Invaders - Rules (2013)
Invaders - Rules (2013)
Rulebook
The I.S.V. HANS FALLADA flew through the void blasting out the fire of the gods like
a cosmic blowtorch. Its fusion engines hurled out incandescent plasma a million times
brighter than a welding arc, with an exhaust plume twenty miles long.
Their sensors picked up the massive outline long before they saw it. That was to be
expected. What baffled Major Alexus Bennings was that, even though they were ten
thousand miles away, and the braking motors were cutting their speed, it was still visible.
Then Shantana, peering through a blister dome, saw it outlined against the stars. Some
of the others left their places to stare at it.
Major Bennings looked out through the dome, her eyes narrowed against the blinding
glare of the stars. When she touched analyser control, symmetrical green lines flowed
across a screen. She said:
They moved back to their places, and watched as the expanding shape blocked the stars.
At three hundred miles, the outline was clear enough to leave no doubt. Shantana
breathed, “It’s a bloody starship.”
Alexus touched a control. Outside, the arc-light ceased abruptly. The entire drive
module glowed cherry red with radiant heat, and the exhaust nozzles were almost
white. The ship creaked and groaned as it began to cool.
Waypoint One didn’t hear the rest of the message. Death fell out of the stars and
exploded the HANS FALLADA’s flight deck, swallowing the ship in a ball of fire.
December 7, 2126.
War with unyielding alien foe begins.
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A CARD GAME FOR TWO PLAYERS AGE 12 AND UP
INTRODUCTION
The game is set on Earth in the year 2127 – the future.
A shattering invasion by a terrible enemy has begun.
The players control two totally different powers one year after the start of the invasion:
one controls an unyielding alien invasion force, The Invaders, and the other controls Mankind.
Can Mankind stop the deadly invasion plan?
OVERVIEW OBJECTIVE
Both players battle for control of three invasion zones Invaders is a two-player, asymmetric (attack-defense)
(Pacific Rim, Eurasia, and Africa) by playing cards to card game, where one player (Mankind) tries to defend
support their plans. against the other player’s (Invader) attacks.
The Invader plays attacking Desolators, Invaders and
Alien Tech to his side of the table, while Mankind relies Mankind wins if:
on Defenders, Locations and Tech to defend the zones
•• T
he Invader has an empty draw deck when
from The Invader’s machinations. Both players also
have one-shot cards to aid them – Scourge and Support, required to draw / drain cards.
respectively - and special strategies that are always •• T
he marker on the invasion plan track
available to play at the most opportune moment (such as reaches zero.
The Invader’s Drain the Indian Ocean or the Mankind •• F
ive tokens are placed upon the Biological
player’s Ops Centre). Weapon Package – Codenamed ‘Alluring
Succubus’ card.
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COMPONENTS
•• 2x Seventy card decks.
•• 20x Power tokens (double sided: -1/+1).
•• 30x Faction tokens (double sided: Invader/Mankind).
•• 10x Wooden disks.
•• 1x Battleboard.
•• 11x Heroes of the Resistance cards
SETUP
1. Place the battleboard in the middle of the playing Both players have a discard pile beside the draw pile. At
area, between both players, but with the Earth the start of the game, the discard piles are empty. Cards
edge closest to the Mankind player.
which are discarded, destroyed, or drained are placed
2. The Mankind player should make sure that his deck face-up in the discard pile. The order of the cards in the
of eleven Heroes of the Resistance cards has been
shuffled, and placed off to one side, facedown. discard pile must never be modified. At any time, both
players are allowed to look through either player’s discard
3. The Mankind player then places the topmost
random Heroes of the Resistance card in any one piles.
of the three columns below the battleboard. Now both players should draw five cards each for their opening
4. Next, The Mankind player then places one faction hands.
token on his Ops Centre, and one wooden disk on
each of his four strategies – on the dormant spaces. Note: Each player will also draw two cards in their first
Card Phase, per the normal turn structure.
5. The Invader player should place a wooden disk on
space #10 of the invasion plan track, in the centre
of the battleboard.
Setup is now complete.
6. The Invader player should then take the last five
wooden disks, placing one on each dormant space The Invader ALWAYS takes the first turn.
of each of his five strategies.
7. Both players must take their appropriate shuffled
play deck, placing them face down in their playing
area. The Invader’s cards have a black fascia – The
Mankind’s cards have a blue fascia.
