“In space, no one will hear you
scream…”
ALIEN USCSS is an asymmetric strategy boardgame in which one player assumes the role of a Calamity while the other six play as survivors.
As a Calamity, your goal is to slay as many survivors as possible. As a Survivor, your goal is to escape in order to avoid being captured or killed.
THE UNIVERSE
ALIEN : THE 8 TH PASSENGER
“Alien” (1979) is the first movie of what has become the most popular saga in science-fiction history. The movie introduces Ripley, the iron-willed woman, destined to battle the galaxy’s harshest creature. The terror begins when the crew members of the “Nostromo”, a commercial space-tug, investigate a distress signal transmitted from planet LV426 and discover a life form that is perfectly evolved to annihilate mankind. They encounter a pulsating organism that attaches itself to one of the crew members and reproduces within his body to become a deadly Alien. The crew members then begin to be slain one by one…
The scenario is now in your hands!
THE BOARD
THE NOSTROMO SPACE-TUG
“This is commercial towing vehicle Nostromo out of the Solomons,registration number one-eight-oh-niner-two-four-six-oh-niner.”
―Ripley (from Alien)
THE VESSEL, registration number 1809246(09), was a modified M-class Lockmart CM-88B Bison flagship freighter, owned by Weyland-Yutani Corporation, commanded by Arthur Dallas, registered in Panama. The Nostromo functioned like a tugboat, connecting and pulling loads like a tractor truck, instead of carrying its loads on board like a traditional cargo ship. The Nostromo was built in 2101 as an interstellar cruiser, and was refitted in 2116 as a commercial towing vehicle. The ship was then operated as a commercial carrier, transporting automated ore and oil refineries between the outer colonies and on land. The seven hyper-sleep chambers that were to accommodate the crew during long-duration flights were also installed at that time.
Many of the ship's background systems, including its autopilot function, were controlled by MU/TH/UR 6000, the ship's central artificial intelligence computer.
THE CALAMITY
THE CALAMITY
XENOMORPHIC – ALIEN DRONE
“You still don’t understand what you’re dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.”
― Ash, regarding
POWER OF THE ALIEN DRONE
The Alien Drone has an impact on all its environment except on cats. It uses the air ducts to move instantly and trigger breakdown. The Alien Drone starts with a limited number of breakdown token that it can trigger in any room of the ship.
SKILLS OF THE ALIEN DRONE
AGRESSIVE
You concentrate only on one room of the ship but do not give the survivor a chance to react.
INSTINCTIVE
Your adaptability is remarkable. You pick 2 postures and choose the one that will be the most suitable to perform a devastating action.
CONCENTRATE
Your stressful presence weakens your prey. Earn an additional breakdown token for the rest of the game and discard a card from the top of the survivors' mission deck.
THE SURVIVORS
CREW MEMBER – CREW OF THE NOSTROMO
ASH
“I can’t lie to you about your chances but… you have my sympathies.”
―Ash (from Alien)
Ash était un employé synthétique de la Weyland-Yutani Corporation et le responsable scientifique à bord du véhicule de remorquage commercial USCSS Nostromo.
SURVIVOR SKILLS
Double game
Shuffle 2 cards from the Mission deck, then use the power of a face-up or face-down
Character card.
SAMUEL BRETT
“Right.”
“Whenever he says anything you say, ‘Right,’ Brett, you know that?”
“Right.”
―Brett and Ripley (from Alien)
Brett is the technician-engineer of the Nostromo’s crew. He is a friend of Parker's, whose reflections he never stops (with malicious pleasure) repeating. Its leader is Parker.
SURVIVOR SKILLS
Repair
Draw a Mission card, then choose 3 cards from the discard pile and shuffle them to the Mission deck.
DENIS PARKER
“"Can we just talk about the bonus situation?”
-Parker (de Alien)
Dennis Monroe Parker was the Chief Engineer aboard the USCSS Nostromo commercial tow vehicle.
SURVIVOR SKILLS
BRICOLAGE
Place a card from your hand on top of the Mission deck, then take the Mission card from the top of the discard pile.
ARTHUR DALLAS
“Ripley, this is an order. Open that hatch right now, do you hear me?”
―Dallas (from ALIEN)
Arthur Koblenz Dallas was the captain and owner of the freighter USCSS Tremolino, and later the captain of the commercial towing vehicle USCSS Nostromo.
SURVIVOR’S COMPETENCE
Leadership
Take 2 Mission cards at random from the discard pile, then discard 1 Mission card from your hand.
JOAN LAMBERT
“I say that we abandon this ship! We get the shuttle and just get the hell out of here! We take our chances and… and hope that somebody picks us up!”
―Lambert (from Alien)
Joan Marie Lambert was a navigator aboard the USCSS Nostromo commercial towing vehicle.
SURVIVOR’S COMPETENCE
Search
Draw 2 Mission cards.
