intruder Help sheet. Rolling this result will, most of the time, place 1 Intruder in the Room with the Character. You are only interested in the icon of the drawn token, showing the kind of Intruder placed — disregard the value on the back completely. Discard the token back to the Intruder piles afterward.

Surprise Attacks: when an Intruder is placed in a Room/moved to a Room (for any reason), it immediately tries to Attack a Character inside.

Resolving Noise Markers: Noise markers are resolved most frequently as a result of rolling the Noise die, but may also occur from other effects such as Event cards. Resolving a Noise marker represents a chance of Intruders appearing in Corridors. To resolve one, remove it, draw a random Intruder token from the Intruder bag and resolve it in the same Corridor per the Intruder Help sheet. The number on the token's back shows how many Intruders are placed in the Corridor (a red number shows how many Drones are placed). Then discard the token back to the Intruder piles (unless stated otherwise). Note: the Blank token is always returned to the bag.

Items

Items come in many different types. Each Character starts the game with their own Character Item. During setup they also get a Support Equipment (except the Contractor), and throughout the game they may find other regular Items.

Most often, Items must be Used (e.g. via the "Use an Item" Basic Action) for their effects to apply. However, some Items have passive effects, applied when the timing on the card calls for it — those Items may never be Used via the "Use an Item" Action.

Most Items come with Traits below their name: Heavy — items with a horizontal layout that may only be placed in Hand slots; Armor — items marked additionally on top of the card, most providing a passive effect; Ranged Weapon, Melee Weapon — common Traits that simply describe the Item and have no effect on their own, but many Actions reference them; One Use Only — discarded when Used; Requires no Ammo — Weapons with this Trait require no Ammo tokens to Shoot and Burst. Note: for the sake of Actions that require Weapons with Ammo tokens, such Items are considered as always having an Ammo token on them.

Fully Loaded: during the game, Items are always found with all Tactical Gear slots filled, if they have any.

Regular Items are the most common type — all vertical Items without an Armor keyword. When used, simply resolve their effect. Backpack: all regular Items are always placed in a Backpack card holder and may be used via the "Use an Item" Action. There is no limit to the number of regular Items held in the Backpack. Items in the Backpack are secret information and should not be revealed to other players until used.

Heavy Items: various Items offer slots for Tactical Gear tokens. Most Weapons have slots for Ammo tokens, since they require Ammo to be shot with. Tactical Gear slots can also be found on other Items — the color of the slot determines which Tactical tokens can be placed there: Ammo token, Grenade token, Oxygen token, Medpack token, or Any token (universal slot).

Gaining Items

Search: for each Item Icon in your Room, draw 1 Item of the corresponding type; you may keep 1 of them and discard the rest. Items are most commonly gained by using the Search Action card. Some other cards and effects work very similarly, allowing Characters to find even more Items. The Search Action card allows you to draw 1 Item card for each Item Icon on the Room you are Searching in, then you pick 1 of those cards to keep and discard the rest to the bottom of their respective decks. Items that were Searched but not chosen should not be revealed to other players. Example: by Searching Life Support Control "B" you will draw 1 Yellow and 1 Green Item. Then choose 1 to keep, and discard the other to the bottom of its corresponding deck.

When gaining a Tactical Gear token, it may be placed in any of your empty Tactical Gear slots that matches the token (Tactical Belt slots are considered Any-token type). As a result of losing an Item, the Character also loses all Tactical Gear tokens from that Item.

Heavy Items

All Items with a horizontal layout are Heavy Items — too big to fit in a Backpack and must be held in one of the Hand slots. Only 1 Item may be carried in a Hand slot. If such an Item is gained when all Hand slots are already taken, you may first discard one of the held Items to make space for the new Item.

Weapons (both Ranged and Melee) are an important subtype of Heavy Items. Ranged Weapons are necessary to Shoot and Burst. Melee Attacks may be done with either type of Weapon (or even without any), although Melee Weapons do so much better. Intruder Eggs are also considered Heavy Items.