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PLAYING THE GAME
The play area consists of the three invasion zones (Pacific 1. Draw Phase (Mandatory): Draw two cards from
Rim, Eurasia, and Africa) with an imaginary column on the draw deck.
each zone, on each player’s side. Each column can hold 2. Main Phase (Optional): Play any number of cards
no more than four cards on each side of an invasion zone, from the player’s hand, or make use of cards already
in play, or ‘enable’ a dormant strategy.
four slots for cards to be played into, if you will. Play
alternates back and forth with each player completing all NOTE: on the Mankind player’s turn, also turn upright
phases of their turn before passing to the other player. Mankind’s current Heroes of the Resistance card – if it requires
it.
If at any time one of the victory conditions is met (see
Objectives above) the game immediately ends. 3. Attack Phase (Mandatory – Invader only):
Determine The Invader’s attack and Mankind’s
The Invader always takes the first turn. subsequent drain.
The turn is divided into three phases taken in the
following order (the Mankind player only plays the first
1. -DRAW PHASE:
two phases each turn – he does not attack): Draw two cards. If the draw deck is empty when a player is
required to draw a card, he loses.
Example 4: The Invader has a ‘Kraken’ Warmachine (power Example 5: The Invader has a ‘Kraken’ Warmachine, and
of three), and the ‘Squid’ Lander Vehicle (power of two), in the ‘Medusa’ Assault Vehicles (power of five), in the Eurasia invasion
Pacific Rim invasion zone. His attack power is 3+2=5. Opposite zone. His attack power is 3+5=8. Opposite these cards, Mankind
these cards, Mankind has only Refugees’ Shanty Town (power has ‘Ramses’ – class Submarine (power of one), and three
of one), so his power is 1+3=4 (Refugees’ Shanty Town, plus the ‘Saladin’ – class VTOL Aircraft cards (power of one each), so his
Pacific Rim zone an intrinsic power value of three). This means power is 1+1+1+1+5=9 (Eurasia invasion zone’s value of ‘5’ plus
that Mankind must drain one card into his discard pile. the four [Defender-icon] cards each with a power of one). This
means that The Invader has been thwarted this turn.
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THE INVASION MANKIND’S HEROES OF
PLOT TRACK THE RESISTANCE CARDS
This track represents the general plan of The Invader, These cards represent the last hopes of Mankind.
and how much time he has to achieve his diabolical goals. •• M
ankind must always have a Heroes of the Re-
The game starts with a wooden disk marker placed on sistance card in play, in one of the zone columns.
space #10. When the marker is required to move down
•• S
ome of Mankind’s Heroes of the Resistance
the track, it must advance toward zero - the game-ending
cards can move between Earth invasion zones
skull symbol. Likewise, when the marker is required to
during the Mankind player’s turn (always observ-
move up the track, it must move toward space #12, but ing the four-card limit), unless otherwise stated.
cannot exceed it.
•• M
ankind’s Heroes of the Resistance cards always
Each turn that The Invader fails to drain Mankind in some count as [Defender-icon] cards, in respect to their
way, move the marker down one space on the invasion interactions with other cards. So, ‘Deathmonger’
plot track (drain can either be triggered by cards played Bio-mechaniod Attack and Nanobot Kill-Swarm
or during the Attack Phase). To be clear, The Invader will destroy the current Heroes of the Resistance
player must have forced Mankind to have flipped at card (and many others).
least one of his cards into his discard pile, by any means, If Mankind’s current Heroes of the Resistance card is
during his turn (not necessarily the Attack phase) for The destroyed, or voluntarily sacrificed:
Invader to claim that he has drained Mankind.
1. Remove the current Heroes of the Resistance
If The Invader’s drain is prevented by some means, card from the game.
such as the playing of a Guerilla Fighters card when The 2. Replace the old Heroes of the Resistance card with
Invader was just about to inflict nine points of drain, then the next one from the top of Mankind’s Heroes of
this is not classed as drain. Mankind must have been the Resistance stack.
forced to flip a card into his discard pile, by The Invader, 3. Make sure this card is put into play, as a reminder,
for drain to have occurred. turned to 90˚.
