Aliens
Aliens Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
The game comes with a large hex/square-grid map (about 17 by 34 inches), three sheets of die-cut cardboard counters and cards, a ten-sided die, this rulebook, and a four-page rules summary, plus plastic stands for the counters.
The map's play area is covered by a numbered square grid used for movement. It is divided into three linked areas used by different scenarios: the Reactor Room in the upper right, Operations to the left, and the connected Air Ducts beneath it. The map for the fourth scenario, Ripley vs. the Queen, is printed on the back of the Reference Card.
The counter sheets hold 49 die-cut counters plus a Reference Card. Counters represent the people and Aliens from the film, or serve as play aids; character counters carry the character's name. Several counters are unused in the base game and exist only to support the separately sold Aliens Expansion. The Reference Card carries, on one side, everything needed to run the Aliens during play, and on the other, the map and tables for the Ripley-vs-Queen battle.
Two Character Card sheets represent the film's cast. Each card is double-sided: healthy stats on the front, Wounded stats on the back. The color framing a character's name matches the color of that character's counter. As with the counters, some cards are for Expansion use only. Each card lists Weapon Data — which weapons the character may use and the character's chance to hit an Alien at various ranges — along with the character's number of Actions and Melee value, both explained below.
The ten-sided die is numbered 0–9; a 0 always counts as zero, never as ten.
Preparing for Play
Lay the map out where everyone can see it, choose a scenario, and seat every Marine and Alien counter in its stand. Set the Marines up as the chosen scenario directs, and put the turn marker on the first space of that scenario's Turn Chart. It's worth having every Alien counter on hand from the start, since Aliens routinely appear, die, and reappear over the course of play — a removed Alien counter simply goes back into the pool to be reused.
Finally, the players agree on the order in which the Marines will act; once set for the scenario, that order cannot change. Many groups arrange each player's Character Cards in front of them in that order as a reminder — each player moves all of their own Marines before play passes to the next player.
Sequence of Play
Each scenario is played in a series of turns, and every turn follows the same four phases:
- Aliens Move — every Alien already on the map advances up to four squares toward the nearest Marine who isn't Incapacitated.
- Aliens Appear — new Aliens for the turn are placed on the board (per the scenario's rules) and may advance one square toward the nearest such Marine.
- Aliens Attack — every Alien now sharing a square with a Marine attacks, resolved in any order.
- Marines Move/Fire — the Marines act in turn, in the fixed order set at the start of the scenario.
After the fourth phase the turn marker advances one space; when it reaches the bottom of a Turn Chart column it moves to the top of the next column.
Actions
A character's Actions govern what they can do each turn and how much of it. The number is printed on the Character Card and doesn't change between healthy and Wounded states. A character may spend up to that many Actions per turn — unused Actions are simply lost, never banked for later.
Marines may spend each Action on Movement, Aiming, or Melee: one Action moves a Marine one square, buys one point of Aim, or pays for one Melee attempt. Aliens get four Actions per turn, spent purely on movement — their attacks are handled separately, in the Aliens Attack phase. The Alien Queen, introduced in the Expansion, is a special case covered in her own section below.
Movement
Unless a scenario states otherwise, the following applies to all movement. Counters move one square at a time, in any direction, and can't enter squares that are substantially blocked by obstructions (pillars, equipment, Alien growth, and the like) — not even Aliens can force those squares. Diagonal movement between two blocked squares is allowed unless the obstruction itself clearly connects them.
A counter's Actions cap how far it can move in a turn — one square per Action. A counter must finish all of its own Actions before the next counter acts. Counters may pass freely through each other while moving, but only one counter may occupy a square once everyone has finished moving, apart from two special cases covered later: Incapacitated Marines being carried, and Aliens locked in combat with a Marine. Marines can never deliberately move into or through a square occupied by an Alien.
Alien Movement and Combat
With four Actions, Aliens move up to four squares a turn, always heading straight for the nearest Marine who isn't already Incapacitated — unless that Marine is already being attacked by a different Alien. The instant an Alien reaches the square of an available Marine, it's pulled off the map and laid on its side atop that Marine's Character Card. If two or more equally close Marines are available, randomize the choice with the die (e.g., odd/even for two candidates, or thirds of the die range for three).
