HorrorClix: Hive Wars - A HorrorClix Variant

Hive Wars
A HorrorClix Variant by The 4th Horseman

This is a 2 player, game where you are one hive pitted against another. Your goal, destroy the enemy hive by destroying the enemy Queen.

Materials

Both Players will need…

8 six sided dice (This is an absolute maximum and will most likely not be needed)
The 7 Alien Characters from the AVP: Aliens Collector's Set
The Alien and Alien Queen + Egg Base from the Alien Queen Action Pack
Any Predator Character (Or a token representing a predator may be substituted)
Victim tokens (Preferably the scientists as they are more suitable in terms of style)
Any Map

Introduction

I wanted to create a game that was accurate to AVP universe. I wanted a game that involved face huggers, Chest Bursters, stronger aliens that come from stronger hosts and many other things. But at the same time, I didn't just want an extended rules scenario to a regular HrC game, I wanted something different. That's why I chose to make Hive Wars. It depends on a dice roll at the beginning of every turn for moving, attacking and using effects. Though the stat changes that come on figure dials and powers provided on the cards do the make the game very realistic, I wanted eliminate the points system, and make all characters roughly equal in playability. I also did this for the fact that I didn't just want a new HrC scenario. That's why all stats provided on the dial and all powers on the characters cards are ignored, and new stats and powers have been provided. The only use for the character dials is now to keep track of HP (Hit Points); the only Queen dial important is the Alien Queen dial.

Background Story

You were once part of a great hive that had infested an entire nation. However, a tribe of great hunters (Predators) have broken into your hive, stolen your Queen and murdered hundreds of her children. However, not all is lost. Some cocooned hosts remained in the destroyed hive and have given birth to Queen Chest Bursters. However, with two Queens developing, the hive mind is divided, and this cannot be allowed. Half of the remaining drones have gone to serve one Queen while other half serves the other. Only one Queen can exist, only the strongest will survive, the Queen that can yield the strongest of offspring to destroy the other Queen will become ruler of the hive, and new ruler of this world. Some dishonored Predators have been left behind and some humans have come to explore the Hive. All will serve as suitable hosts.

Set-Up: See Diagram for Reference.

Note: This is just a rough set up, it can be modified in anyway. The diagram is just provided to give rough positioning. The number of starting drones, the number of hosts, what map you pick; anything can be modified. The choices are yours.

Lay down the map, it can be one of the AVP ones, one of the standard HorrorClix ones, a custom one, a piece of paper with a grid on it anything. The map shown in the diagram is 21x21, but the one you choose can be any size, though preferably large enough that a decent game can be played.

First, each player places their Queen with Egg Base on opposite corners of the board, indicated by the squares marked Q1 or Q2 (1 for Player 1 and 2 for Player 2). The Queens can be set up anywhere in the 7x7 Black boxes, though it is better to set the back of the Egg Base away from a wall for egg laying (explained below). Turn the Queen's dial such that it is 8 clicks away from triple skulls.

For this example we have decided to place the Queen + Egg Base as indicated by the squares marked with Q1 and Q2. Then place any non-Battle Damaged Drones, (Drones are alien warrior, not Queens) on any of the locations marked X1 and X2. Set the dials on the drones such that they are three clicks away from triple skulls.

Then place victim predator (Predator figure from the Alien Queen Action Pack, or can be any predator from the AvP: Predator Collector's Set) roughly in the middle of the board, marked by P

Then place 4 victim tokens roughly 1-2 diagonal spaces away from victim predator, marked by H

Game Play:

Begin the game by rolling a single die to see who goes first. The player who is going first makes their first Hive Power Poll.

The first thing you do at the beginning of every turn is a make a Hive Power Roll. A Hive Power Roll involves rolling a number of 6 sided dice equal to 1+ # Alien Drones you control. For example, you start the game with 2 Drones meaning you roll 3 dice at the beginning of your turn.

Each number rolled corresponds to a certain Hive Power. You use Hive Power to move, attack and carry out effects, and ultimately kill the opposing queen and become the dominant hive.

