1. Objective of the Game

In Nemesis, you are a crew member aboard a derelict spaceship that has been invaded by hostile intruders. Your goal is to survive the ship’s impending self‑destruct or hyperspace jump by either hibernating in the ship’s hibernation chambers, using an escape pod, or, if you are playing as an intruder, preventing any crew member from achieving their objective. The game ends when one of the following conditions is met:

• The time marker reaches the red space of the time track (hyperspace jump). All awake characters die; intruders survive.
• The self‑destruct marker reaches the red space of the self‑destruct track or a 9th fire marker or malfunction marker is placed. The ship explodes and all characters and intruders die.
• The last alive, non‑hibernating character dies, hibernates, or uses an escape pod. If the self‑destruct sequence is active, the marker moves to the red space; otherwise the time marker moves to the red space. The game then proceeds to the victory check.

After the game ends, only characters that are still alive (awake, hibernating, or in an escape pod) determine whether their objective cards have been met. If at least one character survives, the victory check is performed to see if the crew has won or if the intruders have prevailed.

2. Preparation (Setup)

1. Board: Use the basic side of the board (red arrows icon). Shuffle all #2 room tiles and place one facedown on each #2 room slot; return the rest to the box. Do the same for all #1 room tiles on the #1 slots.
2. Exploration Tokens: Shuffle all exploration tokens facedown and place one facedown on each room tile; return the rest to the box.
3. Coordinates Card: Place one random coordinates card facedown next to the cockpit; return the rest to the box.
4. Destination & Time Markers: Place a status marker on the B space of the destination track (now the destination marker) and a status marker on the green space of the time track (now the time marker).
5. Escape Pods: Take the appropriate number of escape pod tokens (2 for 1‑2 players, 3 for 3‑4 players, 4 for 5 players). Place the lowest‑numbered pod in section A, the next highest in section B, and alternate the remaining pods between A and B. Place all escape pod tokens with their locked side faceup.
6. Engine Tokens: Shuffle both #1 engine tokens facedown and place them on the engine 1 slot on the board, one atop the other, facedown. The top token shows the true engine status. Repeat for engine tokens #2 and #3 on the 2 and 3 slots.
7. Intruder Board: Place the intruder board next to the main board. Put 5 egg tokens and 3 random facedown weakness cards in the appropriate slots (character corpse, intruder egg, intruder carcass). Return the remaining weakness cards to the box.
8. Intruder Tokens: Place the intruder tokens in the intruder bag: 1 blank, 4 larvae, 1 creeper, 3 adults, and 1 queen. Add 1 additional adult token for each player. Place the rest of the intruder tokens next to the board along with the intruder carcass tokens.
9. Decks: Shuffle and place the following decks facedown next to the board with space for a faceup discard pile next to each: 3 item decks (each with its own color), event, intruder attack, contamination, and serious wound. Place the crafted item deck next to the 3 item decks, and the scanner next to the contamination deck. Return all intruder player action cards and all solo/coop objective cards to the box.
10. Help Cards: Take as many help cards (use the lowest numbers, up to the number of players) as there are players and randomly deal 1 to each player. Return the rest to the box. The number shown on your help card is your player number.
11. Character Draft: Shuffle the character draft cards. Player 1 draws 2 random cards, reveals them, chooses 1 and shuffles the other back. Player 2 does the same, and so on. Return the remaining draft cards to the box.
12. Character Boards & Items: Each player takes their chosen character’s board and places their miniature in the hibernation chamber. Shuffle the character’s action card deck and place it facedown to the left of the board. If the character has a starting item card, place it in one of the two hand slots and add the appropriate number of ammo markers. Place the character’s quest items horizontally side‑up and inactive next to the board.
13. First Player Token: Player 1 takes the first player token.
14. Blue Character Corpse Token: Place the blue character corpse token in the hibernation chamber (this token is always assigned to the first dead body found on the ship).

3. Game Flow

Player Phase

1. Draw Action Cards: All players draw from their action deck until they have a hand of 5 cards. If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new action deck.
2. First Player Token: On every turn except the first, the player with the first player token passes it to the player on their left.
3. Player Rounds: Starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player performs a round of 2 actions. Continue rounds in order until all players have passed, then go to the event phase. When you pass, you may discard any number of cards from your hand and flip your help card to the Pass side. If you perform only 1 action instead of the required 2 you must pass. Once you pass you cannot perform any actions later that same phase. A character who ends their round in a room with a fire marker suffers 1 light wound but will not suffer any more wounds from fire this round, even if other characters play their turn after them.