Armor Items

Armor Items are all Items with the "Armor" keyword. When gained, an Armor Item is always placed on the Heavily Injured section of the Health track. Only one Armor Item may be worn at any moment — when a Character gains an Armor Item while already using one, they may first discard the current Armor to gain the new one. Armor does not fit into a Backpack card holder.

When a Health marker is to be moved to a Health track section with an Armor Item, that Armor Item breaks and must be discarded, and then the rest of the damage is applied. When a Character gains an Armor Item and their Health marker is already on the Heavily Injured section, they can't gain the Armor and it's discarded instead.

Example — Heavy Armor: whenever you would gain a Serious Wound, you may lose 2 Health instead.

Interplay

In Nemesis: Retaliation, most effects (from Actions and Items) are not used on other Characters, and most of the time interaction with Items belonging to other Characters does not happen. It is possible to use an Item on another Character in the same Room, if the Character allows you to do so, and the Item has one of the following effects: Restoring, Discarding Serious Wounds, Discarding Contamination (from Items belonging to another Character), or Gaining. For any other effect, you must Trade the Item to another Character so they can use it themselves.

Trading: when a Character uses the Trade Action, all Characters in the same Room may, with mutual consent, reveal and exchange Items and/or Tactical Gear tokens with the Character performing the Trade Action (which in turn may result in 3-way exchanges, as long as the active Character agrees). A Character may choose to give an Item and/or Tactical Gear token without asking for anything in return.

Intruders

Intruders are an alien species that humanity knows very little about. They are aggressive and intelligent creatures. Intruders come in 4 different types. All rules regarding Intruders are explained from the perspective of Adults since they are most commonly met in Nemesis: Retaliation, but they apply to Intruders of all types, unless strictly described otherwise.

Intruder Types

Starting from the largest: the Queen is only one, an extremely durable and aggressive enemy. Drones are rare but more dangerous than typical Adults. Adults are the most standard type seen very frequently — they commonly hunt with other Intruders as a group. Larvae are not as deadly as the other Intruders, but come with a nasty surprise.

Intruders Limit: Intruders may be placed in both Rooms and Corridors. While Rooms can hold any number of Intruders, the maximum number that may be placed in any Corridor is 6 (with the Queen counting as 4 Intruders). Intruder models are a limited component — if you are ever instructed to place more models of a certain type than available, place as many as you can and ignore the rest; it cannot get worse.

Intruder Bag

During many different Phases you draw tokens from the Intruder bag — any time this happens, resolve the token according to the specific column of the Intruder Help sheet and remove the token from the bag. Tokens are always removed upon being resolved, and placed back in the Intruder token piles. The Blank token is the only exception — it is always put back into the bag.

Intruder Movement

Intruders move between Corridors and Rooms in many different situations. General rules that apply to most movements:

• Intruders move to the closest Character using the shortest route — Intruders move as a group in the direction of the closest Character (unless specified otherwise) using the shortest possible route. Doors are completely disregarded when Intruders choose the shortest route.
• Intruders move between Rooms and Corridors — if the moving Intruders are in a Corridor, they move to an adjacent Room; if in a Room, they move to an adjacent Corridor.
• Only 1 Intruder enters a Room with a Character — whenever Intruders move from 1 Corridor to a Room with a Character, only the largest Intruder moves to that Room instead.
• Intruders Attack when moving to a Room with a Character — whenever an Intruder enters a Room with a Character it always Attacks (some effects may allow you to prevent that Attack, such as Secure tokens).
• Intruders stay in Combat — Intruders do not move when they are in the same Room as a Character; they do not move away from Combat, unless Repelled.

Intruders Targeting: when Intruders have multiple Characters they could Attack/move to, they choose the target by: (1) closest Character; (2) if multiple Characters are the same distance, the Character Activating the Attack/movement (if any); (3) if still tied, the Character first in Turn order.

Summary of Possible Movements: Event cards — Intruders move according to the icons on the Event card. Noise roll — may result in Intruders entering a Room from an adjacent Corridor. Repelling — different effects may move Intruders away from Characters. Queen Activation — one possible effect of the Queen's Activation is her movement.

