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Red Alert
Official Rules!
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Step One: Setup

After selecting a scenario and building your fleet, it’s time to set up the play area.

Ship Placement

Most scenarios presume you’re playing on your dining room table, or some rough equivalent, where the play area is rectangular. Feel free to change the parameters of the scenario to fit your play area. Treat the setup description on the disk as a guide, rather than a precise schematic that must be followed. Most scenarios tell you to place your ships within “range: 1” of your table end or the scenario disk. “Range: 1” means within the standard beam range, as measured by your Beam Range Template. “Range: 2” means within twice that range.

In the Balance Of Terror scenario (details), the setup reads “Teams start on opposite ends of the table, each fleet within range: 1 of its end.”  Instead, you might decide to use scenario disks to mark each “end,” with each ship starting range: 1 away from its local scenario disk. Or you might place a ruler one range template away from each end of the table and allow players to place their ships anywhere behind the ruler. Setup should be fast and easy, so feel free to alter scenario setup descriptions as you like.

The Control Panel

Each ship in your fleet must have its own control panel. One control panel comes with each starter box. The control panel tracks the status of your ship, and shows which crew and tech are aboard.

Each ship comes with a rectangular I.D. marker identifying your ship. Place this marker in the “Ship Name” box on your control panel. This makes it easy to keep track of which control panel goes with which ship during scenarios involving multiple vessels.

Each control panel uses three status counters. These are generic disks, numbered in sequence from 1 to 7 on one side, and 4 to 10 on the other. Place a status counter over the circles marked “Shields,” “Hull,” and “Speed.” You’ll typically use the 1-7 side of your status counters throughout an entire game. Occasionally you’ll need values above 7; in these cases, simply flip the disk over to use the other side.

The “Shields” status counter represents your current shield rating. Your shields begin the game at the ship’s maximum value. Set the shield status counter to reflect the Maximum Shields rating listed on the ship disk. If your shields fall to 0, remove the status counter from your control panel so it reads “Shields Down.”

The “Hull” status counter represents your ship’s current hull rating. At the beginning of the game, your hull is at maximum. Set this disk to reflect the Maximum Hull rating listed on the ship disk. If your hull falls to 0, remove the status counter from your control panel so it reads “Ship Destroyed.”

The “Speed” status counter represents your ship’s current movement rate. At the beginning of the game, your ship can be moving as fast as you’d like, so set the speed counter to show any value up to your maximum speed (see the next paragraph). If your speed rating falls to 0, remove the status counter from your control panel so it reads “Full Stop.”

The size of a ship disk determines its maximum speed. As noted above, most ships—including the main ship in your starter box—are standard size. Standard ships have a maximum speed of 5. Small ships have a maximum speed of 6; large ships have a maximum speed of 4. Upgrade disks bought during setup can modify ship maximums.

Diana and Owen don’t want to collide or overshoot each other, so they both set their Speed status counter to a moderate rate of “3.”

If at any time in the game any of these values reaches 0, simply remove the status counter. If your hull counter reaches 0, your ship is destroyed. Other counters may be replaced if their values rise above 0.

Crew and Tech Disks

Crew and tech disks must be assigned to specific ships. Mark this by placing them on, or next to, the control panel for that ship. Whether they’re placed on or next to the control panel depends on whether their player wants them to be revealed or concealed at the start of play.  See “Step 1: Reveal/Conceal,” below.

Playing the Game!

Now that both sides are set up, Owen and Diana prepare for war. Once all players have placed their ships and set up their control panels, it’s time to signal “Red Alert!”

Turns and Steps

Games are played in a series of turns and steps. A turn consists of five steps: Reveal/Conceal, Assign Orders, Execute Orders, Boarding, and Ready Crew and Tech.

Step One: Reveal/Conceal

Each crew and tech disk on your ship can either be “concealed” and hidden from view, or “revealed” and ready to act. You may reveal or conceal any of your crew or tech disks, but only at this point in each turn.

Concealed Disks

Concealed disks are essentially out of the game. They’re still on their respective ships, being destroyed if their ship is destroyed, but they don’t affect play, and generally can’t be affected by things that go on in the game. Nonetheless, they count against the ship’s capacity, and can be affected by game elements that specifically target concealed disks. Some disks produce devastating effects. Keeping them concealed until the last minute lets you to surprise your opponents at a critical moment!

Stack all concealed disks on your control panel, covering them with the “Concealed Crew And Tech” disk to hide them from your opponents.

Revealed Disks

Revealed disks are ready to be used and may, depending on their ability, automatically produce effects when revealed.

Revealed crew can be attacked or participate in an attack during Step 4: Boarding (below). Revealed bridge crew is also subject to destruction from a Bridge Crit (see “Criticals”).

In our sample game, Diana decides to reveal both her crew and tech at the start of the first turn. Her Mark III torpedoes need to be revealed to apply their bonus, and since Geordi isn’t bridge crew, he’s safe from bridge crits. Owen does the same, revealing both tech disks to gain their immediate benefits.

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