Event Phase

1. Time Track: Move the time marker on the time track 1 space to the right. If the self‑destruct sequence is active, also move its marker 1 space to the right.
2. Intruder Attack: Each intruder in the same room as a character performs an attack.
3. Fire Damage: Each intruder in the same room as a fire marker suffers 1 injury.
4. Resolve Event Card: Draw and resolve 1 event card. If the event deck runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile to form a new event deck.
5. Intruder Bag Development: Draw 1 intruder token from the intruder bag and resolve its effect (Larva, Creeper, Adult, Breeder, Queen, Blank). Return the token to the bag after its effect.

4. Actions and How to Play

Basic Actions (available to all characters)

• Movement: Move to a neighboring room directly connected by a corridor (closed doors block movement). When performing a movement in combat, you must escape instead.
• Careful Movement: Move as normal, but instead of performing a noise roll after moving, place a noise marker in a chosen corridor connected to the room you are entering. If there is a noise marker in all the corridors, or you are in combat, you cannot perform this action.
• Shoot: Attack an intruder with a weapon in your hand, discarding an ammo marker from that weapon’s card. You can only shoot intruders in the same room. You may also shoot uncarried eggs outside of combat.
• Melee Attack: Attack an intruder in the same room with bare hands or an improvised weapon.
• Pick Up Heavy Object: Pick up 1 heavy object in the same room (character corpse, intruder carcass, or egg). You don’t need to use this action if you search and find heavy items.
• Trade: Start a trade with all characters in the same room. Players may reveal and exchange any item cards and objects they want to trade. Even though several players may take part in the trade (with or without the active player), the only player that performs the action is the one that started it. You may choose to give an item card or object without asking anything in return. Characters cannot exchange ammo.
• Craft Item: Discard 2 item cards showing blue component symbols to gain a crafted item with the same gray symbols.

Actions from Action Cards

Each action card has a cost. To perform the action, discard the card faceup and pay its cost by discarding the exact number of any action cards from your hand faceup to the discard pile. If an action card contains two sections separated by [OR], choose the one you want to perform.

Actions from Item Cards and Room Tiles

Some item cards and most rooms allow you to perform specific actions. After entering a room:

1. If the room was unexplored (facedown), turn it faceup and reveal the exploration token on that room tile.
2. If the room is empty (explored or unexplored, but no other characters or intruders), perform a noise roll.

Exploration tokens determine the number of items available in the room and may have special effects (Silence, Danger, Slime, Fire, Malfunction, Doors). Noise rolls are resolved by rolling a noise die (1‑4) and placing a noise marker in the corresponding corridor.

5. End of Game and Scoring

The game ends when one of the end‑game conditions listed in the Objective of the Game section is met. After the end‑game trigger, the following victory check steps are performed in order:

1. Engines Check: Reveal the top engine tokens of each of the 3 engines. If 2 or 3 of the top engine tokens have a damaged status, the ship explodes and all hibernating characters and all intruders die.
2. Coordinates Check: Reveal the coordinates card and check the current space of the destination marker. If the ship is not headed toward Earth, all characters asleep in the hibernation chambers die. The intruders survive. The Quarantine objective requires another jump destination (Mars) and is the exception: any character with this objective does not die if they are asleep in the hibernation chambers and the ship’s destination is Mars.
3. Contamination Check: Each alive character (awake, hibernating, or in an escape pod) scans their contamination cards. If there is at least one INFECTED card, shuffle all your cards (both action and contamination) to create a new action deck, then draw the 4 top cards. If you draw at least 1 contamination card (INFECTED or not), you die. If there are none, they survive.
4. Objective Check: If there are any characters still alive, each of them reveals their objective card to the other players and checks to see if they have met all its requirements. If at least one character survived, the game proceeds to the victory check step. If all characters die, the intruders win.

There is no separate scoring track; victory is determined solely by whether the surviving characters meet their objective cards after the final checks.

6. Tips for Winning

• Manage the time track carefully. Moving the time marker too quickly can trigger a hyperspace jump before you have a chance to hibernate or escape. Use the Generator room to stop the self‑destruct sequence if you need more time.
• Use careful movement to avoid noise rolls. Noise rolls can bring intruders into your room or trigger encounters. By placing a noise marker yourself, you control where intruders may appear.
• Prioritize contamination checks before the game ends. If you have a slime marker or an INFECTED card, you are at high risk of dying during the final contamination check. Use the Laboratory room to discover weaknesses or the Emergency Room to treat wounds if possible.