Event Cards: the first part of an Event card always moves Intruders in the Facility. Two types of effects: "All [Intruders] in each [Corridor orientation] move" — move all Intruders in the Facility currently in Corridors of the shown orientation to the appropriate Rooms; "All [Intruders] in every Room move" — move all Intruders currently in Rooms, regardless of Section, to the appropriate Corridors. When resolving Intruder movement, apply the General Rules (always move toward the closest Character, using the shortest route) — start Intruder movement in the Facility from the top-left corner and, going row by row, resolve movement of each group of Intruders individually.

Intruders Moving Through Doors: (1) when deciding the path Intruders move, use the shortest route regardless of Doors being in the way; (2) whenever Intruders would move through a Closed Door, they destroy that Door and do not move instead.

Rare Movement Exceptions and Tiebreaks: (1) if two different routes to the closest Character are the same length, Intruders move using the shortest route that starts with the Corridor/Room with the lowest ID number; (2) if Intruders are unable to move because the Corridor they'd move to is already full (max 6 Intruders), and there's another route of equal length, they move using that one instead — if there is no such route, all Intruders able to move to that Corridor do so, and the rest simply wait (it's possible none move).

Noise Roll: whenever a Character makes a Noise roll, if Intruders are in adjacent Corridors indicated by the roll's result, one Intruder (prioritizing the largest forms) from each such Corridor enters the Character's Room and tries to Attack them.

Repelling: many different effects may cause Intruders to be Repelled. If a Character Repels an Intruder from the same Room or an adjacent Corridor, that Intruder moves away from that Character (or any other source of the Repel effect) — if Repelled from the same Room, the Character chooses which Corridor they move to. If an Intruder is being Repelled and is farther away from the source of that effect than an adjacent Corridor, it moves to the Corridor/Room with the lowest ID number. Repelling may result in: an Intruder moving out of an Unexplored Corridor outside the visible map (it stays where it is — impossible to Repel farther); an Intruder trying to move through Doors (they Destroy them instead); or an Intruder entering a Room with Characters (it tries to Attack the Character first in Turn order in that Room).

Queen's Activation: drawing a Queen token may result in the Queen's Activation, resulting in either the Queen Attacking or moving. The Queen moves exactly the same as other Intruders (see The Queen, below).

Intruder Attacks

Intruders attack Characters on many different occasions — most commonly when an Intruder enters a Room with a Character, or in the Intruder Phase.

Standard Attacks: whenever an Intruder Attacks a Character, draw a random Intruder Attack card (except Larva Attacks, described below). The card is resolved by finding an icon matching the Attacking Intruder type and resolving the associated effect. Then the card is discarded. The Intruder Attack deck is only reshuffled when instructed by the game.

Example — Infecting: Adult/Drone: lose 2 Health. Queen: gain 1 Contamination; if you are not infected with a Larva, place 1 Larva on your Character board.

Intruders Choosing a Target: whenever an Intruder enters a Room with at least 1 Character, it resolves an Intruder Attack (unless prevented by a Secure token or another in-game effect). If the Intruder entered as a result of a player effect, it Attacks that Character if possible. Otherwise, it Attacks the Character first in Turn order.

Larva Attacks: when a Larva Attacks a Character, instead: (1) the Attacked Character gains 1 Contamination and places it on their discard pile; (2) place the Attacking Larva on the Character board — the Character is now Infected with a Larva (if the Attacked Character already has a Larva on their board, simply discard the Attacking Larva instead).

Preventing Attacks: various effects on Action cards and Items may allow a Character to Prevent an Intruder Attack. If that happens, ignore the entire Intruder Attack — do not apply any additional effects and do NOT draw an Intruder Attack card.

Intruder Health and Combat

Characters can fight Intruders in many different ways: precise, single Shots at Intruders in the same Room, Bursting at hordes charging through Corridors, or, in the direst situations, Melee Attacks. No matter which type of Combat occurs, the effect always results in assigning Hits to Intruders. When Adult Intruders are in Corridors, each Hit kills a single Adult Intruder (simply remove it from the map). When they're in a Room, each Hit is an injury dealt to an Intruder (by placing Universal markers by the Intruder's model).