Hive Power may by spent in turn it is rolled, or may be stored in the Hive Power Reserve for use in future turns. Keep track of your Hive Power with a calculator, pen and paper or even an abacus. The more Alien characters you control, the more powerful your hive and the faster you will be able to obtain Hive Power. The numbers corresponding to the particular Hive Power is listed below.

1: Movement    (M)
2: Movement    (M)
3: Attack          (A)
4: Evade           (E)
5: Charge         (C)
6: Wild (W)

(1, 2: Movement): This is your most basic and necessary of Hive Power. Rolling a 1 gives you 1 Movement Hive Power while rolling a 2 gives you 2 Movement Hive Power. Movement is necessary to bring your characters across the board to position them adjacent to opposing characters for attacking, collecting and dragging victims, moving eggs, avoiding attacks, or simply retreating.

(3: Attack): An Attack Hive Power is necessary for, as its name implies, attacking. One Attack Hive Power allows a character to attack another character. An attack inflicts damage to a character and reduces its HP. When the HP of a character reaches 0, it is removed from the game.

(4: Evade): This Hive Power allows characters to avoid attacks and thus damage. Evade Hive Power is used to pay for Effects (explained later).

(5: Charge): Charge is a Hive Power that is used to increase damage. Charge Hive Power is used to pay for Effects.

(6: Wild) Wild is simply any Hive Power of your choice. It can become a Movement, Attack, Evade, or Charge Hive Power. You cannot declare it a roll of 2, and thus get 2 Movement Hive Power. Rolling a Wild is simply ONE Hive Power of your choice.

After making your Hive Power Roll, there are several mandatory actions you take, all of which will be explained later.

Flip over all Face Hugger tokens displaying FH1
Remove from the Map all Face Hugger tokens displaying FH2
Flip over all Human Infected Host (IHH) tokens
Flip over all Predator Infected Host (IPH) tokens
Replace all Chest Bursters (CB or PHC) tokens with an Alien Drone of your choice

After you have rolled, total the numbers shown on the dice. If the number is >12, your Queen may deposit an Egg that turn. To deposit an egg place an Alien Egg Minion token on one of the three squares at the Back of the Egg Base (Placement location illustrated below). The Queen can thus only lay 3 Eggs total, into those three locations. However, Eggs can be carried by one of your Drones (Explained later) to a different location such that one of these Egg Placement locations is freed up.

X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
EP	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	X
EP	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	X
EP	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	Q + EB	X
X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
· Q+EB (Queen + Egg Base) · EP (Egg Placement Location) · X (Egg cannot be deposited here by Queen. Egg can be carried and placed here by drone)

The Hive Power obtained and recorded in the Hive Power Reserve can be used by any of your Eggs, Face Huggers, Chest Bursters, Drones or the Queen, to move, attack or use effects.

Characters

Every character, all stage of alien and humans and predators, have a certain HP (Hit Points) and Attack Damage, listed below. HP being the amount of damage the character can take before it dies and Attack Damage being the amount of damage inflicted in an attack. The HP a character has is indicated by the number of turns (or clicks) it takes for triple skulls to appear. For instance a normal Drone of the Running Alien starts off with 3 HP. Triples skulls first appear for the Running Alien on the 8th click. That means that when you place the Running Alien Drone on the Map you set it dial to its 5th click (3 before triple skulls).

Type	Attack Damage	HP
Drone	1	3
Queen	2	8
Egg	0	1
Face Hugger (FH1 or FH2)	1	1
Chest Burster	1	1
Predator Hybrid Chest Burster	1	1
Predator Hybrid	2	4
Predator Host	1	2
Infected Predator Host	0	0
Human Host	0	1
Infected Human Host	0	0
Immobilized Predator	0	0
Immobilized Human	0	0

Bringing Characters into Play

Eggs are brought into play by the Hive Power roll and the Queen. If a Hive Power Roll is >12 an Egg Minion token may be placed in the appropriate locations (explained above).