The one exception: an Alien only moves one square on the turn it first appears.
When several Aliens move, resolve the closest one to a Marine first, then the next closest, breaking ties randomly with the die. All of a turn's Alien attacks are then resolved together, after every Alien has finished moving. A Marine can never have more than one Alien on their card at once.
Alien attacks. For every Alien sitting on a Marine's card, roll the die and add the Marine's Melee value, then check the result:
| Roll + Melee | Result |
|---|---|
| 0 | Dead |
| 1–2 | Incapacitated & Grabbed |
| 3–4 | Wounded & Grabbed |
| 5–6 | Grabbed |
| 7–8 | In Combat |
| 9+ | Alien Loses |
- Dead (0): the Alien drags the body away; remove the Marine's counter, set the card aside, and return the Alien counter to the pool.
- Incapacitated & Grabbed (1–2): unless freed or the Alien is killed or chased off, the Alien removes the Marine at the next Aliens Move phase. An Incapacitated Marine can take no further Actions for the rest of the scenario, though other Marines may carry them (see below). A second Incapacitated result is fatal; a later Wounded result on an already-Incapacitated Marine leaves them Incapacitated. Their counter may be laid flat in its square, and the square counts as empty for movement and fire.
- Wounded & Grabbed (3–4): the Marine's card is flipped to its Wounded side immediately, and Wounded stats apply from then on; a second Wound makes the Marine Incapacitated. As with the case above, the Marine is also subject to the Grabbed rule below.
- Grabbed (5–6): the Marine can no longer act and awaits rescue. If the Alien isn't killed or driven off before the next Aliens Move phase, it hauls the Marine up into the overhead machinery, and the Marine is removed and considered Dead. This gives the squad one turn to intervene — shots at a Grabbing Alien suffer a +5 penalty to the die roll, or the Marines may try to drive it off with Melee. A killed Grabbing Alien can still splash the grabbed Marine with acid. Stand the Alien counter upright on the Marine's card to mark this state.
- In Combat (7–8): the Marine is actively fighting the Alien off. If it isn't killed or driven away, it attacks again on its next turn exactly as a fresh attack. While In Combat, the Marine's Actions can only be spent on Melee — no movement or firing. Other Marines shooting at this Alien also take the +5 penalty. The Alien counter stays on its side on the Marine's card.
- Alien Loses (9+): the Marine beats off the attack. The controlling player moves the Alien into any open adjacent square; it is Stunned for its next turn (lay it on its side) and, though it stands upright again at the following Aliens Move phase, still cannot move that turn.
Marine Movement and Combat
Marines move like Aliens but may freely mix Movement and Combat Actions in any order, deciding each Action's use after seeing the outcome of the last — e.g., firing again after a miss, or moving instead after a hit. Marines keep the fixed turn order set at scenario start; a Marine freed from a Grab by a later-acting teammate gets no Actions until the following turn, but if freed by an earlier-acting teammate can act normally that same turn.
Aiming and Firing. The only way to kill an Alien is to Aim and Fire. A character's Character Card lists, for each weapon they carry, how many Actions of Aim are possible and — across five Range bands (1; 2; 3–4; 5–6; 7+ squares) — the number needed on the die to score a hit at each Aim level. A blank entry means no chance to hit at that range; a target number of 9 or higher is an automatic kill with no roll required. Firing itself costs no extra Actions beyond the Aim spent. The top weapon listed on a card is used only in the Reactor Room scenario; the bottom weapon is used everywhere else (Burke's only listed weapon, a Pulse Rifle, applies solely to the Expansion — in the base game he is unarmed, as in the film).
Range is counted in squares from the Marine to the target, as if moving into the target's square, along as straight a line as possible — subject to Line of Sight (below).
Line of Sight. A Marine needs a clear line to a target: draw an imaginary straightedge between the centers of the two squares, and if it crosses no obstruction, the shot is legal. A Marine standing beside an obstruction may fire from the obstruction's edge rather than the square's center — apply this generously in the Marines' favor when it's ambiguous. Checking Line of Sight costs no Actions.
