The Uncanny X-Men Alert Adventure Game
The Uncanny X-Men Alert Adventure Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object
Be the first player to guide your mover around the Experience Track and reach the Victory space. To move around the track, your team of X-Men will race other teams to capture Evil Mutants in three different Battle Zones.
Basic and Advanced Games
This instruction booklet includes all the rules needed to play both the BASIC and the ADVANCED X-Men Alert Games. Throughout the booklet, you will see sections marked with an X symbol (Advanced). This symbol means that section of the instructions should be used only when playing the ADVANCED game. If you are playing the BASIC game, ignore all sections marked with an X symbol.
Players should read through only the Basic rule sections and play one or more Basic games. Once familiar with the Basic rules, carefully re-read the instruction booklet including the Advanced rule sections. All the Basic rules are used in the Advanced game unless specifically notated. For example: In the Basic game, players start with one of the X-Men. In the Advanced game, players start with two.
Description of Game Contents
18 X-Men Figures: Each X-Men character has a superbly sculpted miniature figure. The figure is used as a mover during play. If you wish, you may paint your figure.
Figure Show Case: The Figure Show Case stores the X-Men figures safely when not in play. Peel off the name labels of each X-Men and place them, alphabetically, under each figure space as shown.
| Archangel | Banshee | Beast | Cable | Colossus | Cyclops |
| Gambit | Havok | Iceman | Jubilee | Longshot | Nightcrawler |
| Professor X | Psylocke | Rogue | Shadowcat | Storm | Wolverine |
18 X-Men Power Stat Cards: Each X-Men Power Stat Card pictures an X-Men character and lists the character's Power Stats: Fighting Skill, Intelligence, Durability and Extra Abilities.
Example card (Wolverine): Fighting Skill 6; Durability 5; Intelligence 2; Total Power 13. Brawler/Claws: When Wolverine is leading the team in a Battle Zone, he can roll 3 additional dice when doing battle. Regeneration: When Wolverine is recovering at Headquarters, each Marvel rolled removes 4 hit markers. Each X-Men rolled still only removes 1 hit marker.
The character's Fighting Skill number shows how many dice that X-Men can roll when battling Evil Mutants. For Wolverine pictured, it's 6.
The Durability number shows how many Hits a character can sustain before he has to go back to Headquarters to recover. The 5 X symbol circles on the right side of Wolverine's card show you that Wolverine is able to take 5 Hits from Evil Mutants. The Durability number is also the number of dice the character rolls while recovering at Headquarters.
(Advanced) The Intelligence number shows how many dice the character will roll when trying to recruit a new team member.
(Advanced) The Total Power number is the number the Strength Indicator is placed on when the character is being recruited in a Battle Zone.
The "Extra" Abilities for each character are explained on the lower half of the card. Each character has their own special Extra Ability. Some Extra Abilities can only be used when playing the Advanced game and are marked with the (Advanced) symbol.
Game Board: There are three Battle Zones on the game board. Each Battle Zone has a Deployment Area for each X-Men team. Around each Battle Zone is a Strength Track numbered from 1 to 21.
The Experience Track is the outside track that begins on the left side of the board and runs clockwise around the three Battle Zones to the Victory space on the right side of the board.
3 Strength Indicators: Red square Indicators show the Strength of the Evil Mutant fighting in the Battle Zone. In the Advanced game, it shows the Total Power Stat of the X-Men character being recruited in the Battle Zone.
4 Team Experience Movers: Each player has a different color Team Experience Mover. The mover is used to show each team's level on the Experience Track.
36 X-Men Alert Cards: These cards are a combination of Evil Mutant cards and X-Men Recruit cards.
Evil Mutant Cards: The Strength number corresponds to the Evil Mutant's Strength. The higher the number, the more powerful the Evil Mutant and the tougher the battle will be. The Experience number is the number of spaces a player will move on the Experience Track when that Evil Mutant is captured. (Example card: Doctor Doom, Strength 16, Experience 6; the card is marked with the Advanced symbol.)
X-Men Recruit Cards ("Recruit Another X-Man"): Allow you to recruit additional X-Men to your Team.
27 Training & Luck Cards: Training & Luck Cards are gained when an Experience Mover lands on a Training & Luck space on the Experience Track. The cards are a mix of very good luck, extra abilities and very bad luck. Some cards must be played at once, while others may be held until the player wants to use them.
9 Dice: The dice determine the outcome of many character actions. Each die has two X-Men sides, one Marvel side, one Evil Mutant side and two blank sides. (Die faces: Evil Mutant = 1; X-Men = 1; Marvel = 2.)
The maximum number of dice you can roll at one time is nine. Any number over nine while fighting or performing another action is disregarded. Even the Marvelous X-Men are only so great!
