The Thing: Norwegian Outpost Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Overview
• The Phase Changes in Detail
  • Phase 4. Draw Action Cards and Take Character Actions
    • 4.1 - Character Movement and Action Planning
    • 4.2 - Execute Character Actions
  • Phase 6. Tests
  • Phase 8. NPC Movement & Leader Change
• Winning the Game
• Character Abilities
• New Weapons
  • Grenades
  • Sniper Rifles
• Story Mode with Pack Leader Variant
• Clarifications

Components

To play with this expansion, you will also need most of the components in the base box. In this box you find:

• 1 Base Board
• 1 UFO Board
• 8 Character Sheets
• 8 Character Standees + 8 plastic bases (in 8 player colors)
• 1 Alien Standee + 1 clear plastic base (2 Strength)
• 4 NPC Standees + 4 white plastic bases
• 1 Location Card (Shack)
• 16 Dental Record Cards (8 Healthy Teeth and 8 Teeth with Fillings)
• 7 Weapon Cards (4 Grenades and 3 Sniper Rifles)
• 4 Item Cards (3 Flashlights and 1 Keys)
• 5 Launch Sequence Cards
• 8 UFO Sector Cards
• 9 NPC Infection Tokens (7 Human and 2 Alien)
• 22 Departure Tokens (10 value 1, 8 value 2, and 4 value 3)

Setup

Follow the base game setup, but make the following changes:

1. Place the Base Board in the center of the table.

2. Take the base Location Deck and put the Kennel Location Card back in the box. Place the Shack Location Card on the matching space, then shuffle the remaining Location Cards, forming a face down deck. Turn over the first card and place the Leader Token in the location shown. Then, shuffle the card back into the deck and place the deck next to the Base Board.

3. Place a number of Damage Counters on the Base Helicopter according to the number of players. Do not place any other Damage Counters, as in this expansion the vehicles start without Damage Counters.

4. Take the base Weapon Deck and apply the following changes:

   • Put the 2 Dynamite and 2 Molotov cards back in the box.
   • Add all the cards from this expansion.
   • Now create the Weapon Deck as follows, then shuffle it and place it face down in the Armory:
     • Up to 5 players: 1 Firearm, 1 Flamethrower, 3 Grenades, 3 Melee Weapons, and 3 Sniper Rifles.
     • 6 to 7 players: 2 Firearms, 1 Flamethrower, 3 Grenades, 4 Melee Weapons, and 3 Sniper Rifles.
     • 8 players: 2 Firearms, 2 Flamethrowers, 4 Grenades, 4 Melee Weapons, and 3 Sniper Rifles.

5. Take the base Item Deck and apply the following changes:

   • Put the 3 Flashlight and 2 Wire cards back in the box.
   • Add all the cards from this expansion.
   • Now create the Item Deck as follows, then shuffle it and place it face down in the Warehouse:
     • Up to 5 players: 2 Flashlights, 2 Fuel, 3 Keys, and 2 Tools.
     • 6 players: 3 Flashlights, 2 Fuel, 3 Keys, and 2 Tools.

Editor's note: the printed setup text reads "Healty Teeth" and "in in the larger red room"; these have been corrected to "Healthy Teeth" and "in the larger red room".

Game Overview

The Thing – The Boardgame: Norwegian Outpost plays like the base game for most phases, with the following changes:

• Phase 1. Weather Conditions: The Leader determines the weather conditions by rolling the Weather Die.
• Phase 2. Base Maintenance and Rescue Helicopter Advancement: The Leader removes Fuel Tokens from the locations according to the Weather Table, and if the conditions are met, moves the Rescue Helicopter Token forward.
• Phase 3. Alien Actions (only if the Alien has been exposed): The Alien takes their turn using the Location Cards and Alien Strength Tokens.
• Phase 4. Draw Action Cards and Take Character Actions: The Characters move around the base, managing its upkeep and hunting down the Alien.
• Phase 5. Leisure Room and Accusations: During their rest period, all Characters may exchange weapons and items and may make accusations against one another.
• Phase 6. Tests (only if at least 1 Character has the opportunity to perform a Test): Characters in possession of the necessary equipment for a Test can use it to verify the Roles of the other Characters.
• Phase 7. Food Consumption: The Leader discards the Food required for the sustenance of the Characters.
• Phase 8. NPC Movement & Leader Change: The NPCs roam into locations according to drawn cards, and a new Leader takes the lead.