Friendly Fire. Marines may fire freely through other Marines and through Aliens that aren't the target. The one penalty: a +5 die-roll penalty applies when firing at an Alien sharing a square with a Marine, representing the care needed not to hit a teammate. Flame Units are an exception to the "fire through" rule entirely — a flamer always hits the first thing in its Line of Sight, with no penalty for hitting an Alien that has Grabbed a Marine; but if a flamer kills such an Alien, the grabbed Marine dies automatically too.
Acid Spray. Any Alien killed other than by a Flame Unit may splash its acid blood onto nearby Marines. Every Marine in or adjacent to the Alien's square rolls the die against the Acid Spray Table:
| Roll | Effect |
|---|---|
| 0 | Dead |
| 1 | Incapacitated |
| 2 | Wounded |
| 3–9 | No effect |
Flame Unit kills never spray acid, so adjacent Marines are safe from that particular kill.
Melee Combat. To avoid the risk of acid, Marines adjacent to an Alien may spend one Action to attempt Melee. Roll the die; a result at or below the Marine's Melee value Stuns the Alien — it releases any grabbed Marine and is pushed back one square in a direction the attacking Marine chooses (an extra square if every adjacent square is occupied by Marines), then loses its next turn (lay it on its side, then stand it up again — still unable to act — at the next Aliens Move phase).
Carrying Incapacitated Marines. Any healthy or Wounded Marine except Newt (too small) can carry one Incapacitated Marine. Simply move into or through the Incapacitated Marine's square and place their counter on the carrier's Character Card — no Action cost, and no penalty to the carrier's later movement or combat. A carried Marine can be handed off between carriers whenever the two occupy the same square.
Scenarios
Each scenario recreates one of the film's set-piece battles, and each is followed by a summary of what happened on screen and some strategy notes. To ease new players in, Aliens that would appear on turns printed in red on a scenario's Turn Chart may simply be skipped — the scenarios are tuned to be a real challenge for experienced players, so omitting the red Aliens while learning, or on a scenario that's proving too hard, is entirely reasonable.
The Reactor Room
Played on the upper-right section of the map. Nine Marines, stripped of their Pulse Rifle ammunition by order and largely reduced to pistols, must fight from one end of the Reactor Room to the Exit at the other while Aliens flood in.
A Stairwell sits near the center of the room; neither side may move into it, though Marines can shoot across it freely, and an Alien Stunned into a Stairwell square simply clings on rather than falling, remaining Stunned as normal. Two optional rules are offered for this scenario: the "Frost Rule," under which a Marine injured (Wounded or Incapacitated, but not Grabbed) next to the Stairwell risks toppling in and dying outright on a high roll; and the "Dietrich Rule," under which a Grabbed Marine carrying a Flame Unit risks accidentally torching an adjacent teammate.
Escape is only possible through the marked EXIT squares — Aliens won't chase Marines off the map, but an exited Marine can't return, fire, or fight. Set-up uses Apone, Hicks, Vasquez, Drake, Hudson, Dietrich, Frost, Crowe, and Wierzbowski, each with their top-listed weapon, starting on the side of the Stairwell opposite the Exit. Four Aliens appear randomly on turn one, then two more every turn thereafter, with no time limit; each Alien's entry square is found by rolling the die twice, once for row and once for position within the row.
The Marines win outright by getting seven or more people out alive (in any condition); four to six is a draw; three or fewer is a loss.
Operations and Air Ducts
Played across the left and bottom of the map, in two linked parts. Hicks, Vasquez, Hudson, Gorman, Ripley, Newt, and Burke, each using their bottom-listed weapon, start barricaded in the Operations Room as Aliens attack through the ceiling. An area of office furniture in the room's upper left (shaded blue on the map) costs double movement to cross but doesn't block Line of Sight or fire.
Marines carrying Pulse Rifles may fire their attached Grenade Launchers: choose a square within Line of Sight, spend one Action, and the grenade automatically lands there (no roll needed). Consult the Grenade Table for its effect on everyone near the blast:
| Range from blast | Alien | Marine |
|---|---|---|
| 0–1 | Dead | Dead |
| 2–3 | — | Incapacitated |
| 4–8 | — | Wounded |
| 9+ | — | — |
On turn one Burke bolts for the corridor exit and, by turn four, seals himself through the far door, which the Marines can no longer pass until someone with a Cutting Torch (everyone except Gorman, Ripley, Newt, and Burke carries one) cuts it open — three turns of work once a Marine reaches it, tracked on the Turn Chart. Aliens eventually break the same door down about fifteen turns after the first one reaches it, and can then pursue through the ducts. For two turns after sealing the door, Burke lingers in the adjacent airlock and can be talked into unlocking it (a 0 on the die, once per turn of asking) before he abandons that spot for good. Ripley, bound to protect Newt, must stay adjacent to her while making for the door; once Newt reaches the airlock, she rolls each turn and on a 6 or less signals the group to flee into the Air Ducts.