Weapons: nearly all Combat in Nemesis: Retaliation is done using Weapons. When a Weapon is chosen to be used in an Action, all effects and modifiers from the chosen Weapon must be applied, unless stated otherwise. Effects of rolling a specific result are described on Weapon cards and are done in addition to the standard result described below.

Attacking Other Characters: to prevent serious conflict among the crew, humanity has equipped its members with implants that create a strong psychic barrier and inhibit direct violence against homo sapiens — directly attacking is impossible. Characters cannot directly Attack other Characters. Yet it is still possible (accidentally or intentionally) to harm other Characters as a side effect of Actions — after all, trapping someone in a Room on fire is not an Attack.

Shooting

Intruders are very agile, so Shooting at them in a cramped Room is a difficult task. Shooting in Nemesis: Retaliation produces singular Hits — each Hit increases the likelihood of an Intruder dying, but that is never certain. Characters may only Shoot at Intruders in the same Room and only if they have a working, loaded Ranged Weapon. Shooting does not spend Ammo (except for one specific roll result, below) — Characters use advanced equipment where a single bullet loss is not significant.

Shooting is resolved as follows:

1. Choose a Weapon and a target — choose a Weapon in a Hand without a Malfunction marker and with at least 1 Ammo token on it (need not be a full Ammo token). Then choose an Intruder in the same Room as the Character.
2. Deal 1 Hit — place 1 Universal marker next to the Intruder's base.
3. Make a Shoot roll — roll a Shoot die and resolve the result to check if the Intruder dies:
   • Critical hit: the Intruder dies — place it back in the Intruder pool.
   • Normal hit that sometimes kills (2/3/4/5): if the number rolled is lower than or equal to the number of Hits on the Intruder, it dies — place it back in the Intruder pool.
   • You've lost too many bullets: Spend 1 Ammo.

Note: Larvae and the Queen are dealt Hits the same way, but their Health is resolved differently (see below).

Bursting

When Intruders are cramped in a narrow Corridor it's time to Burst fire. It uses a significant amount of Ammo, but it's well worth it. Characters may only Burst at Intruders in an adjacent Corridor and only if they have a working, loaded Ranged Weapon. Bursts always spend Ammo, but allow you to score multiple Hits, possibly killing multiple Intruders at once.

Bursting is resolved as follows:

1. Choose a Weapon and a Corridor — choose a Weapon in a Hand without a Malfunction marker and with at least 1 Ammo token on it. Then choose an adjacent Corridor to Burst at.
2. Spend 1 Ammo and make a Burst roll — the number on the die shows how many Hits will be applied to Intruders in the chosen Corridor.
3. Apply Hits — apply Hits to Intruders in the Corridor in any way you decide; the number rolled shows how many Hits (1, 2, 3, or 4) you apply. You may only apply 1 Hit per Adult and 1 Hit per Larva; exactly 2 Hits per Drone; any number of Hits to the Queen, up to her Hits track maximum. Any leftover Hits are lost.
4. Resolve Hits — Adults and Larvae with 1 Hit and Drones with 2 Hits die (place them back in the Intruder pool). For each Hit applied to the Queen, advance the Universal marker on the Queen's Hits track by 1 (up to its maximum space) — this may apply additional effects.
5. Additional Effect symbol — if you rolled this symbol, check for any additional effects that may apply from the used Weapon or Action; if you have no additional effects, this symbol does nothing. Note: the Additional Effect symbol is on the same face of the Burst die as the 4 — rolling this result means applying both 4 Hits and the additional effects.

Spend: an Ammo token can be spent twice before it's depleted. If you have a full Ammo token and the game instructs you to spend it, flip it (to half-full); if you have a half-full Ammo token and are instructed to spend it, discard it.

