Antares: Planetfall

In the 3rd solar month of the year 2319, the abandoned merchant ship Antares drifted into Earth's orbit and eventually crashed onto the planet.

During the ship's atmospheric entry, the United Military Force (U.M.F.) tracked the incoming ship's trajectory to a location in the planet's northern hemisphere.

A U.M.F. tactical Marine team was deployed under strict operational protocols. There was little information on the condition of the ship or if anyone or anything had survived the entry and impact. The ship had crashed into a medium-density residential sector, leading to assumptions of massive casualties.

Three fireteams were assembled and deployed to the area of operations. Their mission: establish a sensor array perimeter around the crash site, explore all structures (including the Antares wreck), rescue survivors, and eliminate all "enemy forces."

All official reports were classified as "Black Ops," so there is limited information on the course of the operation. This is the available incident report on the fireteams' mission to secure the Antares crash site.

Antares: Planetfall is the third game in the series and tells the final(?) chapter of the story of the ill-fated ship Antares and its alien cargo.

Antares: Planetfall can be played solo or cooperatively.

Gameplay Experience

Determine the area of operations. Arrange the terrain cards in a grid to create the playing field. For your first game, a 5x5 grid works well – leaving you with a few empty terrain cards. Recommendations for your first game:

Place the Antares wreck in the center of your grid.
Place the 4 sensor array cards orthogonally around the wreck.
Place the 3 rally point cards along the edge of the grid.

Choose your fireteams by selecting a side for each of the 9 Marine cards. Each Marine is either a Rifleman, Medic, or Demolitions Expert, which is reflected in their inventory slots. Assign three Marines to each fireteam in a column (lowest number at the top, highest at the bottom), represented by their insignia card. Each fireteam has a maximum ammunition capacity, which is determined by their inventory. You can equip Marines with a Medical Kit, Burn Box, or open inventory slots.

Explore the area of operations. Move your fireteams across the grid of the area of operations to:

place the 4 sensor arrays,
explore all structures,
destroy 9 egg chambers with Burn Box inventory items,
rescue 9 survivors.

Engage the alien enemies. Each action requires drawing a card from the operations deck. The deck contains Alien Attack cards, Alien Swarm cards, Retreat cards, Egg Chamber cards, Survivor cards, and additional Ammunition cards. When encountering aliens, fireteams must spend the amount of ammunition indicated on the card. If a fireteam runs out of ammunition, they lose Marines, starting with the lowest-numbered Marine in their column.

Gameplay

Antares: Planetfall uses push-your-luck and pick-up-and-deliver mechanisms. Your fireteams have limited resources, so make your decisions wisely. If a fireteam runs out of ammunition and medical kits, they will start taking casualties. A few bad rounds can severely weaken your troops.

If a team runs out of ammunition, flip the ammunition card to the RED side.

Each round, choose one of your three fireteams to:

move to an adjacent card section. Movement is orthogonal across the sides of the grid squares, not across the corners.

explore a structure or the Antares wreck and flip the card field card to the "Explored" side.

place a sensor array and flip the card field card to the "Placed" side.

After a fireteam's action, draw a card from the operations deck.

Operations Card Types

"...all clear..." – there is no encounter.

Alien Attack: The fireteam must spend ammunition equal to the strength of the alien attack.

Alien Swarm: ALL fireteams not at a rally point must spend ammunition equal to the strength of the alien swarm.

Ammunition: The fireteam can take the ammunition card to replenish their ammunition, or discard it, leaving it in the operations deck. Used ammunition cards are removed from the game. Leaving them in the deck can make later rounds easier, as other cards become increasingly hostile.

Egg Chamber: This is where alien eggs are located, which the fireteam must destroy with a Burn Box from their inventory. If they do not have a Burn Box or 8 chambers have already been destroyed, they must instead spend ammunition equal to the alien strength indicated in the corner of the operations card.

Retreat!: The fireteam must reverse their movement and spend ammunition equal to the alien strength indicated in the corner of the operations card.

"...incoming ship debris, take cover...": Reveal the top card of the operations deck and remove it from the game.

Shuffle: Shuffle the discard pile and draw pile of the operations deck to form a new draw pile.

Survivor: Assign the survivor card to a Marine in the fireteam. This Marine must escort the survivor to a rally point for it to count as a rescue. If the Marine is eliminated, the survivor is also lost. If 8 rescues have already been made, the fireteam must spend ammunition equal to the alien strength indicated in the corner of the operations card. Once a survivor has been escorted to a rally point, place the survivor card in the operations deck's discard pile.

Equipment

Ammunition: Fireteams consist of three Marines each. Each Marine has between 2 and 4 ammunition slots. Ammunition can be reloaded at a rally point or via an ammunition card from the operations deck. If a fireteam runs out of ammunition, Marines are eliminated equal to the remaining alien strength. The lowest-numbered Marines are eliminated first.

Burn Boxes are used to destroy egg chambers. They must be equipped in a matching inventory slot or any open slot.

Medical Kits protect a Marine in the fireteam from an alien attack or swarm. They must be equipped in a matching inventory slot or any open slot.

Sensor Arrays can be equipped in any open inventory slot. They must be placed around the Antares wreck to form a secure perimeter.

If the fireteams place all 4 sensor arrays, explore all structures, destroy 8 egg chambers, and escort 8 survivors to the rally points, they win the game.

Antares: Planetfall comes with a small, black velvet bag for easy storage and transport.

Note: Cards and components are not pre-packaged in the bag, and the label will not be attached due to shipping restrictions.