A companion mini-scenario, "Let's Eat Burke," lets players resolve Burke's fate: unarmed and locked in with an Alien that arrives and immediately attacks him, he can Stun it but never actually harm it — it's simply a matter of turns before the inevitable, unless he'd already made his conscience roll and slipped out with the group.
Aliens enter via four color-coded sets of appearance squares — Grey, Blue, Red (skippable for beginners), and Gold — with the Turn Chart specifying how many appear each turn and in which color's squares; Gold Aliens instead spawn automatically in the Let's Eat Burke room and spend fifteen turns trying to break into the airlock from there.
Once free of Operations, the group enters the Air Ducts, with Newt leading (followed by Ripley) unless she's down, in which case the group must guess at intersections randomly. At each marked Compass junction, Newt rolls the die on leaving; 6 or less and she remembers the way, 7 or higher and she loses the whole turn thinking it over — but once she's successfully navigated a junction, everyone following her inherits that memory. Aliens continue to appear on colored squares through this stretch, and the pursuing horde from the broken door may also arrive.
The scenario ends once every Marine has either reached the Exit or been taken — four or more Marines out is a win, one to three is a draw, and none is a loss.
Ripley vs. the Queen
The climactic Powerloader duel, played entirely on the small map and tables on the back of the Reference Card. Ripley and the Queen begin on their marked squares; an airlock, bordered in red and white, sits to one side, and Ripley's goal is to force the Queen into it.
Turns have three phases instead of four: Ripley's Phase, the Queen's Phase, and Combat. In her phase Ripley chooses one of: Move one square, Open the Airlock (only once the Queen is Stunned), or one of two combat stances — Sweep (aggressive, riskier) or Defend (cautious). The Queen then moves up to three squares, heading straight for Ripley.
Combat is resolved by rolling to determine the Queen's chosen action — Charge, Attack, or Melee — then cross-referencing Ripley's chosen stance and roll against the Queen's action on the Powerloader–Queen Combat Table to get one of: no result, Stun (Queen frozen next turn), Grab (Ripley may then try to drop the Queen into an open airlock, succeeding on 6 or less), Claw, Tooth, or Tail (each of the last three checked against the Queen vs. Powerloader table below, and each Wound adding +3 to Ripley's future combat rolls). Before the Queen's attack is rolled, Ripley may instead retreat one square away from both the Queen and the airlock, at the cost of being unable to Move next turn; she must accept the attack if boxed in against a wall.
| Roll | Claw | Tooth | Tail |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Incapacitated | Dead | Dead |
| 1 | Wounded | Incapacitated | Incapacitated |
| 2 | — | Wounded | Incapacitated |
| 3 | — | — | Incapacitated |
| 4 | — | — | Wounded |
| 5–9 | — | — | — |
Ripley wins by dropping the Queen into the airlock; the Queen wins by Incapacitating or killing Ripley.
The Movie Scenario
An optional framework linking the Reactor Room and Operations/Air Ducts scenarios into one continuous playthrough: play the Reactor Room, then carry the survivors (plus Gorman, Ripley, Burke, and Newt) straight into Operations/Air Ducts, with every Marine's condition improved one step between the two (Wounded becomes healthy, Incapacitated becomes Wounded). There's no formal win condition — the point is comparing your outcome against the film, or against fellow players running it solo in parallel.
Additional Rules and Guidelines
A set of small, fully optional tweaks, agreed to in advance if used at all.
Bonus Bug Rule. In the Reactor Room and Operations/Air Ducts scenarios, Alien-appearance rolls run 1–9 with 0 reserved as a signal: rolling it means an extra Alien shows up (and can itself trigger another 0, chaining further extras). Not recommended for beginners.