The Phase Changes in Detail

Phase 4. Draw Action Cards and Take Character Actions

4.1 - Character Movement and Action Planning

This procedure is unchanged, with the following exceptions:

• During Encounters, NPCs are handled in the same manner that Dogs are in the base game, except that they go to the Shack (instead of the Kennel) when captured.
• During Contagion Checks, in addition to checking their Role Cards, players must also check their Dental Record Cards, making sure that if they become an Alien they also have Healthy Teeth.

4.2 - Execute Character Actions

Character actions are executed in the same way as in the base game, with the following exceptions:

• Humans may escape individually as well as in groups (see "Winning the Game", page 6).
• When boarding either the Base Helicopter or a Snow Cat, only Characters in that location may board. (Characters may still board the Rescue Helicopter from any location). Once the escape process is complete, the vehicle used is no longer available to the remaining players - place the used Keys card on the Base Board, covering the vehicle's illustration.
• If an Alien in Human form uses a Snow Cat without bringing any Humans along, instead of immediately escaping and winning the game, they will drive to the UFO, triggering the Escape by UFO process (see page 7).

Taking these changes into account, the player escape options are now as follows:

• Individual Humans who successfully escape by any means without Aliens, while leaving other Humans behind, are automatically declared winners, and the game continues without them.
• If all surviving Humans escape, together or separately, by any means without any Aliens, the Human team wins the game.
• If an Alien in Human form escapes in either Helicopter, with or without Humans, the Alien team wins the game.
• If an Alien in Human form escapes in a Snow Cat with Humans, the Alien team wins the game.
• If an Alien in Human form uses a Snow Cat without bringing any Humans along, the Escape by UFO process is triggered.

The red player (who is Human) is holding Keys and is in an undamaged Snow Cat location. The Leader assigns them a Use Action Card, so they can leave the base and win the game. The green player is also present in the same location. At this point, the red player can decide whether or not to take the green player's Character with them. If they decide to do so, the green player must show everyone their Role. If they're an Alien, the Humans have lost.

Phase 6. Tests

In this phase, players may check the Role of a Character using TEST A (Blood Test) and/or TEST B (Flashlight Test). Tests are used to reveal the Roles of the other Characters. Each Character that has a Blood Bag is eligible to perform one TEST A, and each Character that has a Flashlight is eligible to perform TEST B on multiple Characters (see below). (A Character with both may even perform a TEST A and a TEST B on different Characters). It is possible for a player to use one of the Tests on their own Character to reveal their Role to the others.

Important: The entire group may only perform one SINGLE TEST A per round, and only one player may perform TEST B per round (though on multiple Characters). If more players can perform Tests, the Leader will decide which player(s) may do it and which may not.

A player with a Blood Bag may make a single TEST A on the Character who has the highest level of suspicion on the Suspicion track (if there are multiple Characters with the same level, the owner of the Blood Bag decides whom to Test). To perform a TEST A, the player simply shows and discards the Blood Bag (to the discard area) and indicates the Character they will Test. The player of the chosen Character is forced to reveal their TRUE NATURE by showing everyone the Role Card (Human or Alien) they were keeping under their Character Sheet.

TEST A RESULTS: If the Tested Character is Human, their Suspicion Disk moves to the green area of the Suspicion Track. If the Tested Character is an Alien, they immediately transform and start playing as an Exposed Alien (apply the rules of the base rulebook).

A player with a Flashlight may make a TEST B on any Character of their choice, regardless of their position on the Suspicion Track. To make the Test, the player simply discards any one of their Action Cards from their hand face down and indicates the Character they want to Test. The player of the chosen Character is forced to reveal their Dental Record Card to everyone. A player may repeat this Test (on different Characters) as many times as they wish as long as they have cards to discard.

TEST B RESULTS: If the Tested Character has Fillings, then they are CERTAINLY Human, and their Suspicion Disk moves to the green area of the Suspicion Track. If the Tested Character has Healthy Teeth, their Role cannot be determined, and the Test has no result.

• FILLINGS: CERTAINLY Human, and their Suspicion Disk moves to the green area.
• HEALTHY TEETH: Their Role cannot be determined. Nothing happens.

Phase 8. NPC Movement & Leader Change

It's time to move the NPCs around the base. The Leader collects all of the NPCs that are not in the Shack and shuffles the Location Deck. They then turn over a number of cards equal to the number of NPCs that are not in the Shack. For each card turned over, place 1 NPC in the corresponding location. Once all of the NPCs have been placed, if a player has the Leader Token, they take the Leader Sheet; otherwise, the current Leader retains it. In either case, the new Leader draws one last Location Card and places the Leader Token in that location.