ELLEN RIPLEY
“Final report of the commercial starship Nostromo, third officer reporting. The other members of the crew — Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash and Captain Dallas — are dead. Cargo and ship destroyed. I should reach the frontier in about six weeks. With a little luck, the network will pick me up. This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostromo, signing off.”
―Ripley (from Alien)
Lieutenant First Class Ellen Louise Ripley was a civilian advisor to the United States Colonial Marine Corps and an extremely influential figure in humanity's encounters with the XX121 genomorphic species. She was the mother of Amanda Ripley-McClaren and the ancestor of Alan Decker. She began her career as a warrant officer in the Weyland-Yutani commercial freight operations.
She was assigned to the USCSS Nostromo in 2122, when she encountered a single Xenomorph involuntarily collected on planetoid LV-426.
SURVIVOR’S COMPETENCE
Iron Will
Move an Object token to a connected room: if it is in the resolved room, pick it up.
KANE
“What’s the last thing you do remember?”
“…I remember some… horrible dream about smothering.”
―Ripley and Kane (from Alien)
Gilbert Ward Kane, better known as Thomas Kane, was the senior executive on board the USCSS Nostromo commercial tow vehicle. He was serving aboard the ship on its fateful voyage in 2122, when he encountered a Xenomorph on LV-426, an incident that eventually led to the destruction of the ship and the loss of all but one crew member. Kane was the crew member who was attacked and impregnated by a Facehugger, so it was he who brought the Alien aboard the ship. He died when the Chestburster burst out of his chest.
SURVIVOR‘S COMPETENCE
INFECTED
You become the Alien
CHOOSE YOUR SIDE
OBJECTIVE AS
CREW MEMBER – CREW OF THE NOSTROMO
« Collaborate, equip yourself and take advantage of the NOSTROMO, everything is good for survival! »
HOW TO WIN
As a member of the crew of the Nostromo, your ain objective is to escape from the ship in order to survive.
To do this, you must activate 5 emergency rocedures to escape with the shuttle, while avoiding the Calamity.
LOCATE THE XENOMORPH
When the Calamity is close to you, you can see on the BLIP map.
The crew members of the Nostromo can see different BLIPS representing a probability of the presence of Calamity or other bad surprises.
HANGING UP
The crew members of the Nostromo have no means to wound the Calamity.
To avoid being trapped, they can use strategies such as hiding, observing or using objects.
The crew members of the Nostromo must be careful when they talk or make noise
because being too many in one place could attract the attention of the Calamity.
COOPERATE
The crew members of the Nostromo may save each other and attempt to blind or stun the Calamity to divert its attention.
EMERGENCY PROCEDURE
The first step to escape is to activate the 5 mergency procedures in specific locations.
This takes time and causes noise, which can attract Calamity.
It knows the exact location where emergency procedures are activated and the key locations.
The crew members of the Nostromo must therefore anticipate the Calamity's movements and plan escape routes before rushing.
Like many other interactions, activating a procedure can trigger protocols.
PROTOCOL
A Protocol is a special action that requires the discarding mission cards to suffer the
consequences.
The protocols reduce the chance of activation of procedures for the crew members of the Nostromo and also gives advantages to the Calamity.
Nostromo crew members know their exact resources to help them anticipate this type of action.
Run away
When the Nostromo crew members manage to activate the 5 procedures, the shuttle can take off. This allows them to escape from the ship and destroy it.
GAME OVER
If the mission package of the Nostromo crew members is reduced to zero, the survivors are no longer able to escape and are eliminated by the Calamity.
OBJECTIVE AS
XENOMORPH -ALIEN DRONE
« You are the perfect predator! Manipulate your prey, make them doubt and lurk in the shadows to better slaughter them! »
HOW TO WIN
The main objective of the ALIEN DRONE is to take control of the ship by capturing ALL the survivors in its nest.
The ALIEN DRONE uses his unique powers and abilities to kill and prevent all survivors from escaping.
HUNT
The ALIEN DRONE has amplified senses that help him to hunt the survivors:
• He can observe the positioning of the survivors.
• It can track the movements of fleeing survivors.
• It receives information about a survivor's location when the survivor speaks
aloud.
PURSUE SURVIVORS
The ALIEN DRONE visits the rooms of the ship regardless of distance, but the
survivors have more than one trick in their bags to put some distance between the
ALIEN DRONE and themselves, using a motion detector, or closing the airlocks.
The goal of L'ALIEN DRONE during the pursuit is to find as many survivors as possible and make them lose as many mission cards as possible.
ATTACK
ALIEN DRONE kills survivors for sure if they are in the same room as him and have no possibility of escape.
CAPTURE
Captured survivors automatically appear as cocoons in the nest of the ALIEN DRONE.
THE NEST
Survivors can be both rescued or released from cocoons by other survivors.