Machine Gun Special Ability. A Machine Gunner firing at one Alien with a second Alien adjacent to it can, on a single successful roll (using the range to the farther target), kill both at once.
Hand Grenades. Beyond their rifle-mounted launchers, Marines can draw and arm a separate hand grenade for one Action; it detonates in the square where it was drawn at the start of the next Marines phase, resolved on the Grenade Table above.
The Petty Revenge Scenario. A joke scenario for players who keep losing: the Marines get eight free turns to clear the Reactor Room before any Aliens appear, then Gorman calls in an orbital strike — roll the die for how many nuclear weapons hit (0's re-roll and add an extra, as with Bonus Bugs) — and the players automatically win regardless of the result.
Aliens Expansion. A number of the base game's cards, counters, and Reference Card tables exist only to serve the separately sold Aliens Expansion, which was assembled this way for production reasons rather than to withhold content. The Expansion adds further optional rules (ammunition tracking, carrying multiple weapons, firing through Marines, and more), new scenarios covering minor skirmishes from the film and hypothetical situations, and a second full-size map of the Alien lairs.
Expansion Rules
Rules in this section apply across both the base game and the Expansion wherever relevant.
Components. The Expansion adds its own 17"×33" map, a Room/Sentry card sheet, and its own rulebook section. Thick black lines on the Expansion map are impassable Walls. Numbered "Rooms" mark likely Alien habitats, resolved with the Room Cards described below. Nine Stairwells dot the map; Marines may fire into, through, or over them but not move into them, while Aliens (except at the unusually large Stairwell 9) may move through them freely, reflecting their climbing ability. Five circled "Cocooning Squares," numbered 1 (easiest) through 5 (hardest), mark where captured Marines start in rescue scenarios. The Elevator — an eight-square area where Marines begin and end most Expansion scenarios — allows two Marines per square, with the second treated as temporarily Incapacitated (placed on the first Marine's card) until they choose to step off on their own turn. Two playing aids sit beside the map: the Reactor Damage & Countdown Chart and its associated Reactor Damage Table, and the Alien Appearance Table, both explained under the Marine Assault scenario.
The card sheet holds six Room Cards (Empty, three Alien results, one Facehugger, and one Queen + 2 Aliens) and ten Sentry Cards (Empty or Alien), both used to populate rooms as Marines explore — full procedures appear in the Expansion Scenarios section.
Facehuggers. The larval form of the Alien — fast, small, and dangerous despite being far weaker than an adult. Facehuggers get four Actions and move exactly like adult Aliens. Their attack table:
| Roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 0 | Dead |
| 1 | Incapacitated |
| 2 | Wounded |
| 3–9 | No effect |
An Incapacitated result here is permanent and effectively fatal — the victim doesn't improve between scenarios and counts as Dead for victory purposes, though other Marines gain no mechanical benefit from finishing them off. Firing at a Facehugger carries a +3 penalty to hit (on top of any other modifiers, such as the +5 for a target sharing a Marine's square), reflecting its small size; Melee against one works exactly as against an adult Alien. A killed Facehugger sprays acid only into its own square, leaving adjacent Marines safe.
The Alien Queen. The most dangerous creature in the game, with unique rules to match. She gets only three Actions per turn (her size slows her) but can Ram any Marine whose square she passes through during movement — resolved immediately via the Ram column below, with no cap on how many Marines she can hit this way in one turn beyond the three squares she can enter. A Ram doesn't require the Marine to move; if she instead stops in a Marine's square, that Marine (and anyone they're carrying, who is considered lost outright) is placed on her card.
| Roll | Ram | Tooth | Tail/Claw |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Incapacitated | Dead | Dead |
| 1 | Incapacitated | Incapacitated | Dead |
| 2 | Incapacitated | Incapacitated | Dead |
| 3–4 | Wounded | Wounded | Incapacitated |
| 5–6 | Wounded | — | Wounded |
| 7–9 | — | — | — |
During the Aliens Attack phase she can make up to four more attacks: three (Tooth, Tail, Claw) against any adjacent Marines, distributed so no target is hit twice while others remain untouched, and a fourth against whichever Marine currently sits on her card (resolved on the ordinary Alien Attack Table — any Grab-family result there is simply fatal). Because of her intelligence, she should be played by the opposing side directly in tournament-style games, free to hide, maneuver, or withdraw as she sees fit.