If at any point during this process the Shack card is drawn, the Shack is unlocked, and all of the NPCs there are released and immediately enter play. The Leader must continue drawing cards and placing NPC until all NPCs have been placed in locations. If the Shack card was drawn when determining the location of the Leader Token, another card must be drawn for that purpose after all NPCs are placed.

Lastly, the Dog Token moves forward 1 space on the Dog Escape Track.

Winning the Game

In addition to the normal victory conditions, there are 3 new options:

• Humans can escape individually and in groups during Phase 4. Humans who successfully escape by any means without Aliens, while leaving other Humans behind, are automatically declared winners and are out of the game, while the rest of the players continue as normal.
• Aliens have 2 additional ways to win:

Dog Escape: By playing a wait-and-see game, the Aliens can wait for the Dog Escape to win. When the Dog Token reaches the end of the Dog Escape Track, the game immediately ends in victory for the Aliens. If you chose to play the Story Mode, now (or in the next session) you can play the base (1982) version with the Pack Leader variant (see page 10).

Humans can slow down the Dog Escape only if they find and use the Sniper Rifle, a new weapon in the Weapon Deck (see page 10).

Escape by UFO: If an Alien in Human form escapes with one of the available Snow Cats unaccompanied by Humans, then the Escape by UFO process is triggered. This stops the current game, and the final battle begins. As in the movie, the surviving Humans will head out in pursuit of the fleeing Alien. This part requires some setup:

• Replace the Base Board with the new UFO Board.
• Shuffle the Departure Tokens, then randomly place 1 face up in each UFO sector, leaving the rest face down as a reserve.
• Arrange the 5 Launch Sequence Cards face down (with red dots visible) in ascending order, from left to right next to the UFO Board.
• ALL Aliens are revealed and join the Exposed Alien team according to the base game rules (if no Aliens had been previously revealed, they take Alien Strength Tokens with a total value equal to half the total number of players, rounded down, plus 1 for each additional Alien player beyond the first). This team then takes the 8 UFO Sector Cards.

The UFO Board is divided into 8 sectors. Each sector shows a value (four with a value of 1, two with a value of 2, one with 3, and one with 4), which represents the minimum Strength the Aliens need to enter it. This part of the game is carried out as rounds of alternating Alien and Human actions.

The Aliens will have to power up the UFO by collecting the Departure Tokens needed to reveal and activate the Launch Sequence Cards, while the Humans will have to prevent them from achieving this goal by collecting Departure Tokens themselves.

The Aliens start with the first action, and, as in Phase 3 of the base game, place their Strength on different sectors in the UFO using the cards, always complying with the minimum Strength requirements (see above).

Then the Humans place their Characters in the UFO sectors, trying to prevent the Alien from completing the launch sequence.

After the Humans have completed their placements, the Alien reveals their UFO Sector Cards and places their Strength Tokens in the corresponding sectors. Any Encounters are resolved according to the rules of the base game (including the use of weapons by the Characters to fight the Alien), with the following exception: Whenever the Alien normally has the option to sabotage a location or one or more Characters normally have the option to perform actions in one, those options are replaced with the option to collect Departure Tokens.

• If one or more Humans are still standing in a sector, they may collect only 1 random Departure Token from the reserve, regardless of the sector's value. If the reserve is empty, the Humans take the token from the sector instead, if there is one.

After all Encounters have been resolved, Departure Tokens may be collected from the sectors occupied by the players:

• If the Alien chooses to not assimilate a Character (or there are none there), they may collect the Departure Tokens on the sector (if any), plus a number of random tokens from the reserve equal to the value of the sector (1, 2, 3, or 4).

After the Departure Tokens have been collected, the Alien may activate, in ascending order, up to two Launch Sequence Cards, paying the required cost for each individual card with Departure Tokens. The Launch Sequence Card costs are as follows: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Warning: There is no change when you pay with Departure Tokens. Therefore, if you pay for a card with tokens that have a total value higher than the required cost, the excess is lost.

If the Alien team successfully activates the last card in the launch sequence, the game immediately ends with an Alien victory. Should the Alien team fail because insufficient Departure Tokens are still available (including tokens on the UFO Board), the Humans win the game, having managed to interrupt the launch sequence.