Face Huggers are brought into play by hatching eggs. To hatch an Egg, replace an Egg Minion token with a Face Hugger token. This can be done at any time during your turn. For Face Hugger tokens I use McFarlane Face Hugger figures, however you may use something as simply as a round piece of paper with FH1 written on one side and F2 written on the other. Place the Face Hugger token with the FH1 side face up. Since Face Huggers are not as strong as the Drones, they can only survive outside an Egg for 2 of your turns. After you make your Hive Power Roll, you remove from the Map all Face Hugger tokens displaying FH2 and flip over all Face Hugger tokens displaying FH1. Face Hugger tokens that displayed FH1 and now display FH2 have only one turn to find a host before they die. Face Hugger tokens that displayed FH2 before you made your Hive Power Roll are all dead.

Chest Bursters are brought into play at the beginning of your turn when you flip over host tokens. There are two different types of host tokens, Predator and Human. These tokens can again be made from simple circular pieces of paper. For the Predator hosts, IPH (Infected Predator Host) written on one side and PHC (Predator Hybrid Chest Burster) written on the other. For the Human hosts, the scientist victim tokens may be used, or instead a round piece of paper with IHH (Infected Human Host) on one side and CB (Chest Burster) on the other. Chest Bursters only last one turn and are replaced with an Alien Drone at the beginning of your next turn.

The drones come into play after a Chest Burster or Predator Hybrid Chest Burster (See special rules on Predator Hybrid) is replaced at the Beginning of your turn after the Hive Power Roll. Turn the dial to the correct number of turns corresponding to the characters HP. Some Drones can only be brought into the game when a Drone takes damage (See Battle Damaged Drones).

Movement

Movement is carried out by paying Movement Hive Power. You can move your characters in the same way as HrC by paying Movement Hive Power, the number of squares moved depends on the character. Any amount of Movement Hive Power may be spent in 1 turn.

Eggs, Human Hosts, Infected Human Hosts, Infected Predator Hosts, Immobilized Humans Hosts and Immobilized Predator Hosts cannot move. Eggs, Infected Human Hosts, Infected Predator Hosts, Immobilized Human Hosts and Immobilized Predator Hosts can be carried by Drones to a different location (Carry Movement explained below).

Face Huggers can move 1 square for every 2 Movement Hive Power.

Chest Bursters and Predator Hybrid Chestbursters can move 2 squares for every Movement Hive Power.

Drones and Predator Hybrids can move 1 square for every Movement Hive Power, Effects are an exception to this (explained later).

While the Queen is attached to her Egg Sack she may not move, when the Queen has detached, called a Warrior Queen, she may move at a cost of 1 square for every Movement Hive Power. Because the free Queen takes up 4 squares, and the cost of moving 1 square is 1 Movement Hive Power, the minimum movement for the Queen is 2 squares, and thus 2 Movement Hive Power. An example of this is illustrated below.

X	X	· Player 1 decides to move his/her Warrior Queen such that she falls on the 4 squares marked with X · Because this involves the Warrior Queen passing over 2 squares and coming to rest on 4 new squares, total Movement Hive Power cost is 6 · 4 Movement Hive Power for X · 2 Movement Hive Power for ↑
X	X
↑	↑
Warrior Queen
Warrior Queen

All movement by a character must be done before an attack is declared by that character. A character may not move after it has declared an attack, you must wait until the next turn before you can move your character.

Attack

You can attack with each character once per turn. Your alien must be adjacent to a host or character to attack. You declare an attack by paying 1 Attack Hive Power. When you make an attack, you inflict damage equal to the characters Attack Damage to the attacked character. That character then turns the dial a number of clicks equal to the damage. Certain General or Special Effects may be activated during an attack; these effects modify damage or prevent other Effects from activating (See Effects below).

Face Huggers, Chest Bursters and Predator Hybrid Chest Bursters cannot attack any Alien characters, but can attack hosts.