She's also unusually tough to kill: the first successful hit on her moves an Alien counter to space 1 of a 1–5 damage track; each further hit advances it one space. Once it reaches space 5, further successful hits force a die roll, and only a 0 finally kills her — any other result and she fights on. Non-lethal hits still trigger acid spray normally. A grenade landing directly on her square is an automatic hit (no roll, straight to the next damage-track space); one landing in an adjacent square does nothing to her but otherwise behaves normally against anyone else caught in the blast.
Expansion Scenarios
The Drop Ship. A short, map-free scenario replaying the deaths of Ferro and Spunkmeyer. An Alien attacks Spunkmeyer first (his Melee is 0); if he survives long enough to warn Ferro over the headset and eventually drives the Alien off, he can draw his pistol (2 Actions) and fight back using Gorman's Range-1 numbers. If the Alien instead Grabs him, the fight shifts to Ferro in the cockpit, playing out under the same Grab/Combat rules as normal Alien attacks; a Grab result on Ferro means the Drop Ship crashes and both she and the Alien die. The Marines win only by killing the Alien outright.
The Rescue of Newt. Ripley enters the Alien lairs alone to retrieve Newt, carrying both a Pulse Rifle and a Flame Unit (freely alternated Action by Action) but forced through several Rooms by a fire blocking her usual route. Each time she enters a new Room, a shuffled Room Card is flipped to reveal its inhabitants — Empty, a single Alien, a Facehugger, or the Queen with two escort Aliens (who won't pursue if Ripley or Newt merely pass through without engaging, but who join a full fight if she fires on the Queen). For the two turns after a Room Card flip, Sentry Cards are drawn to check for reinforcements. The scenario begins with Ripley just outside Newt's cell, Newt cocooned and unable to move until Ripley reaches her, and a Facehugger set to appear in a nearby marked square on turn two. Ripley and Newt win by both reaching the Elevator; losing either one is a draw, losing both is a loss.
Marine Assault. A hypothetical rescue of the captured Apone and Dietrich by the squad's survivors, now free to carry either weapon listed on their card and to fire without restriction (accelerating Reactor damage as they do). Reactor damage is tracked on the Reactor Damage & Countdown Chart, advancing per shot fired (0 for Pistol/Flame Unit, 1 for Shotgun/Pulse Rifle, 2 for Machine Gun, 0–9 rolled for Grenades); once it reaches 40 the chart counts back down, and once it drops into the red zone, Marines exiting the map must beat the current countdown number on a die roll or be caught in the explosion — reaching 0 kills anyone still on the map. Cocooned Marines are freed after a healthy Marine spends a full turn adjacent doing nothing else, then rejoin (Wounded, unarmed until handed a weapon by a teammate spending another full adjacent turn) the following turn. Aliens arrive via Room Cards, Sentry Cards (drawn repeatedly until an Empty turns up), and a new Wave mechanism keyed to the Alien Appearance Table, which can drop groups of two or three Aliens at multiple Stairwells each turn. Victory requires extracting more Marines than the squad started with; 6–8 survivors is a draw, 5 or fewer is a loss, and anyone caught in the Reactor blast is automatically Dead.
Hunt for the Queen. All sixteen Marines, freely armed and healthy, storm the lairs to kill the Queen outright, using the same Alien-appearance rules as Marine Assault. The Marines win if the Queen dies and anyone survives, draw if she dies but nobody does, and lose if she survives regardless of Marine casualties.
Complete Movie Scenario. A branching campaign stitching every scenario together: Reactor Room, then the Drop Ship (its outcome determines whether the squad proceeds to Marine Assault or Hunt for the Queen, or instead falls back to Operations/Air Ducts and then Rescue of Newt), with Marine condition improving one step between each stage and a Victory Point tally (per the Tournament Rules below) used to gauge overall success — with killing the Queen counted as the true mark of victory regardless of point total.
New Scenarios for Aliens. Brief suggested variants for the base scenarios: harder Alien-drop rates or doubled Bonus Bugs in the Reactor Room, and a "Gorman's Last Stand" variant of Operations/Air Ducts where the squad holds the room for the entire Turn Chart instead of evacuating.
