Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game FAQ
254 questions players ask · Updated Nov 7, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
- Which Drone chart should I use when building the Hive deck?
- How many Drone cards does the newer chart use for three players?
- Does adding more Drones make the game easier or harder?
- Does the standard setup include preparation rounds before the first objective?
- How many Hatchery cards are there, and do they have to be face up?
- What is the Hatchery deck for, and when do I take cards from it?
- Is a Sergeant (or Grunt or Specialist) a character?
- Does the Complex start with cards in it?
- Do I have to complete Objective 1, then 2, then 3 in order?
- How are the three objective mini-decks stacked and which cards go in each?
- Are black-backed and blue-backed cards ever mixed?
- Do expansion Hive decks replace the base game's decks?
- Can I rearrange or reset the cards in the Headquarters?
- What happens when the Barracks deck runs out?
- What is the Operations space on the board for?
- Do I have to show my hand to other players?
- How many characters are in the base game?
Turn Structure, Recruiting and Fighting
- Does the Hive add a card after every player's turn or once per round?
- Do Hive cards advance every turn, or only to make room?
- Do I play all my cards first, or can I spend Attack and Recruit between plays?
- Do unspent Attack or Recruit points carry over to the next turn?
- Can I pool Attack from several cards, and split it between enemies?
- Can I play a card just for its ability or symbol without using its points?
- If a card has both Attack and Recruit, do I get both?
- Can I damage an enemy over several turns, or must I kill it in one go?
- Does an enemy reduced to 0 Attack die automatically?
- How much Attack does it cost to scan a room?
- Can I scan rooms in any order and as many times as I can pay?
- Can I play a character on the turn I recruit it?
- When does the HQ refill?
- When do I draw back up to six cards?
- When a card says draw, where do I draw from?
- If my deck is empty and a card tells me to reveal or draw, do I reshuffle first?
- How many Strikes does an enemy in the Combat Zone deal, and does it hit everyone?
- Does an enemy that strikes stay in the Combat Zone?
- If an Event is revealed during the Hive phase, does it resolve right away?
- If an effect adds two Hive cards, are they added at once?
- Which objective's Event text applies when an Event is revealed?
- Which Hazard effect triggers: the one for the current objective or the one for how many Hazards were revealed?
- If a card lets me avoid a Hazard, does the next Hazard trigger the skipped effect?
- When the Hive deck runs out, do Events and Hazards go back in?
- What happens when the Hive deck runs out?
- After I finish an objective, do I remove its remaining Hive cards?
- Can I spend Recruit on an objective goal card before its objective is current?
- Can I fight a Final Enemy before Objective 3?
- Does killing a Final Enemy count if it gets reshuffled into the Hive?
- Does an Event still resolve if it is revealed in the Combat Zone?
- Is the Combat Zone a room for card effects?
- Does an attached card make a room not clear?
- If a card makes several players act, who goes first?
- What wins when one card says you can't and another says you can?
- What if I can't do all of what a card says?
- What does the asterisk on a card's number mean?
- Can I convert Attack to Recruit or the other way?
Coordinate and Solo Play
- How does Coordinate work, step by step?
- How many Coordinate cards can I give, and how many can the active player receive?
- Can I play a Coordinate card on my own turn?
- When can I offer a Coordinate card to another player?
- When I copy a coordinated card, do I need my own copy?
- Does the active player have to play the card I coordinate?
- What if the replacement card I draw for Coordinate is a Chestburster?
- Does Recruit that Mercenary spends as Attack count as a coordinated Attack for killing Ash?
- Does Coordinate do anything when playing solo with one Avatar?
- Can I kill Ash in a solo game?
- When can Ash be killed?
- In solo play, does "next player" mean me?
- In solo, what if a "next player discards" effect finds my hand empty?
- How long do I have to kill a Facehugger in a solo game?
- Can I play solo, and with how many hands?
- How many Drones do I use in a solo game?
- In solo, what happens with a Hazard that says to give it to another player?
- In solo, what happens to a "next player puts a character into Operations" event if I have nothing eligible?
- Can a solo player with several hands tell the other hands what a hidden card is?
Classes, Crews and Keywords
- Do I need an earlier card with the class icon before using a class ability?
- Are class icons used up when a card uses them?
- Is a class or crew ability optional?
- Can I save a class ability to use later in the turn?
- If a card shows two class symbols, can later cards use both?
- How does a card that needs two earlier crew icons (like Teams of Three) work?
- Can I use a class ability if I have no points to spend?
- How does Vigilant work?
- Does a Vigilant card still give its class or crew icon on later turns?
- Can I discard a Vigilant card on another player's turn?
- Does Body Armor work from my hand?
- Is a Vigilant card left in play from an earlier turn one of "your characters"?
- Does Private Hudson's Vigilant ability cancel an Event or Hazard if the card is in hand?