When a Face Hugger attacks a host and reduces its HP to 0, the both the Face Hugger and the Host are removed from the Map and an Infected Host token is put on the location where the host was. If the host was a Predator an Infected Predator Host token is put in its place, if the host was a human an Infected Human Host token is put in its place. The Face Hugger may also declare an attack on an Immobilized Host (a host with 0 HP, which has been attacked by another type of character). An Immobilized Host is represented by victim tokens, when infected by a face hugger, the victim token is replaced with and Infected Host token.

Effects

Effects are certain actions that can be activated during either player's turn. Some effects have a specific timing, such as "when attacking" or "when attacked" and can only be activated at those times. They are activated by paying a particular number and type of Hive Power. There are three types of effects: General, Modifier and Special. All effects are outlined in tables below.

General effects are effects that can be activated for the Drone, Queen, or Predator characters. These are primarily offensive and defensive actions, and always take place during an attack.

Modifier effects are unique to a particular Drone and are always in effect. These Effects are all associated with Hive Power or the Hive Power Reserve; these usually alter or change the outcome of the Hive Power Rolls. Most usually take place during the Hive Power Roll. Some have certain requirements such as "if you have more than 4 characters" and only come into effect if you meet the requirement.

Special effects are also effects unique to a particular Drone or Queen. Some have particular timing, while other are always in effect such as "This character's movement is not hindered by Carry".

An example involving movement, attacking and use of effects is illustrated below.

X	X	X
X	RA1	X	GA2
X	X	X

· Player 1 decides to move his/her Running Alien (RA 1)

· He/She can move the Running Alien into any of the squares marked X or can move it further by paying more Movement Hive Power

	X	X	X
RA1	X	GA2	X
	X	X	X

· Player 1 decides to attack his/her opponents Grid Alien ( GA2). He/She first needs to move the Running Alien adjacent to the Grid Alien.

· Player 1 must move the Running Alien to any of the squares marked with an X


RA1	→	X	GA2

Player 1 decides to move the Running Alien to the square marked X
Since the Running Alien is moved 2 squares, it would normally cost 2 Movement Hive Power, however due to the Running Alien's Special Effect, it only costs one.


			RA1	GA2

Player 1's Running Alien is now adjacent to Player 2's Grid Alien, and can now attack
Player 1 declares an attack and spends 1 Attack Hive Power
However Player 2 activates the Trap effect and pays 5 Evade and 2 Attack Hive Power
The Running Alien then takes damage from the Trap effect equal to the Grid Alien's attack, 1 damage
Player 1 then turns the dial of the Running Alien by 1
Since the Running Alien attacked, that is the last thing that can be done with the Running Alien this turn, other actions may still be made with other characters

General Effect Name	Cost	Description
Block	2xE	When attacked by an opposing character, declare and spend Hive Power to negate 1 damage done by the attack. The Queen may not use the Block effect.
Trap	5xE + 2xA	When attacked by an opposing character, declare and spend Hive Power to negate all damage and inflict damage equal to the attacked characters Attack Damage on the opposing character
Strike	2xC	When attacking, declare and spend in order to move attacked character to adjacent square. Opposing character cannot activate the Block effect to reduce damage. However, the attacking character receives double the damage if the Trap effect is activated in response. A Strike may not be used against the Queen.