40 Hit Chips: The Hit Chips are used to show that your X-Men characters have taken a hit during battle.
Set Up
Each player takes a Team Experience Mover and places it at the start of the Experience Track.
Mix the X-Men Power Stat Cards and deal one card to each player*. Each player puts the Power Stat Card face up in front of them. This forms your Headquarters. The remaining cards are placed face down near the game board.
*If all players agree, each player may look through the Power Cards and take the X-Men of his choice.
(Advanced) In the Advanced game, deal two X-Men Power Stat Cards to each player — or — each player may choose the two X-Men of his choice.
Each player takes the X-Men figure that matches their Power Stat Card. (Remove any extra plastic from the bottom of the figure.) If you get Archangel, place the peg on his wings into the hole on his back and press into place. If you get Professor X, assemble as shown: gently press his head into the neck; place the peg in the top of the chair over the holes in the bottom of the chair and gently press both halves together; place the post into the hole on the bottom of the chair.
Slide your figure into a base that matches your mover color. Place the figure on the picture on the card. During the game, when an X-Men figure is on their card, the character is at Headquarters.
Remove all X-Men Alert cards with the Advanced symbol from the deck. Also remove all "Recruit Another X-Men" cards. Shuffle the remaining X-Men Alert Cards and place the deck face down in the space marked on the board.
(Advanced) In the Advanced game, use the entire deck of X-Men Alert cards.
Remove all Training & Luck cards with the Advanced symbol from the deck. Shuffle the remaining Training & Luck Cards and place the deck face down in the space marked on the board.
(Advanced) In the Advanced game, use the entire deck of Training & Luck cards.
Carefully separate the Hit Chips and place them near the game board.
Going First
Each player rolls 5 dice. The highest point total goes first. X-Men = 1 point. Marvel = 2 points. Evil Mutants and blanks don't count.
Playing
Following is a brief explanation of the 6 steps in a player's turn. Each step is explained in detail later on in the instructions.
Step 1
Review the three Battle Zones. If a Battle Zone is empty, draw the top X-Men Alert Card and place it face up on the large X in the Battle Zone.
Step 2
BATTLE: Decide which Evil Mutant your X-Men character(s) will battle and place its figure(s) in the deployment area of that Battle Zone. If your character(s) is at Headquarters, you may start a new battle. If your character(s) is already in a Battle Zone, you must continue to battle that Evil Mutant.
Step 3 (Advanced)
If there is an X-Men Recruit card in a Battle Zone, you may choose to recruit.
Step 4
RECOVER: Help your X-Men character(s) recover at Headquarters by rolling the dice and removing Hit Chips.
NOTE: Your character can only do one of these two actions (Battle or Recover) in a turn.
Step 5
Your team turns in captured Evil Mutants and your mover is advanced on the Experience Track.
Step 6
Once you have completed your turn, play continues to the left.
Step 1: Setting Up a Battle Zone
Before you start your turn, check to see if any of the Battle Zones are empty. If they are, draw the top X-Men Alert Card and place it face up on the X in the center of the Battle Zone. Do the same for all empty Battle Zones.
When an Evil Mutant X-Men Alert card is drawn, the Strength Indicator is placed on the number space on the Strength Track that corresponds with the Evil Mutant's Strength.
The Strength Indicator stays on the Track until an X-Men reaches or passes the Indicator. That Evil Mutant is then captured (see Step 2: Capturing an Evil Mutant).
(Advanced) When an X-Men Alert Card is drawn that reads, "Recruit Next X-Men," turn over the top X-Men Power Stat Card. The Strength Indicator is placed on the number space that corresponds to that X-Men character's Total Power Number. Place the X-Men figure on the center X of the Battle Zone. The Strength Indicator stays on this space until the X-Men is recruited.
(Advanced) NOTE: If all players already have the maximum number of four X-Men characters on their teams, place the recruit card to the side and draw another card.
When all the X-Men Alert Cards have been played, shuffle the cards already turned in and place them face down in the space marked on the board.
Step 2: Fighting Battles
If you have one or more characters at Headquarters and they have fewer hits than their Durability number, they can move to a Battle Zone Deployment Area.
Once your team has started a battle, you cannot remove characters from the Battle Zone. They must either stay and fight until the Evil Mutant is captured or until the character receives too many hits and is forced to retreat to Headquarters.
Characters Starting A New Battle
Once your characters are deployed at a Battle Zone, one member is selected to lead the team. Place the leader's figure on the leader space. The leader will move and track the progress of the entire team as they battle the Evil Mutant.
Once a team leader starts moving on the Battle Zone Strength Track, he will act as the team leader until the Evil Mutant is captured or the leader receives too many hits and is forced to return to Headquarters.