- How does Mobilize work?
- Does recruiting count as gaining a card?
- Is Sacrifice optional, and what do I keep?
- Do multiple copies of a "once this turn" ability each work?
- When can I use a "Once this turn" or Activate ability?
- Does an Activate ability need a matching icon played earlier?
- What does a copy of a card give me?
- Which cards does "your characters" or "one of your characters" include?
- How much Recruit can the Mercenary turn into Attack?
- Must the Priest convert all my Attack into Recruit?
- Does my role card take up a hand slot?
- Are role cards characters?
- Which colors does a Synthetic count as for color-based abilities?
Facehuggers, Chestbursters and Eggs
- How long do I have to kill a Facehugger before it impregnates me?
- Which player gets a Facehugger when it is revealed?
- Does a Facehugger drawn from the Strike deck count as a Strike?
- If two Facehuggers are revealed on the same turn, do both attach to the active player?
- What if a Facehugger would be placed in front of a player who has a Chestburster?
- If a Strike kills the player a Facehugger is attached to, does it move on?
- When does the Chestburster arrive relative to the Strike Phase?
- Do enemies stop striking me once I have a Chestburster?
- How can I get rid of a Chestburster already in my deck?
- Is a Chestburster a character?
- When exactly do I die when a Chestburster is drawn?
- How do Eggs work?
- In what order do an Objective's Event text and an Egg's Event text resolve?
- If the Hive is reshuffled while Eggs are still face down in the Complex, can they still hatch?
- Can Facehuggers or Eggs end up in the Barracks?
- Does an Event printed on a Facehugger trigger when the Facehugger is revealed?
- Can Electric Prod move a Facehugger?
- How does the Xenomorph Screecher work in the Combat Zone?
Strikes and Healing
- If a card says to avoid the next Strike, do I still draw it?
- What does healing a Strike do?
- Can Ambushed Medic heal another player's Strike?
- Can contaminated Strikes be healed?
- Can Sister Ripley's Ultimate Sacrifice heal an unhealable Strike?
- Where do Strike cards go after they are resolved or healed?
- If two Strikes trigger at the start of my turn, who chooses the order?
- If a card says draw two Strikes and one says draw another, does the extra count toward two?
- If a Strike kills me, do the remaining enemies still strike me?
- If I kill the final enemy but the Strike I draw afterwards kills me, who wins?
- Do I discard a Close Call Strike even if it does nothing?
- How does Somebody Help! work?
- How does Slow Gestation work?
- What does Noxious Xenomorph's reveal do?
Hive, Complex and Enemies
- When a Xenomorph Runner moves, does it push cards?
- How does the Xenomorph Stalker's restriction work?
- How does a "does not move" enemy such as an Egg interact with pushed cards?
- Are face-down cards enemies?
- Can Electric Prod move an enemy from the Combat Zone into a clear room?
- What do Airlock Controls do?
- Does a Final Boss move to the Combat Zone when revealed?
- How does a revealed Colonist Host Event work?
- How does an Armored Xenomorph work?
- How does the Skittering Xenomorph behave?
- Do Xenomorph Guardians' Combat Zone buffs stack?
- Do Sentry Guns stay in play for the rest of the game?
- Do Sentry Guns work on a Final Enemy like the Queen?
- Do two -2 Attack effects on the same enemy stack?
- How does Close Encounters' -2 work?
- If a card moves a Hazard to the Combat Zone, can I avoid its effect?
- How does the Self-Destruct hazard behave?
- When a hidden card enters the Combat Zone, is it revealed right away?
- How do I block the Ventilation Shaft?
- Does the Hive deck cover the Ventilation Shaft count as in the Complex?
Killing, Gaining and Discarding
- Which characters can "kill one of your characters" target, and do I keep what they produced?
- What is the difference between killing a card and killing a character?
- Can I thin my deck by killing characters?
- Where do a dead player's cards go?
- Who can Quarantine Procedure look at, and can it kill a Chestburster?
- Where does a card discarded from the Barracks go?
- Does gaining a dead character cost Recruit?
- What happens when Jonesy is revealed?
- What happens when a Found character enters the Combat Zone?
Hidden Agendas, Alien Players and Player Fights
- Can I attack another player?
- What is Defense on an Avatar used for?
- How does the Alien Player rule work?
- Do dead players score points?
- When does the traitor win by playing the Agenda card?
- Can both Facehuggers from the Evil Agenda "Inquisitive" go to one player, including myself?
- Can the game be played competitively with one winner?
- Does the game end when one player's Avatar dies?
Alien and Aliens Scenarios
- How do I kill the Perfect Organism, and where?
- Does the Perfect Organism stay in the Airlock once moved there?
- Can I kill the Queen while captives remain in Operations?
- What if the Queen tells me to move a character from my discard pile and I have none?
- What can a cocooned Avatar do?
