Space Defenders Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Preparation Before the First Game
• Goal of the Game
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Moving the Fighter
  • 2. Shooting
  • 3. Moving the Mine
• Empty Column
• Missile
• End of the Game
• Advanced Variant
  • Upgrading the Fighter
  • Power-Up

Components

• Board
• 66 invader tokens:
  • 56 monsters (with values 1–5), in groups of 11, 11, 11, 11 and 12
  • 5 two-piece command ships (10 parts)
• 13 stickers: 12 fighters, 1 mine
• 8 wooden square pawns in 4 colors (2 in each color)
• 1 round wooden pawn
• 4 missile markers in 4 colors
• 4 power-up markers in 4 colors

We also included a sticker allowing you to sign your copy of the game.

Preparation Before the First Game

Before the first game you have to apply the stickers on the pawns: red fighters on red pawns, yellow fighters on yellow pawns, etc.

• Apply one sticker with basic fighter (value 1) on one pawn in each color.
• Apply two stickers on the other pawn of the given color: a medium fighter (value 2) on one side and a strong fighter (value 3) on the other.
• Apply the sticker with a mine on the grey round pawn.

Goal of the Game

You take the roles of space fighter pilots and your goal is to protect the planet against the invaders. Do your best to shoot down the most monsters and command ships. The more eyes a monster has, the more points you get as a reward when you shoot it down. The mine orbiting the planet will help you in your task – the invader that touches it will be destroyed. The pilot that gets the most points is the winner.

Game Setup

A. Place the board in the middle of the table.

B. Turn all invader tokens face-down, mix them well and put them next to the board in several piles. We will call them invader piles.

C. Draw invader tokens from the top of invader piles and place them face-up in 4 rows above the moon.

Attention! If you reveal a token with a part of a command ship at this stage, put it aside and draw a new token. Once all monster tokens are placed, take any revealed command ship parts and shuffle them back into invader piles (face down).

D. The player who has recently travelled by plane (or the youngest player) takes 1 basic fighter (value 1) in any color and places it on any empty space in the lowest row of the board (next to the planet). Then, other players proceed clockwise and do the same. Put the remaining basic fighters into the box.

E. The player who placed his fighter on the board last takes the mine pawn and places it on any of the 4 spaces with a mine icon.

F. Place the missile markers matching the colors of your fighters next to the board. Put the remaining missile markers into the box.

Put the double-sided fighters (values 2 and 3) and power-up markers into the box. These are used in the variant described at the end of the rulebook.

Gameplay

The player who placed their fighter on the board first starts the game. Next, the gameplay proceeds clockwise around the table. During your turn you perform the 3 following actions in this exact order.

1. Moving the fighter (optional)
2. Shooting (mandatory)
3. Moving the mine (optional)

1. Moving the Fighter

You can (but do not have to) move your fighter any number of spaces in a chosen direction. The fighter has to move in a straight line (it cannot turn). It can fly over or stop only on empty spaces. The fighter is always faced towards the upper side of the board.

2. Shooting

Regardless of whether you moved the fighter or not, you have to take a shot.

You shoot at the first target in front of your fighter. Depending on what you hit, the following situations may occur:

Shooting a monster:

• Collect the monster and place it face-up in front of you.
• The number of eyes represents the number of points you can get for the monster at the end of the game.

Shooing an undamaged command ship (consisting of 2 tokens):

• Take the part of the command ship and put it into the box.
• The command ship is now damaged but still participates in the invasion – the other part stays in place.
• You do not get any points for damaging the command ship.

Shooing a damaged command ship (consisting of 1 token):

• Collect the part of the command ship and place it face-up in front of you.
• At the end of the game you can get 10 points for each collected part.

Shooting another fighter:

• The fighter stays in place.
• You take 1 invader token with the lowest value from the owner of targeted fighter and place it face-up in front of you.

Shooting the mine:

• Nothing happens. This is an anti-invader mine which will explode only if touched by an invader.

Movement and shooting example:

1. The player moves their fighter 3 spaces right.
2. Then they shoot and hit the pink monster.
3. The player collects the monster and places it face-up in front of themselves.

If you shoot down the last invader in a column, you have to move all the invaders 1 space towards the planet. After that, invaders call for reinforcements (see Empty Column, below).

3. Moving the Mine

At the end of your turn you can (but do not have to) move the mine 1 space right. If the mine moves outside the board, place it back on the board on one of the 4 spaces with the mine icon.

Attention! You cannot move the mine to a space with a fighter.

If you move the mine to a space with an invader (either a monster or a command ship), the mine explodes! Put both the mine and the destroyed invader into the box. In this case nobody gets points.

If you move the mine to a space with an undamaged command ship, the ship loses the part that was hit by the mine. Put the mine and the destroyed part of the ship into the box. The other part of the ship stays in place.

The player's turn is over. The next player on the left begins their turn.

Player turn example:

1. The player moves their fighter.
2. They shoot and destroy the pink monster. They collect the token and place it face-up in front of themselves.
3. The player moves the mine. They hit the command ship and destroy 1 part of it. The mine and the destroyed part are put into the box.

Empty Column

When the last invader from a column is shot down, perform following actions:

• Move all the invaders on the board 1 space towards the planet.
• Invader reinforcements arrive. Draw new invader tokens from the invader piles and place them in the top row of the board from left to right.
  • If you draw a token with a part of the command ship, put it aside and wait till you draw the second part. Once you have it, place a command ship made of 2 tiles in the top row of the board.
  • If there is not enough space for the command ship on the board (i.e. there is only 1 empty space in the top row), place the complete ship next to the board – it will arrive together with the next wave of reinforcements. When next reinforcements are called, place it on the first 2 spaces of the top row.
• Reinforcements phase ends once the top row is full or when there are no tokens left in invader piles.