The team leader is always the first character to battle. Review the character's Fighting Skill Number. The Fighting Skill number is equal to the number of dice your character rolls in battle. For example: A character with a Fighting Skill number of 3 will roll 3 dice in battle.
Example cards:
Archangel — Fighting Skill 5, Durability 4, Intelligence 2, Total Power 11. Wing Missile: Archangel can battle as normal or he can use his Wing Missiles. When battling with his wings, roll 2 dice. Each Marvel rolled counts as 4 points and each X-Men rolled counts as 2 points. Evil Mutant rolls give 1 hit to a teammate. When no teammates are in the Battle Zone, all hits are taken by Archangel. Flight: Archangel can fly from Headquarters to a Battle Zone deployment area and join the battle even when his team leader is already moving on the Strength Track.
Storm — Fighting Skill 4, Durability 3, Intelligence 2, Total Power 9. Weather Control: Storm can control the weather. When she is leading the team in a Battle Zone, she can help all teammates in the battle using her Weather Control power. Add 2 dice to each teammate's fighting skill number. Flight: Storm can fly from Headquarters to a Battle Zone deployment area and join the battle, even when her team leader is already moving on the Strength Track.
Some characters' Extra Abilities give them additional Fighting dice or give the character the ability to help other teammates in battle. Most characters only get to use these Extra Abilities when they are the team leader. Refer to each character's Extra Abilities before a battle.
(Advanced) Characters Joining A Battle Already In Progress
Only characters with the Extra Ability of flight can fly from Headquarters to a Battle Zone's Deployment Area and join a teammate already fighting in the Zone. It may take some time to effectively learn when and how to use your flying characters, but once you have this Extra Ability mastered, you will have a powerful tactic!
The Battle
Roll all the character's Fighting dice and total the points. For each X-Men rolled, score 1 point. For each Marvel rolled, score 2 points.
Advance your leader 1 space on the Battle Zone's Strength Track for each point you score.
If your leader lands on the same space as another leader, move the other leader back one space. Two leaders cannot occupy the same space on the Strength Track.
The character who is fighting receives one Hit Chip for each Evil Mutant rolled. Place the Hit Chips on the character's Power Stat Card X symbols.
If all the character's X symbols are covered, the character figure must return to Headquarters to recover before advancing on the Strength Track (See Step 4: Recovery At Headquarters).
If the character receives more hits than he has X symbols, that character is seriously wounded. Cover all the X symbols and put the extra Hit Chips on his picture. Return to Headquarters (See Step 4: Seriously Wounded Characters).
For example: Wolverine is able to take 5 hits. He has already taken three hits, so three of his X symbols are covered. On your turn, you roll four Evil Mutants. Cover the remaining two X symbols and put the extra two hits on Wolverine's picture.
(Advanced) When you have other team members backing up the leader in the Battle Zone Deployment Area, these characters will fight one at a time after the leader.
(Advanced) Roll all the fighting dice for that character and total — 1 point for each X-Men rolled, 2 points for each Marvel rolled.
(Advanced) Advance the leader one space on the Strength Track for every point that other character scored.
(Advanced) Put one Hit Chip on that character's (not the leader's) Power Stat Card X symbol for every Evil Mutant rolled.
(Advanced) Repeat the above steps for each character backing up the leader in a Battle Zone.
(Advanced) Team Work
When your team leader is fighting but receives enough hits to force him back to Headquarters, another X-Men on your team's Battle Zone Deployment Area can jump in and take the same space the leader held on the Strength Track. He can complete the movement of the leader's roll. This character becomes the new team leader. If you don't have another character in the team's deployment area, your team loses its position on the Strength Track. If you later decide to return to battle this Evil Mutant, your team must begin from the Deployment Area.
(Advanced) Always battle each of your characters separately. Calculate each character's Fighting dice separately, roll the dice, move the leader on the Strength Track and record hits on the character doing battle before battling with your next character.
(Advanced) If your team has characters in different Battle Zones, always complete all your character actions in one Battle Zone before going on to the actions in another zone.
Capturing An Evil Mutant
When your team leader moves onto or past the space with the Strength Indicator, your team captures the Evil Mutant!
Remove the captured Evil Mutant card from the Battle Zone and temporarily (see Step 5) place the card near your Headquarters.
Place the Strength Indicator on the X in the center of the empty Battle Zone. All X-Men in that Battle Zone from all teams are returned to their Headquarters.
Step 3: Recruiting Other X-Men (Advanced)
The same rules apply when recruiting another team member as the rules for battling an Evil Mutant. Remember that when your team is recruiting, your X-Men characters will use their Intelligence number to roll dice, not their Fighting Skill.
When you are recruiting, your characters will still receive hits when you roll Evil Mutants. The reason is that many Evil Mutants are either trying to lure these X-Men characters to join them in their evil ways, or are just trying to interfere with your recruiting efforts.