Melee Attack

In dire situations, a Character may choose to Melee Attack an Intruder in the same Room. This should be done only as a last resort, because if the Intruder lives through the Attack it will try to retaliate. To perform a Melee Attack, resolve:

1. Gain 1 Contamination card — getting that close to Intruders is always a bad idea.
2. Choose a target — must be an Intruder in the same Room as the Character.
3. Deal 1 Hit — place 1 Universal marker next to the Intruder's base.
4. Make a roll — roll a Shoot die: Critical hit — the Intruder dies, place it back in the Intruder pool; Normal hit that sometimes kills (2/3/4/5) — if the number rolled is lower than or equal to the number of Hits on the Intruder, it dies; Ineffective attack — nothing happens.
5. Intruder Response OR Prevent — if the Intruder has not died, it tries to retaliate. You may choose to place a Malfunction marker on any of your Weapons to Prevent this Attack. Otherwise, resolve the Intruder Attack. Note: placing a Malfunction marker on a Weapon that already had one destroys the Weapon.

Note: Larvae and the Queen are dealt Hits the same way, but their Health is resolved differently (see below).

Health of Other Intruders

Larva Health: in a Corridor, 1 Hit is enough to kill a Larva. In a Room, 1 Hit is also enough to kill a Larva, regardless of the number rolled on a Shoot die.

Drone Health: killing Drones is only harder when they are in Corridors (2 Hits needed to kill them). Shooting them in Rooms is always resolved the same as Shooting Adult Intruders.

Intruder Hit Markers: Intruders in Corridors never have left-over Hit markers placed beside them. An injured Intruder moving to a Corridor discards all Hit markers it may have had.

Queen Health: see The Queen, below.

The Queen

The Queen's Health works differently than other Intruders and is facilitated by the Queen's Health cards — she is much harder to kill than any other Intruder. Throughout the game Characters may deal Hits to the Queen, progressing the Queen's Hits track, and in effect drawing cards from the Queen Health deck. A Queen Health card, when resolved, will discard additional Queen Health cards and resolve a special effect. The Queen will be killed only when all those cards are discarded.

Dealing Hits and Discarding Cards: attacking the Queen deals Hits to her as normal, per the Combat rules above. For each Hit dealt to the Queen, advance the Universal marker on the Queen's Hits track by 1, instead of placing Universal markers near the model's base.

Queen Health Card example: discard 1 additional card. Repel the Queen.

Whenever the Queen Health marker reaches the final space (or a card is dealt in any other way):

• Ignore any further Hits dealt to the Queen in that Action.
• Draw the top card of the Queen Health deck and resolve it: check the number shown on the drawn card, and discard that many additional Queen Health cards without revealing them; then resolve the effect on the bottom part of the card (this effect is resolved even if the Queen dies as a result of discarding the last Queen Health card).
• Discard the drawn card and set the Universal marker back to "0."

Queen Death: when the last Queen Health card is discarded, the Queen is considered dead — remove her model from the game. From that point on: ignore effects that would place the Queen in the Facility; flip the Intruder Help sheet — Intruder tokens now behave differently (see "The Queen is dead" side, described under Bag Development, above).

Queen Health card space notes: if there are no cards left in the Queen Health cards space, remove the Queen's model and flip the Intruder Help sheet to the black side — the Queen is now dead. If there are no Eggs left in the Nest, the Nest is now destroyed.

Queen Activation: at many points in the game the Queen may Activate — mostly as a result of drawing a Queen token from the Intruder bag. When the Queen Activates, she Attacks a Character in the same Room if possible, or moves once toward the closest Character otherwise. She follows the same Intruder targeting rules as other Intruders: (1) closest Character; (2) if multiple Characters are the same distance, the Character Activating the Attack/movement (if any); (3) if still tied, the Character first in Turn order.

Contamination Cards

Contamination cards are one of the undesirable consequences of interacting with Intruders. Some effects, such as Intruder Attacks, may result in Characters receiving Contamination cards. When a Contamination card is gained, it is always placed in a Character's discard pile.

Contamination cards are undesirable and affect players in two ways: (1) they fill up the Action deck — although Contamination cards share the back layout with Action cards, they CANNOT be discarded to pay for Actions; (2) they increase the risk of dying — having many Contamination cards in an Action deck at the End of the Game makes it more likely for a Character to die (see Infection and Eclosion Procedures, below).

Example Contamination card: "Can't be discarded for Actions. You may discard this card when you Pass."