Additionally, The Invader player may, once per turn, do While still turned to 90˚, a hero’s power is not added to
one of the following actions: the defensive power value of the invasion zone column
•• Draw a card. it occupies. Also, whilst in this state, the Heroes of the
•• or, reduce the cost of one card in his hand by one. Resistance card is still a valid target for further destruction
If he chooses one of these options, The Invader player cards or affects played by either player.
must move the marker down one space on the invasion If Mankind is on his final Heroes of the Resistance card
plot track. and that card is destroyed, the game is over with The
Note: Each turn, no matter how badlyThe Invader failed to Invader player as the winner.
drain Mankind, he only moves the marker down one space Mankind’s Heroes of the Resistance card is restored right-
on the invasion plot track (this is in addition toThe Invader
side up at the beginning of Mankind’s next Card phase.
voluntarily moving the marker).
Note: if +1 tokens are placed upon the current Heroes of the
If the marker on the invasion plot track is ever moved onto the skull Resistance card, they only ever add to that card’s power value
symbol space, the game is over with Mankind as the winner. –The Invader only has to destroy it once.
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STRATEGY OPTIONS
Each player has at their disposal a number of fixed strategies – The Invader player has five, the Mankind player has
four (and Ops Centre). These are abilities that are activated by moving each wooden disk from the dormant space to
the strategy’s enabled space. The activating player should then follow the instructions on the battleboard covering the
relevant strategy, and be mindful of any continuing punitive effects.
This area starts the game with one token upon it. On the SEED EUROPE WITH
BODYSNATCHER PODS:
Mankind player’s turn, he can discard a token to move a
[Defender-icon] card from one Earth invasion zone column During the Attack Phase this strategy can be activated to
to another - other cards exist in the Mankind player’s deck add the power value of one Defender to The Invader’s
that can replenish these tokens. total in that column (rather than its own) for this turn only
– Mankind’s current Heroes of the Resistance card is also
ACTIVATE PROJECT ’CHAINMAIL’: a valid target.
Use this strategy to prevent one of The Invader’s cards
PROVOKE SUICIDE MISSION
from destroying a Heroes of the Resistance card. This card RETRIBUTION-ALPHA’:
can be used during The Invader’s turn.
After sacrificing a [Defender-icon] card in play, the
NOTE: IfThe Invader played a card that targeted two cards Mankind player flips the topmost card of The Invader deck
belonging to Mankind (one of which was the current Heroes
of the Resistance card), and the Mankind player used the
into The Invader player’s discard pile. If the card matches
Activate Project ‘Chainmail’ strategy, the Mankind player’s the icons on the battleboard, then The Invader must skip
Heroes of the Resistance card would be saved, but the other his next Attack phase – otherwise nothing happens.
card would still be destroyed.
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MANKIND DECK CARDS OF NOTE
‘BLACK NARCISSUS’ MAJESTIC-12 TREATY:
WEAPONS ARRAY:
With this card, you can circumvent some built-in rules
While this is in play, this effectively gives the Mankind that protect certain cards. For instance, a cool trick with
player an Attack phase, at the end of his turn, which is Majestic-12 Treaty is to put the ‘Revenant’ Conqueror
focused on only one invasion zone column. Beast back on top of The Invader’s deck.
‘ARCHANGEL’ COMBAT ROBOT: ‘SHADOW’ TEAM OPERATION:
This card, and others like it, is discarded from play when the Is this played during The Invader’s turn? Yes. Likewise
invasion zone column (of 4 slots) on the controlling player’s with cards like, Commander Straker and Nanobot Storm
side of the battleboard is unpopulated by other cards. Cloud - these are also played on your opponent’s turn.
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LOCATION CARDS GAME TERMS
Some Locations come into play with a number of tokens DESTROY:
upon them. Unless otherwise stated, you may use all of the When a card is destroyed, it is placed face-up on top of its
tokens upon the card in one turn, if you wish. owner’s discard pile.
SACRIFICE
A sacrifice is a game event that cannot be prevented.
CANCEL CARDS Sacrificed Heroes of the Resistance cards are removed
from the game – all other sacrificed cards are placed face-
Some cards have the ability to ‘cancel a card as it is played’ up on top of the card owner’s discard pile.