Name of Character	Modifier Effect	Special Effect
Grid Alien	Roll an additional die during your Hive Power Roll if you control more than 3 Drones.	When attacking, this character may declare multiple attacks against an opponent by spending 2 Attack Hive Power per additional attack.
Long-Tail Alien	On hive power rolls where you do not roll a 3, you may add an Attack Hive Power to your Hive Power Reserve.	When attacking, spend an additional 2 Evade + 1 Attack Hive Power to increase attack damage to 2
Leaping Alien	When you make a Hive Power Roll, you may count all 5's rolled as Wild.	This character's movement is not hindered by Carrying.
Acid-Tail Alien	Your opponent rolls one less die during their Hive Power Roll if you control 2 more Drones then he/she does.	If this character attacks another character that was already attacked this turn, the attack damage in increased to 2.
Running Alien	When a Movement Hive Power is rolled, add an additional Movement Hive Power to your Hive Power Reserve	This character may move 2 squares for every Movement Hive Power.
Wall-Leaping Alien	If this character is selected as one of your starting characters, you may add 4 Hive Power of your choice to your Hive Power Reserve	The first time this character attacks you may choose to increase its attack damage to 4
Stalking Alien	On hive power rolls where you do not roll a 4, you may add an Evade Hive Power to your Hive Power Reserve.	Traps and Blocks may not be declared against this character.
Alien	If this character is brought into the game as a Predator Hybrid, your opponent rolls one less die during their Hive Power Roll.	Spend 2 Hive Power of any combination and type to add 1 Hive Power of your choice to your Hive Power Reserve.
Queen + Egg Sack	N/A	During your turn, spend 30 Hive Power of any combination and type to detach Queen from Egg Sack.
Warrior Queen	N/A	When an attack is declared on this character, and one of your drones is adjacent to this character, you may spend 3 Charge + 3 Evade + 3 Movement Hive Power to redirect all damage from the attack to that Drone.

Carrying

You only start the game with 2 Drones and 1 Queen, to bring additional Drones into the game you must immobilize and infect hosts. In order to immobilize a host (Predator or Human) you must be adjacent to the victim token (or Predator figure) declare an attack and reduce the HP of the host to 0. When the host's HP drops to 0 from an attack, flip the token over. If the attacking character was a Drone you can move your attacking character to the location where the victim token was (or in the case of a predator replace the figure with a token) placing your Drone over top of the token. Your Drone is now considered to be Carrying the Immobilized Host. Carrying Movement is movement in which a Drone character moves with a token, either immobilized host or Egg Minion, underneath it. The Drone Carrying suffers a 1 Movement Hive Power penalty for movement, it now takes an additional Movement Hive Power for every 2 squares moved, rounded up. If a player moves 5 or 6 squares it will in both cases cost 3 additional Movement Hive Power. This also affects Special Effects, for example Player 1's Running Alien is Carrying an Egg and Player 1 decides to move it 2 squares. Using the Running Alien's Special Effect it only costs 1 Movement Hive Power to move one square, however since the Running Alien is Carrying, it costs 1 additional Movement Hive Power to move those two squares. You can choose to drop the host or Egg by moving on without the victim or egg minion token underneath your character, in which that character would no longer suffer the Carrying penalty. Carrying is important, for it allows you to free up space to have the Queen deposit eggs, and brings host closer Face Hugger attack as the cost of moving Face Huggers is high.

Queen

The Queen begins the game attached to the Egg Sack. While the Queen is attached to the Egg Sack, the queen may not attack, move, or use any effects. This can makes the Queen very vulnerable to attack by enemy characters. There are 3 ways to detach the Queen from the Egg Sack. The first is using the Queen + Egg Sack Special Effect, spending 30 Hive Power of any combination and type to detach the Queen from the Egg Sack. Secondly, during your turn, if an opponent's character is ever adjacent to the Queen + Egg Sack (Counts the Egg Base) you may choose to detach the Queen from the Egg Sack. Lastly if an Egg is ever attached by an opponent's character, during your following turn, you may choose detach the Queen. When the Queen is detached she is considered a Warrior Queen. When deploying the Warrior Queen, place the queen in any 4 squares with at least 1 adjacent square to the Egg Base. When free the Warrior Queen can move, attack and use effects. However, the Queen must be attached to the Egg Sack to lay eggs. An example involving Carrying, Face Hugger infection and deployment of Warrior Queen is illustrated below.