Hidden Text: each Contamination card contains hidden text that remains secret until a game effect makes the player scan a Contamination card. Using Scanner: when Scanning a Contamination card, you are looking for the word "INFECTED" — if the card contains this exact word, it is Infected; if not, it is Not Infected (read carefully, most words look very alike). The exact effect of scanning is dependent on the situation and described by the effect — most commonly associated with the Infection Procedure.

Infected by Larva: too much Contamination may result in a Character being Infected and, in effect, may end with the Character's death at the End of the Game. The most common effect of being Infected is placing a Larva model on a Character board, but it is always described by the effect/procedure. Having a Larva on a Character board does not incur any penalties by itself, but heavily increases the chance of that Character's death (mostly during End of the Game checks — see the Eclosion Procedure). A Larva can be removed from a Character with a few in-game effects, such as the Surgery Room.

Robot

Characters, while exploring the Facility, may come upon a friendly Robot that they can use to aid them in their missions. It starts in the Hibernatorium, and it is not known which Robot is currently used — it is chosen randomly at the start and placed face down. The Robot does nothing on its own; it only performs Actions it has been assigned by Characters. The Robot card is revealed when any Room is connected to the Hibernatorium for the first time — from that point on the Robot can be Activated. The Robot is completely ignored by Intruders in all cases — they are not interested in mechanical beings.

Activating the Robot: there are 6 different Robot cards but only 1 appears in a given game; each card has a unique effect associated with the Robot. Characters may use the "Activate the Robot" Action by discarding 1 Action card: Locally — if they are in a Room with the Robot; OR Remotely — if they are in a Room with a Computer icon, discarding 1 additional Action card. Data Token and Robot: a Data token may be gained by using the Server Room Action. Characters with this token may Activate the Robot remotely without discarding the additional card.

Malfunction Marker on the Robot: the Robot can sometimes get broken — various game effects may place a Malfunction marker on it. A Robot with a Malfunction marker is considered to have no Action, and all game effects mentioning the Robot are unavailable (Tactical Gear tokens on the Robot may still be used, however). If a Character is in a Room with the Robot, Actions that discard Malfunction markers may do so from the Robot.

Robot Movement: the Robot never moves on its own — all its movement results from player Actions. It always moves from a Room to a neighboring Room. It ignores Intruders (even those in Corridors), but it cannot move through Closed Doors. The Robot may never move through an Unexplored Corridor to Explore a new Room, and never makes a Noise roll. Note: the effect of the Exploration Robot is the only exception, allowing it to Explore a new Room — it could make a Noise roll in that case.

Robot's Tactical Gear Slots: the Robot has its own Tactical Gear slots and starts with 2 tokens — 1 Ammo token and 1 Oxygen token. When a Character performs the "Use Tactical Gear tokens" Action while in the same Room as the Robot, they may also Use the Robot's Tactical Gear tokens — tokens may also be moved between the Character's and the Robot's Tactical Gear slots.

Lander and Anti-Aircraft System

The Facility is equipped with Anti-Aircraft systems. Active Anti-Aircraft systems may destroy the Lander, making Escape this way impossible. At the start of the game Characters do not know if the system is working or not, and it's up to them to gather this information.

The Anti-Aircraft system is represented by 2 Anti-Aircraft tokens. During game setup, these tokens are placed face down in a random order in the Anti-Aircraft slot (on the Section "B" border piece); the token on top indicates the status of the Anti-Aircraft system. During the game, Characters may check (in secret) and swap those tokens using the Life Support Control "B" Room. Information about the status of Anti-Aircraft tokens may be shared and lied about, but tokens cannot be shown.

Resolving Anti-Aircraft Tokens: Anti-Aircraft tokens are resolved when a Round marker is placed on the space with the Lander token (or vice versa) — the Lander tries to land in the Facility but may be destroyed in the process. Check the top Anti-Aircraft token: if ACTIVE, the Lander gets destroyed — discard the Lander token. If INACTIVE, the Lander lands safely — place the Lander token on the Landing Zone Room and remove the Anti-Aircraft tokens from the game (they cannot be changed). From now on Characters may use the Landing Zone Room to try to Escape.