- How do I complete the S.O.S objective and the Ventilation Seal in the first Alien scenario?
- When the second Hadley's Hope Hazard is revealed, is the Complex refilled?
- What does Hadley's Hope Hazard 1 make the other players discard?
Alien3 and Alien Resurrection Scenarios
- Is The Lead Works a one-time use card?
- Which Events go under The Beast?
- Can I kill the Beast several times in one turn?
- What does Auriga Hazard 3 kill?
- What happens when the Countdown Hazard reaches the Combat Zone?
- Does Hazard 1 keep triggering after later objectives start?
- What are the Missing Brothers?
- What does Alien Resurrection's "It's Their Ship Now" do?
- Do I keep my deck between movie scenarios?
- When a Movie 4 clone enemy is killed, where does it go?
- Are Failed Clones enemies?
Card-Specific Rulings
- How does Thermos Gun work?
- Does "you may kill yourself" on Ultimate Sacrifice remove me from the game?
- What if I draw Fallen Friend and have no character costing 1 or more?
- Do multiple copies of Repair the Ship each draw?
- Are cards I have already played part of "your hand"?
- Must I sacrifice Bait for the Beast?
- Do multiple copies of Captain of the Ship's bonus stack?
- How much Attack does New and Improved give?
- Does Ripley Enraged count Strength cards played after her?
- When a card makes each player reveal their hand and discard, who chooses the discard?
- If I play You Are My Lucky Star twice, do both avoid a Strike?
- Does Leadership Vacuum kill Sergeants in hands and in the stack?
- Which card is "Acid Blood" in the Grown in a Lab rule?
- Can Animal Handler rearrange both the air and the Complex?
- After discarding characters for 'It's his IQ', can Re-Educate kill them later that turn?
- Can I discard an already played card to pay a discard cost?
- Can Johner's 'I mostly just hurt people' remove a Hazard from my deck?
- Can Mr. Fantastic's Ultimate Nullifier target The Perfect Organism?
Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game ExpansionExpansion
- In the single-Avatar solo variant, can I use a Coordinate card's effects before discarding it?
- Are Soldiers and Hard Mode mandatory?
- Why does the expansion use a different number of Drones than the base game?
- Do I use Drones in a solo game with the expansion?
- How do Flying enemies move?
- After a flying alien is netted, does it return to the air?
- What happens to the Barracks card under an Enhanced Alien that is turned face down?
- Can an effect that kills enemies kill a Final Enemy?
- Does Aviary Hazard #3 push the HQ countdown every turn?
- Does Aviary Hazard #1 put unbought Sergeants into the Dead Characters pile?
- How does the Administrator's activated Barracks card interact with Mobilize, Vigilant and Sacrifice?
- When Elgyn's Share a Drink is played from another player's turn, where does it go?
- Can I heal Strikes on the Emergency Door?
- Can one player hold more than one Chestburster in the expansion?
- Is a character added to the HQ during the Queen Mother player's turn?
- Can the Queen Mother player attack a player with a Chestburster?
- If the Queen Mother has "How do we kill it?" and a Strike would kill her, what happens?
- Can card effects kill the Queen Mother?
- Does the Queen Mother count as a player for "all players draw a Strike"?
- Is Ellen Ripley her own character deck?
- Can the expansion be played without the base game?
- Do Ranged enemies in the Complex strike when the Combat Zone is empty?
- How does the Runner keyword work?
- What does Escape mean?
- What does the Self Destruct System kill?
- Must I use Got Some Moves when I play it?
- Where does Tail Whip's shuffle send cards?
- Does an Injured Xenomorph count as having moved if it entered the Complex face down?
- Which objectives belong to which new scenario?
- Does the expansion Strike get stronger with each objective?
- Which Barracks characters should I pair with the new Hives?
Legendary Encounters: Alien CovenantExpansion
- Is the Hive deck still used in Covenant phase 3B?
- Can the Biologist's heal of 2 reduce a 4-damage Strike?
- Can David be a player Avatar?
- Does Loud and Clear let several Grunts or Specialists coordinate?
- When is David's end-of-turn check?
- How do I get rid of an Egg Sack?
- How does the Bloodburster Neomorph's kill-the-highest-cost effect work?
- What does "one of your characters" include for Chomp?
- Can players in Stasis still attack and buy?
- When a Hazard resolves, is it discarded before the Location's instructions?
- Do I need the big box expansion to play Alien Covenant?
- When the Hive deck runs out, are killed Final Enemies reshuffled?
- Can a Barracks character be put under the Necropolis from my hand?
- Is David Special a character that kill effects can hit?
- Can Chart a Course discard none of the three cards?
- How does Full Ecology Work-Up choose strikes?
- Does the third objective's "everywhere" include decks and the Barracks?
- How do I mix Covenant characters and locations into a base setup?