Example:

1. The player shot down the last invaded in the column.
2. All invaders are moved 1 space towards the planet.
3. Invader reinforcements arrive. The player places new tokens revealed from the invader piles in the top row. After placing 2 tokens (white and green), they drew a part of a command ship. It is placed next to the board and the player keeps drawing tokens from the piles.
4. The player places another token – turquoise. The next one is a token with a part of a command ship. It matches the part drawn earlier, so the player places a complete command ship on the board. After that, the player draws the last token – an orange monster.

If the invader collides with the mine or a fighter at any time, you have to perform the following actions:

• Collision with a mine: The mine explodes and destroys the invader – take both and put them into the box. Nobody gets any points.
• Collision with a fighter: The fighter and the invader are destroyed. Put the invader into the box and place the fighter next to the board. Nobody gets any points.

The owner of the destroyed fighter can get back to the game on their next turn. In order to do so, they have to pay 10 points – they put invader tokens worth 10 points into the box. If they overpay, no change is given. Next, they place their fighter on any empty space in the bottom row of the board. If a player can't pay 10 points, they are out of the game.

Missile

On your turn you can buy a missile in your color. Attention! If you decide to do that, this will be the only action you perform on your turn.

• You pay 10 points for the missile – put invader tokens worth 10 points into the box (if you overpay, no change is given).
• You place the purchased missile in front of yourself.
• Your turn ends.

How do you use the missile?

• You can use the missile on any of your turns (except the turn during which you bought it).
• You launch the missile instead of a normal shot. It destroys the whole row of invaders.
• You get all the invader tokens from the destroyed row and place them face-up in front of yourself. Attention! If there are any undamaged command ships in the destroyed row, you get only 1 token for each command ship. The other one is put into the box.
• Next, you move all the invaders that are above the destroyed row 1 space towards the planet.
• Invader reinforcements arrive (see Empty Column).
• After used, the missile is put into the box.

Attention! The missile can't be used to destroy a row with another fighter in it.

Example:

On one of their previous turns the player bought the missile – now they want to use it.

1. The player moves their fighter.
2. Now, instead of normal shot, the player launches the missile. They collect all the invaders from the destroyed row (one part of the command ship is put into the box and the player collects the other).

All the invaders above the destroyed row are moved 1 space towards the planet. After that, invaders reinforcements arrive.

End of the Game

The game can end in 3 possible ways:

1. Once the last invader is removed from the board.
2. When all players did not hit any targets on consecutive turns (either invader or another player's fighter).

In both cases players managed to save the planet from the invasion and now they score points for the collected invader tokens:

• each eye on an invader token = 1 point,
• each part of a command ship = 10 points.

The player with the most points is the winner. In case of a tie, players rejoice in their shared victory.

Example: During the game a player collected the following invader tokens:

• 3 × 5 pts = 15 pts
• 4 × 4 pts = 16 pts
• 2 × 3 pts = 6 pts
• 5 × 2 pts = 10 pts
• 6 × 1 pts = 6 pts
• 3 × 10 pts = 30 pts

The player got 83 points in total.

3. If any invader reaches the planet (it passes the bottom row of the board). In that case invaders managed to raid the planet and all players lose (they do not score any points).

Advanced Variant

After several games with basic rules you can try the advanced variant. It allows you to upgrade you fighters and power-up their batteries.

During the game setup each player gets additional components in their color:

• a double-sided fighter pawn – place it in front of yourself with the medium fighter side (value 2) facing up,
• a power-up marker – place it in front of yourself with the empty battery side facing up.

The other rules remain unchanged.

Upgrading the Fighter

On your turn you can upgrade your fighter. Attention! If you decide to do that, this will be the only action you perform on your turn.

• You pay 10 points for the upgrade – put invader tokens worth 10 points into the box (if you overpay, no change is given).
• If you upgrade the basic fighter (value 1), put it into the box and replace it with the double-sided fighter pawn with the medium fighter (value 2) facing up.
• If you upgrade the medium fighter (value 2), turn it to the other side with the strong fighter (value 3).
• Your turn ends.

Attention! A medium fighter shoots twice on a single turn and a strong fighter shoots three times. After each shot you have to check whether the last invader from the column has been shot down. If that is the case, you have to perform the actions described in the Empty Column section.

(The fighter pictures for the medium and strong fighter shots are shown in the printed rulebook.)

Power-Up

On your turn you can power-up your fighter's battery. Attention! If you decide to do that, this will be the only action you perform on your turn.

• You pay 15 points for the power-up – put invader tokens worth 15 points into the box (if you overpay, no change is given).
• Turn over your power-up marker to the side with a full battery.
• Your turn ends.

Once you have powered-up your fighter, you can take additional shots while moving, depending on the fighter's level:

• basic fighter takes 1 additional shot,
• medium fighter takes 2 additional shots,
• strong fighter takes 3 additional shots.

Once a power-up is used, put it into the box.

Example:

During the game the player upgraded their fighter from basic to medium and powered-up its batteries – now it's a great moment to use them!

1. The player moves his fighter 4 spaces right. After moving 2 spaces they decided to use the power-up.
2. Since it is a medium fighter, it shoots twice. They hit a white monster and a command ship (the player places the monster face-up in front of themselves and puts the command ship token into the box). The player puts the power-up marker into the box.
3. The player continues the movement (they are not allowed to change direction) and moves their fighter 2 additional spaces right.
4. After the movement is finished, the player shoots again (twice). They collect the pink monster and the damaged command ship (the player puts both tokens face-up in front of themselves).