Lander: a Character can get into the Lander by using the Landing Zone Room Action while the Lander token is already there. The Character models in the Lander are placed on the Anti-Aircraft slot. While a Character is in the Lander: their Turns are skipped (but they do not Pass — if all other Characters Pass, they automatically Pass too, and the Round ends); they may not willingly leave the Lander; they do not lose Oxygen, nor lose Health from any effects (such as Fire in the Room) — a Destroyed Facility is the only thing that can still affect them; they still take part in a standard Cleanup Phase, drawing Action cards and possibly being passed the Starting Player token; after any Intruder appears in the Landing Zone, the Characters automatically leave the Lander and may act again during their next Turn.

Lander Launch Decision: at the very start of the Event Phase, any Character inside the Lander may decide to Launch the Lander. If that happens: remove the Lander token from the game; place all Character models that were in the Lander on their respective Character boards — they have safely Escaped the Facility and no longer take part in the game until the End of the Game check. Note: this is not a collaborative decision — it is enough for 1 Character to decide to Launch the Lander.

Procedures

There are several Procedures that may be referenced by the game. Any time the game instructs you to resolve a certain Procedure, simply follow the steps below.

Infection Procedure

Used to check whether a Character becomes infected with a Larva. Always performed at the End of the Game, but may also sometimes be performed during the game (for example, by using the Rest Action card). To resolve:

1. Scan all Contamination cards in hand.
2. Look for the word "INFECTED" on the scanned cards — if found, the card is Infected: place a Larva on your Character board, if you don't have one already. If not found, the card is Not Infected.
3. Place all Contamination cards in your hand on top of your discard pile.

Eclosion Procedure

Used to check whether a Larva hatches and kills a Character in the process. Always performed at the End of the Game, but may also sometimes be performed during the game. To resolve:

1. Draw 4 cards from your Action deck.
2. Check if any of your cards in hand is a Contamination card — do not scan them. If you don't have any, you are still alive: discard all cards from your hand. If any card in your hand is a Contamination card, your Character dies.

If a Character dies this way during the game, place 1 Adult in their Room — it may result in an Intruder Attack against another Character in the same Room.

Autodestruction Procedure

The Facility is installed with an Autodestruction Procedure in case of emergency. It can be easily turned on, but turning it off is not easy — it requires a complete power shutdown in the Reactor Room.

When the Procedure is Activated, place the Autodestruction token on the Round track 5 spaces ahead of the current Round marker (4 empty spaces between the Round marker and the Autodestruction token). If there are not enough spaces on the Round track, place the Autodestruction token behind the last space — the Autodestruction activates upon the game end instead. When a Round marker moves to the same space as the Autodestruction token, the Facility is destroyed and the game ends. The Autodestruction Procedure may only be turned off in the Reactor Room, with a complete Facility power shutdown.

Destroyed Facility: when the Facility is destroyed, the game ends — all Characters in the Facility (even Hibernated) and Intruders (including the Queen) are considered dead. All Rooms (including the Nest) are considered Destroyed.

Escaping/Hibernating

To win the game, each Character must (among other things) Escape from the Facility or Hibernate. There are 3 ways of doing so:

1. Escaping by using the Lander in the Landing Zone.
2. Locking themselves by Hibernating in the Hibernatorium — this Action can only be done if the Hibernatorium is Active.
3. Escaping the Facility through the Escape Shuttle.

Whenever a Character tries to use one of these 3 Rooms, they must make a Noise roll as part of that Room's effect — with a special rule: if, after this Noise roll, there is an Intruder in the same Room as the Character, the Action is unsuccessful and the Character stays in the Room; otherwise, the Action is a success. As a result: Landing Zone — the Character boards the Lander and awaits the Event Phase (they may still be forced to leave the Lander by Intruders). Hibernatorium — the Character Hibernates safely in a locked pod and takes no further part in the game until the End of the Game check; they may still die as a result of Facility destruction. Escape Shuttle — the Character has flown out of the Facility and takes no further part in the game until the End of the Game check. Note: Anti-Aircraft systems do not interact with the Escape Shuttle in any way.

End of the Game

The game ends when one of the following takes place:

• Round 14 ends — Time is up, and all Characters who have not Escaped the Facility/Hibernated are beyond saving and are considered dead.

