Objective of the Game

Welcome to the terrifying world of Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game! Get ready to face the most iconic creatures in sci-fi horror in this fully cooperative game for 1-5 players. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to work together to complete three harrowing **Objectives** before the relentless **Hive** overwhelms you. You'll start as a humble **Gunner** or **Medic**, but as you recruit new **Characters** and build a stronger deck, you'll become a force to be reckoned with. But beware, the **Hive deck** grows stronger too, throwing progressively tougher **Aliens** your way until you confront the ultimate **Final Enemy**. The game is a race against time and terror! If you and your team successfully complete all three **Objectives**, you win! However, if all players succumb to the alien threat and die (either from taking too many **Strikes** or a nasty **Chestburster**), the aliens claim victory, and you're all just another meal. So, gather your wits, trust your crew, and prepare for a fight for survival!

Preparation (Setup)

Setting up Legendary Encounters is like preparing for a desperate last stand. Let's get your game area ready for the impending alien invasion!

1. Player Cards: Each player starts with a personal 12-card deck: 7 **Specialists** and 5 **Grunts**.
2. Choose Your Role: Each player selects one of ten **Roles** (like **Gunner**, **Technician**, **Researcher**, **Medic**, or **Scout**). Take the corresponding **Role Avatar** and **Role Character Card**. Your **Avatar** sits in front of you, displaying your **Health** (how much strike damage you can take before dying). Add your **Role Character Card** to your 12-card deck, making it a 13-card starting deck.
3. Game Stacks:
   • Shuffle the 10 **Sergeant** cards and place them face down on their designated space.
   • Shuffle the 40 **Strike** cards and place them face down on their space.
   • Place the 14 **Hatchery** cards face up on the **Hatchery** space. These are not shuffled.
4. Location and Objectives: For your first game, we recommend simulating the movie Alien™.
   • Place "The **Nostromo**" **Location** card on the **Location** space.
   • Gather **Objective** 1 ("The S.O.S."), **Objective** 2 ("No One Can Hear You Scream"), and **Objective** 3 ("A Perfect Organism"). Stack them on the **Objective** space with **Objective** 1 on top and **Objective** 3 on the bottom. You must complete them in order!
5. Build the Hive Deck: This is where the aliens lurk!
   • Find **Objective** 3's thirteen-card mini-deck. Shuffle one randomly selected **Drone** card into it for each player. Place this stack face down on the **Hive** space.
   • Find **Objective** 2's eleven-card mini-deck. Shuffle one randomly selected **Drone** card into it for each player. Place this stack face down on top of the **Objective** 3 stack.
   • Find **Objective** 1's nine-card mini-deck. Shuffle one randomly selected **Drone** card into it for each player. Place this stack face down on top of the **Objective** 2 and 3 stacks.
   You'll end up with one big **Hive deck**, with **Objective** 1 cards on top and **Objective** 3 cards at the bottom. Don't peek at those **Drone** cards – it's more suspenseful that way!
6. The Barracks: This is where you'll recruit new crew members.
   • Pick four **Characters** (for your first game, use Warrant Officer Ripley, Captain Dallas, Chief Engineer Parker, and Navigator Lambert). Shuffle all 14 cards for each of these four characters together to form a 56-card **Barracks** deck. Place it face down on its space.
   • Deal the top five cards of the **Barracks** deck face up into the five spaces of the **Headquarters (HQ)**.
7. Starting the Game:
   • Each player shuffles their personal 13-card deck and draws a hand of 6 cards.
   • Choose a player to go first. Play proceeds clockwise.

You're now ready to face the unknown!

The Turn of Play

A turn in Legendary Encounters is a tense sequence of events, constantly pushing you closer to either victory or a gruesome end. Here's how it unfolds:

1. Hive Phase: The Aliens Are Coming!

At the start of your turn, without looking at it, take the top card from the **Hive deck** and place it face down into the closest space in the **Complex**.

Pushing Cards Forward: The **Complex** has five rooms, each holding only one card. If a room already has a card when a new one enters, the existing card gets pushed one space closer to the **Airlock**. This can cause a chain reaction, pushing multiple cards forward.

Entering the Combat Zone: If a card on the **Airlock** room gets pushed, it enters the **Combat Zone**. If it was face down, immediately turn it face up! The **Combat Zone** can hold any number of cards, and they'll slide over to make room. Enemies in the **Combat Zone** will attack you at the end of your turn, from right to left (longest-standing enemy first).

2. Action Phase: Fight, Recruit, Scan!

This is your chance to turn the tide. Play cards from your hand to generate **Attack**, **Recruit Points**, and trigger special abilities.