– if this is the case, you pay the cost for your ‘cancel’card
on your opponent’s turn, reveal it, and then both cards are OPPOSING:
simply discarded. If your opponent in turn plays a further This indicates that an effect can only be used in the same
‘cancel’ card to cancel your ‘cancel’ card, then the original invasion zone, i.e. the column directly opposite from
card is put into play, and both ‘cancel’ cards are discarded. the invasion zone column where the card that mentions
NOTE: make sure your opponent still pays the cost for playing “opposing” is played.
any cancelled cards. Hard cheese! IMPERVIOUS:
A card featuring this term cannot be affected or destroyed
by the specific conditions, keywords, or cards mentioned
SIMULTANEOUS in its text.
DESTRUCTION KEYWORDS
When The Invader plays a card (or engineers a situation) Many of the cards in the game display a keyword, such as
that forces both players to run out of cards from their Tank, Robot, or Infestation.
draw decks simultaneously, the Mankind player wins
A keyword has no intrinsic game effect, but may be
the game.
referenced by other cards.
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GENERAL RULES MULTIPLE PLAYERS
When two card’s text conflict with each other, follow these Invaders only accommodates play for two players. You
rules: may have noticed that many cards have phrases like
1. ‘Can’t’ trumps ‘can’. If one card says something ‘target player’ and the like – this future-proofs the cards
can happen and another says it can’t, the ‘can’t’ ready for the upcoming four-player expansion, which will
text wins. include the rules and components necessary for larger
2. Do as much as you can. If a card has instructions conflicts. Watch the skies!
for you to do something that you can only partly
complete, you MUST do as much as you can, and
then ignore the rest of the card text without effect.
•• T
he Invader is the only player who attacks, and he
turn of the card’s controller – not each player’s
only does so on his turn – unless the ‘Black Narcis- turn. This applies to the Black-goo-sprayer Sup-
sus’ Weapons Array card is in play. port Warmachine and other cards.
•• If the Mankind player prevents all forms of drain,
The Invader moves the marker one space down
the invasion plot track.
ADVANCED RULES
Invaders is designed as a complete game with After the first and second games, the loser of the last
considerable replayability. game decides on a mutual card limit: 3 to 10 cards are
recommended. Then, both of you should simultaneously
However, as you increase in experience with the game,
remove that number of cards from your decks, replacing
you may want to build a deck that better suits your
them with the stated number of secretly chosen new cards
personal play style – using expansion cards and/or
(from your available pool of cards) – the quantity of cards
promo cards.
must be the same for both decks. This can make for an
In the event that you are going to modify your decks, interesting meta-game situation; with both players trying
you and your opponent should agree (before the game to out-think their opponent before the next game begins.
starts) to play in this manner. You must now win two out
of three games, and are allowed to modify your decks
after each game.
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EXTENDED CREDITS
DECK BUILDING RULES Game design:
While 70 cards is the minimum deck size that a player may Mark Chaplin.
use, there is no maximum number – so if both players
Illustrations:
agree, they can just add a set number of cards to both Chechu Nieto.
decks (players should be mindful that their decks will be
less efficient). Graphic design:
Chechu Nieto and Xavier Carrascosa.
•• 70 card decks = Play the game as per normal.
•• 71-80 card decks = During setup, place the wood- Rulebook development:
en disk on space #11 of the invasion Jeroen Hollander.
plan track.
Project manager:
•• 81-90 card decks = During setup, place the wood- Jonny deVries.
en disk on space #12 of the invasion plan track.
Extra special thanks:
Mark Harkins, Joe Walerko,
MANKIND/INVADER Andrew Davis, and Leigh Caple.
HANDICAP Special thanks:
If you discover that your opponent is very good at winning Gerry & Sylvia Anderson,
Derek Meddings, James Cameron,
with either Mankind or The Invaders, you may both Michael Trim, Sydney Newman,
decide to counteract this (and make for a more intense C E Webber, Donald Wilson,
game) by placing the wooden disk on space #11 or #9 of Terry Nation, David Gerrold, and Terrance Dicks.
the invasion plan track, during setup using 70-card decks -
depending on which player is always the underdog. Playtesting and help:
Corvayn Esdren, Michael Gale,
Kathryn Caple, Diane Beechcroft,
Kate Hooley, Toby Farrands,
Merlign van Horssen, Paul Clarke,
David Cooke, Andy Lambert,
Lee Wardle, Eric Engstrom, Sean Chick,
and to Jeroen Hollander and all the other
wonderful playtesting staff at White Goblin Games.
www.whitegoblingames.com
© 2013 White Goblin Games
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