When the round is over, if no one has won, a new round begins. The Human players retrieve their Characters, and the Alien player(s) retrieve their UFO Sector Cards and Alien Strength Tokens. NO additional Departure Tokens are added to the UFO Board.

Character Abilities

• Sam Carter: When he is in the Armory and is assigned a USE Action Card, he may draw 3 cards, keep 1, and discard the other 2.
• Juliette: When she is in the Kitchen and is assigned a USE Action Card, she fulfills the Food requirements of the base by moving a single Food Token instead of 2.
• Peder: When he is in the Warehouse and is assigned a USE Action Card, he may draw 3 cards, keep 1, and discard the other 2.
• Jonas: When he is assigned a REPAIR Action Card in any location, he may remove 2 Damage Counters instead of 1.
• Lars: When he is in the Weather Station and is assigned a USE Action Card, he rolls the Weather Die twice and may choose the preferred result.
• Dr. Sander: When he is in the Laboratory and is assigned a USE Action Card, he may draw 1 additional Lab Token.
• Derek: He ignores NPCs in all locations and does not have an Encounter if he is alone with one of the NPCs.
• Kate: During Phase 4, after she has drawn cards, she may discard 1 Action Card and draw a new one.

New Weapons

Grenades

This weapon replaces Dynamite and Molotov, with the same uses and following the same procedures.

Sniper Rifles

A new weapon has been added: Lars' Sniper Rifle. The Weapon Deck contains 3 Sniper Rifle cards, which can be used only for the purpose of buying time and making the Dog Escape take longer. Each Sniper Rifle card has a different number of Dog Escape spaces (1, 2, or 3). To use it, simply place the card at the end of the Dog Escape Track, and the Dog will have to go through these new spaces in order to end the game. This does not count as your action for the round, and is a free bonus action.

Important: Once a Sniper Rifle card has been placed, it can NEVER be removed or changed. Basically, only ONE Sniper Rifle card can be played per game.

Story Mode with Pack Leader Variant

This variant comes into play when the game ends with the Dog Escape, and must be applied to the next base game (as if the events in both movies were played in sequence) if you decide to play the Story Mode.

The Pack Leader is a Dog with different behavior that takes the place of one of the four Dogs roaming the base. To identify the Pack Leader, use any token of your choice to place next to its token and move with it.

The Pack Leader moves along with all the other Dogs during Phase 8 as normal (move it first, if it moves). However, the Pack Leader also moves in Phase 4, after the Leader has moved their Character and selected their Action Card.

At that moment, the Leader shuffles the Location Deck and turns over the top card: this is the location the Pack Leader moves to (if the Kennel card is drawn, all of the Dogs in the Kennel are released, as in the base game rules, and then another card is drawn).

The major difference lies in the fact that this movement happens suddenly and cannot be preempted by the players, making things harder for everyone moving alone around the base. After the Pack Leader has moved, any Encounters are resolved as normal.

Pack Leader's Features:

• Can be captured only by 3 or more Characters (not by 2);
• Moves in Phases 4 and 8.

Clarifications

• If one or more Humans manage to escape (on their own or together in the same vehicle) without Aliens, while leaving other Humans behind, they are out of the game and win on their own. The game goes on.
• If one or more Aliens in Human form manage to escape, either on their own or among Humans, in either the Rescue Helicopter or the Base Helicopter, the game immediately ends. The Alien team wins, along with any Humans that previously escaped (the Humans in the Helicopter lose).
• If one or more Aliens in Human form manage to escape among Humans in a Snowcat, the game immediately ends. The Alien team wins, along with any Humans that previously escaped (the Humans in the Snowcat lose).
• If one or more Aliens in Human form manage to escape in a Snowcat without any Humans, they trigger the Escape by UFO process.
• If there are no more Humans in the base (they all have either escaped or been assimilated), and only Aliens (exposed or not) remain in the base, the game immediately ends, and the Alien team loses.
• If the Base Helicopter and the 2 Snowcats have all been used, and the Rescue Helicopter has departed, the game immediately ends. Each player still in the base loses, and any Humans that previously escaped win. (It is not necessary for players to reveal their Role Cards, as the cold and bad weather mark the fate of all those left behind, Humans and Aliens alike.)
• If there are no more Humans on the UFO, the game immediately ends. The Alien team wins, along with any Humans that previously escaped.
• If the Alien team manages to activate the last card in the launch sequence, the game immediately ends. The Alien team wins, along with any Humans that previously escaped.