When your team leader moves onto or past the space with the Strength Indicator, your team recruits the X-Men character. Place the X-Men Power Stat Card face up near the rest of your Power cards. Remove the X-Men character figure from the center of the Battle Zone, slide it onto the base, and place it on the Power Stat Card. That X-Men is now part of your team at Headquarters.
Remember — you can only have a maximum of four X-Men characters on your team. Once your team has four characters, you cannot recruit another X-Men.
Step 4: Recovery At Headquarters
If your X-Men is wounded and is at Headquarters, the character can recover. To recover, roll the number of dice equal to the character's Durability number. For every X-Men rolled, remove one Hit Chip. For every Marvel rolled, remove two Hit Chips. Evil Mutant and blank rolls have no effect at Headquarters.
It may take a character a number of turns at Headquarters to fully recover. Therefore, you will have to decide whether it is wiser to send your partially wounded X-Men into battle, or to have your X-Men recover fully before moving into a Battle Zone.
Seriously Wounded Characters
When a character is moved back to Headquarters and has all their X symbols covered and has Hit Chips on their Power Stat Card picture, they are seriously wounded. Tip the character figure over on the card to indicate their condition.
On your next turn, the seriously wounded character must roll to recover. The roll must be successful in removing all the Hit Chips from the character's picture (not the X symbols) or the character is lost!
If the character attempts to recover and fails, the character figure is returned to its place on the Show Card and the character's Power Stat Card is placed at the bottom of the X-Men Power Stat Card deck.
If the character's recovery is successful, first remove all the Hit Chips on the character's picture. Stand the figure upright to indicate the wound is no longer serious. Now the character is simply recovering at Headquarters (See Recovery At Headquarters) and trying to remove the remaining Hit Chips that are on his X symbols.
In the event a player loses their entire team of characters, at the start of his next turn, that player recruits one X-Men by taking the top X-Men Power Stat Card from the deck.
Step 5: Captured Evil Mutants & The Experience Track
After your team has completed all actions in the Battle Zones (Battling or Recruiting) your team must turn in all the captured Evil Mutant Cards. Place the captured Evil Mutant Cards face up near the X-Men Alert deck.
Total the amount of Experience your team gained from the capture. The Experience number your team gains is listed on the top of the X-Men Alert Card and is the number of spaces you move ahead on the Experience Track. Advance your Team Mover.
Your Team Experience Mover can occupy the same space as another Team's Mover on the Experience Track.
(Advanced) Bonus Experience Points
Some character's Extra Ability is to be recognized as a Hero and Leader. These characters receive Experience Bonus dice when at Headquarters and their team is turning in Evil Mutants. There are also a number of Training & Luck Cards which give your team a bonus.
Roll all Bonus Experience dice at the same time. For each X-Men rolled, gain 1 Experience bonus point. For each Marvel rolled, gain 2 points. Evil Mutants and blanks do not count.
Add Bonus Experience points to your Experience number to get the total number of spaces your Team Experience mover advances on the Experience Track. Advance your mover.
(Advanced) X-Men Recruit Space
If your Team's Experience Mover lands on an X-Men Recruit space, draw the top X-Men Power Stat Card. Place the card face up near the rest of your cards. Remove the X-Men character figure from the Show Card, slide it onto a base and place it on the Power Stat Card.
If you already have four characters on your team and land on an X-Men Recruit space, do not recruit another X-Men.
Training & Luck Space
If your Team's Experience mover lands on a Training & Luck space, draw the top Training & Luck Card. If the card reads "Play At Once," you must use that card immediately.
If the card reads "Hold Until Needed," place the card face down near your other cards until you believe using it will benefit your team the most.
You may use a Training & Luck card before you start your turn, during your turn, or you may use a Training & Luck card before another player's turn if you wish to change the outcome of his turn. For example: Your Training & Luck card reads "Play this card on another player. Cerebro is on the fritz! Their entire team must report to Headquarters to repair the computer for one turn, with no other actions. (Hold until needed)." Decide which player you want to use this card on. Right before his turn begins, announce that you are using this card and he will have to return his team to Headquarters.
Training & Luck Cards go into a common pool and can be used by any of your team members.
After you have played a Training & Luck Card, place the card face up next to the deck of Training & Luck Cards.
When all the Training & Luck Cards have been used, shuffle them and put them face down in the space marked on the board.
Step 6
Play continues to the left (start with Step 1).
Winning
In the Basic game, the first player to reach or pass the first X-Men Recruit space on the Experience Track wins!
(Advanced) In the Advanced game, the first player to reach the Victory space on the Experience Track wins! You do not have to reach the Victory space by exact count.