OR

• All players have died or Escaped/Hibernated — there are no more players left in the game.

When the game ends there are still a few checks to be done before players can determine winners. At the end of the game, Characters who are still alive and have Escaped/Hibernated perform the following sequence in order:

1. Each Character without a Larva on their Character board — draws all cards from the Action deck and discard pile to hand and performs the Infection Procedure.
2. Each Character that currently has a Larva on their Character board — gains 1 Contamination card, reshuffles their whole deck (including hand and discard pile), and performs the Eclosion Procedure. Note: a Character may have gained a Larva during the game or during this Sequence.
3. Each Character who is still alive — reveals and checks their Objective. Note: if a Character has not chosen an Objective until that point, they simply do so now (before other players reveal their Objectives).
4. Each remaining Character who succeeded in completing their Objective wins the game!

Objectives and Mission Task

Each Character has their own ambitions and desires, but the choices they make are rarely set in stone. Objective cards are goals they choose during the game. The Mission Task is a common mission for the squad — this card is revealed at the start of the game and can never change. The Mission Task is not always available to all Characters; instead, most Mission Objective cards, if chosen by a player, direct that player to fulfill the Mission Task.

Objective cards come in 2 types. At the start of the game, each player is dealt 1 random Objective card of each type. During the game, players must choose one of their cards and fulfill all its requirements to win the game (see Choosing an Objective, above).

• Mission Objective — often connected to the Mission Task in some way; most often requires the Mission Task to be fulfilled.
• Private Objective — may feature a variety of conditions for a Character to fulfill.

Example Mission Task — Official Order: the Mission Task must be fulfilled. Example Private Objective — Veni, Vidi, Vici (2+): the Nest (Section C) must be destroyed. Example Mission Task — Primary Samples: all Characters who Escape from the Facility must be carrying at least 2 Eggs in total among them (no matter if they Survive after Escaping).

Escaped Characters: some Objectives may require a Character to Escape the Facility. All Characters who have Escaped from the Facility are considered Escaped, even if the Infection Procedure during the End of the Game check would leave them dead in the process. Characters that have Hibernated do not Escape the Facility.

Additional Modes

Deadly Mode

This mode increases the difficulty of the game and is available both in the standard and in the Solo/Coop version. If you wish to play with this mode, use both the standard Noise values and the second, smaller Noise values found on some Corridors. Corridors are treated as having both Noise values for any effects, meaning Noise rolls are much more dangerous, as the chances of Intruders appearing and entering Rooms are highly increased. Note: Secured Corridors still have only one value of 0. For the sake of any tie-breaks, use only the standard Noise value.

Solo and Coop Rules

While Nemesis: Retaliation shines as a semi-cooperative experience, you can also play it in fully cooperative mode, or even solo. To facilitate that, special Solo/Coop Objectives are used.

Setup — apply the following changes: (1) instead of placing a random Mission Task card, draw and place a number of random Solo/Coop Mission Task cards equal to the number of Characters taking part in the game; (2) do NOT draw standard Objective cards — they are not used in this mode.

Winning: to win, all Mission Tasks must be fulfilled, and at least 1 Character must Survive. Note: if there are multiple Objectives requiring you to fulfill the same requirement (such as gaining a Data token), that many Characters must do so and Survive.

Revive: in this fully cooperative mode, the Surgery Room is equipped with a special AutoDoc device, allowing the marines to revive any near-death person. Whenever one of the Characters dies, leave their model on the board knocked over and discard all their Items. When Moving from a Room containing the model, another Character may move the model with them by discarding 1 additional Action card. If a knocked-over Character model starts a Round in a Surgery Room (and no Intruders and no Malfunction marker are there), they are placed back up, discard all Serious Wounds, and place their Health marker on the left-most space of the Injured section of their Health track.

Difficulty: we recommend starting with the standard setup, but it is possible to change the difficulty for groups that are new or more experienced with Nemesis: Retaliation, by increasing (or decreasing) the number of Mission Tasks during setup. Note: if the Tasks require more Data tokens than there are starting Characters in the game, simply gain as many as there are Characters in the game.