• Playing Cards: Play cards one at a time, in any order you choose. Resolve their effects immediately, unless they say "Once this turn" (meaning you can save that ability for later in the **Action Phase**).
• Recruit Points & Attack: Cards will grant you **Recruit Points** (to get new **Characters**) and **Attack** (to scan rooms and kill enemies). You don't have to use these points immediately; they accumulate throughout your **Action Phase**.
• Class and Crew Abilities: Some cards have abilities that trigger if you've already played another card of the same **Class** or **Crew** type earlier in your turn. These are powerful combos!
• Recruiting Characters:
  • Spend **Recruit Points** equal to a **Character's** cost (bottom right corner) to take a card from the **HQ** and put it into your discard pile. When the **HQ** has an empty space, immediately refill it from the **Barracks**.
  • You can also recruit a **Sergeant** from the **Sergeant** stack for 3 **Recruit Points**. They go into your discard pile.
• Scanning Rooms: Hidden (face down) cards in the **Complex** are a mystery. To scan a room with a hidden card, spend **Attack** equal to that room's **Scan Cost**. Flip the card face up! This lets you deal with threats before they reach the **Combat Zone**.
• Fighting Enemies: Once an **Enemy** is face up, you can fight it. Spend **Attack** equal to its **Attack** value to kill it. Place killed **Enemies** on the **Dead Enemies** space. If you have leftover **Attack**, you can use it to scan or fight more enemies. Some **Enemies** have "Death" abilities that trigger when they are killed.
• Revealing Cards:
  • Enemies: They stay in place and continue to move. Some have "Reveal:" abilities that trigger once.
  • Events: Trigger the **Event** ability on the *current* **Objective** card, then discard the **Event** card.
  • Hazards: Trigger the next available **Hazard** ability on the **Location** card (1st **Hazard** revealed triggers ability 1, 2nd triggers ability 2, etc.), then discard the **Hazard** card.
  • Characters or Special Cards: Follow their "Reveal" abilities.
  • Facehuggers: If a **Facehugger** is revealed, it's placed directly in front of the current player. You have this turn and the next player's turn to kill it. If not, it "impregnates" the initial player, who gains a **Chestburster** card in their discard pile. When a player draws a **Chestburster**, they die horribly!
• Keyword Abilities:
  • Coordinate: During another player's turn, you can set aside a **Coordinate** card from your hand, draw a replacement, and let them copy its effects. A crucial way to help teammates!
  • Vigilant: These characters stay in play after your turn, offering ongoing effects or allowing you to discard them later for a benefit.
  • Sacrifice: Play these cards for their initial effects, then you can "kill" them (move to **Dead Characters** space) later in your turn for an additional powerful effect.
  • Mobilize: When you gain a **Mobilize** character, its ability triggers immediately.

3. Strike Phase: Brace for Impact!

From right to left, each **Enemy** in the **Combat Zone** strikes you. For each strike, you must draw a card from the **Strike Deck**. Most **Strikes** have an **Attack** value representing damage. Place these **Strikes** next to your **Role Avatar**. If your total strike damage equals or exceeds your **Health**, you die and are out of the game! Some **Strikes** have additional effects, or are "misses" (doing no damage).

4. Cleanup Phase: Prepare for the Next Round

Time to tidy up and draw new cards:

• Discard all cards you played this turn, and any cards remaining in your hand, into your discard pile.
• Draw six new cards from your deck.
• If your deck runs out, shuffle your discard pile to form a new deck, then draw the remaining cards you need. Don't shuffle your discard pile until your deck is completely empty and you still need to draw more cards!

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when one of two conditions is met:

• Players Win: If at least one player survives to complete the third and final **Objective**, the players win!
• Aliens Win: If all players die before completing the third **Objective**, the aliens win!

Scoring (Optional)

If you want to keep track of your performance, especially for a series of games:

• If players lose: 0 points.
• If players win: Each surviving player scores 1 point for each player that survived. (Dead players still get points unless they became **Alien Players** in an advanced game.)

Tips for Winning

The **Hive** is relentless, but with smart play, you can overcome the odds!

1. Scan Early, Scan Often: Don't let hidden cards pile up in the **Complex**! Spending **Attack** to **scan** rooms is crucial. Revealing an **Alien** early allows you to deal with it before it reaches the **Combat Zone** and starts striking you. You might also reveal a helpful **Character** or **Special Card**!
2. Build a Synergistic Deck: Don't just grab any **Character** from the **HQ**. Look for cards that work well together, especially those with **Class** or **Crew** abilities. For example, if you have a lot of **Intel** cards, recruiting more **Intel** characters will make your deck more powerful by triggering those bonus effects. Remember, **Sergeants** also have **Coordinate** and come in all five **Character Classes**, making them versatile recruits.
3. Coordinate with Your Team: **Coordinate** is a game-changer! Don't hoard your best cards if a teammate desperately needs **Attack** to kill a tough **Enemy** or **Recruit Points** to grab a vital **Character**. Using **Coordinate** effectively can create massive turns for your team and is often the key to taking down the biggest threats.