Optional Rules
Further optional additions, to be agreed on before play begins.
Ammunition Restrictions. Tracked on a photocopiable Status Sheet, each weapon has a fixed capacity, spent one box per shot and refilled by an 8-Action Reload (which must be completed in one uninterrupted stretch and discards any ammunition left in the old load):
| Weapon | Capacity |
|---|---|
| Pistol | 13 |
| Shotgun | 8 |
| Pulse Rifle | 16 |
| Grenade Launcher | 4 |
| Flame Unit | 16 |
| Machine Gun | 26 |
Flame Units, Grenade Launchers, and the Shotgun cannot be reloaded once empty.
Backup Weapons. Colonial Marines (not Burke, Bishop, Newt, or Ripley) may drop their primary weapon for a Pistol backup (Hicks instead falls back to his Shotgun, Drake to a Flame Unit) at a cost of 4 Actions; the abandoned primary is lost for good unless the Marine later acquires a new weapon through the scenario's own setup.
Fires. A Marine with a Flame Unit may spend an Action to place a Fire counter in a visible square instead of shooting — no roll needed. Aliens cannot move through or appear on a Fire square (an Alien meant to appear there instead dies), though they can path around one. All Fire counters clear at the start of the Marines phase, and each one costs a point of Flame Unit ammunition under the Ammunition Restriction rule.
Firing Through Marines. A stricter alternative to the base +5 friendly-fire penalty: firing through one or more ranks of intervening Marines adds +3 per rank, except when firing directly over the shoulder of the Marine immediately in front (no penalty).
Additional Aim Time. Lets a Marine bank up to two Actions of Aim beyond their card's listed maximum, each worth +2 to the eventual hit roll, carried over from turn to turn if needed.
Tournament Rules. A single-elimination structure for competitive play, typically run over the Reactor Room and Operations/Air Ducts scenarios in sequence, scored by Victory Points for surviving characters:
| Marine | Points |
|---|---|
| Ripley | 6 |
| Newt, Hicks | 5 each |
| Apone, Vasquez, Hudson | 4 each |
| Drake | 3 |
| Others | 2 each |
| Burke | 1 |
Timed play is recommended (20 minutes for the Reactor Room, 40 for Operations/Air Ducts, with a 1-point penalty per minute over), with the paired opponent both supervising and controlling the Aliens — who must still always advance their full four Actions toward the nearest Marine, though the controlling opponent may choose the exact path.
Closing Notes. A handful of further tinkering ideas are offered for groups who want them: letting Marines throw grenades by hand (6 Actions, 8-square range) instead of only launching them; adding a random 0–9 turn delay to each of two eight-Marine Elevators to inject some tension into the escape; giving Cocooned Marines a small per-turn chance of a Facehugger emerging from a nearby Egg; and a (explicitly not tournament-legal) suggestion that a well-placed grenade down the corridor can force Burke's door open early, at the cost of injuring whoever's caught in the blast.
Variant Rules
The rulebook's final chapter reprints a set of variant rules originally published separately by Stuart K. Tucker as "Alien Metamorphosis: Variant Rules for Aliens" in The GENERAL, Vol. 32, No. 1 — a fan effort aimed at tightening the game's fidelity to specific moments in the film. Its adjustments include:
- Hasty Shots — a Marine may fire a snap, point-blank shot the instant an Alien enters their square, with Aim and effective range varying by weapon (for example, a Pistol gets 2 Aim at Range 1, while a Machine Gun gets 1 Aim reaching out to Range 5).
- Grenade Effects — adjustments intended to let grenade-throwers like Vasquez plausibly survive their own blast radius.
- Weapon Handling — added detail on switching and drawing weapons.
- Carrying Marines — a penalty to a carrying Marine's Aim, reflecting the difficulty of shooting accurately while hauling a wounded teammate.
- Movement Sequence — refinements to how movement and firing interleave within a turn.
- Reactor Room, Ripley: What Are You Doing?, Operations Room, and Air Ducts — scenario-specific tweaks aimed at matching particular film beats more closely.
Groups wanting the full detail of these variants should track down the original GENERAL magazine article; this rulebook preserves only the above summary of its scope.