			GA1 +IH
	E	S1	S2
Player 1 Queen + Egg Sack Queen = 8 HP
				SA2

· Player 1 wants to bring a new character into play

· Player 1 decides to move his/her Grid Alien with Immobilized Human Host ( GA1+IH) nearer to the Egg (E)

· He/She moves the Grid Alien diagonally to the square marked S1, paying a total of 2 Movement Hive Power due to Carrying penalty

· Player 1 then moves the Grid Alien off the Immobilized Host to the square marked S2, by paying 1 Movement Hive Power, since the Grid Alien no longer suffers the Carrying penalty


	F1	IH	GA1
Player 1 Queen + Egg Sack Queen = 8 HP
				SA2

· Player 1 then replaces the Egg Minion Token with a Face Hugger Token (F1 side up)

· Player 1 then declares an attack from the Face Hugger towards the Immobilized Human Host and pays 1 Attack Hive Power

· Player 1 then removes the Face Hugger token from the Map and replaces the Immobilized Human Host token (IH) with an Infected Human Host token ( IHH)

· Player 1 ends their turn


	IHH	GA1
Player 1 Queen + Egg Sack Queen = 8 HP – 1HP
			X	←	SA2

· Player 2 makes their Hive Power Roll, then decides to attack the Queen with his/her Stalking Alien ( SA2)

· Player 2 pays 2 Movement Hive Power to move the Stalking Alien to the square marked X.

· Player 2 pays 1 Attack Hive Power, since the Queen cannot use effects while attached to the Egg Sac, she takes 1 damage

· Player 2 ends his/her turn

X	X	X	X			X	X
X	X	X	X	CB	GA1	X	X	X
	Player 1 Queen + Egg Sack Queen = 7HP						X	X
							SA2
							X	X
							X	X

· Player 1 makes their Hive Power Roll and flips over the Infected Human Host Token to display CB

· Since there is now an opposing character adjacent to the Queen, Player 1 decides to detach the Queen and Deploy the Warrior Queen

· Player 1 can deploy the Warrior Queen to any of the sets of 4 squares marked with X

Predator and Predator Hybrids

The stronger the host organism an alien acquires, the stronger the organism. This is presented with the use of the predator as a host. The predator however can put up a fight, and is thus controlled by both players. The predator cannot be controlled until an attack is declared on it. When this occurs, the opposing player to the player that declared that attack may choose to spend Hive Power in order to activate General Effects in response to the attack. After this both players have control of the predator during their respective turns, and can choose to move, attack and activate effects by spending their own Hive Power. A predator victim can never attack an Alien Queen. During an opponents turn a player can choose to activate Block or Trap in the event that the predator is attacked by the opposing player.

When the predator is killed, a token is put in its place and the Drone used to attack and kill the predator is placed over the token. Carry penalties are the same for the immobilized predator host. To make a predator hybrid an immobilized predator host is infected by an attack by a face hugger or a face hugger declares an attack against a predator host brining its HP to 0. The Drone, birthed from the Infected Predator Host, any of your choice, has Attack Damage = 2 and Hp = 4. If multiple predator victims are used in the game, a predator victim may never be used to attack another predator victim.

Royal Guards

Royal guards in the AVP universe are simply stronger xenomorphs who exclusive function it is to guard the Queen. In Hive Wars, they will be represented by giving Drones near the Queen greater ability to defend her. During your turn, if an opposing character is adjacent to the Egg Base (Representing Queen with attached Egg Sack) and you have a Drone that is adjacent to the Egg Base, you can choose to pay 2 Movement + 2 Attack Hive Power to move the Drone to a square adjacent to both the Queen and opposing character. That Drones does 2 attack damage for the rest of the turn. If the Queen is no longer attached to the Egg Sack (in other words, the Warrior Queen is in play), this effect cannot be used.

Battle Damaged Drones

Certain Drones can only be brought into play after a Drone becomes damaged and loses HP. These are the Grid Alien and Acid-Tail Alien. When one of your Drones loses HP you have the option of "upgrading" your Drone to a Battle Damaged Drone. This represents experienced alien warriors who have survived battle, and have the scars to show for it. Having survived battle, these Drones have better effects that represent their increased power. You upgrade after you make your Hive Power Roll, remove the drone that took damage and replace it with the Grid or Acid-Tail Alien. This Battle Damaged Drone has the same HP as the Drone it replaced, that means if it only had 1 HP left when you decided to upgrade it, the new Battle Damaged Alien will also only have 1 HP.

Winning the Game

To win the game you need to kill your opponents Queen. Or this can be modified to having the most Drones after so many turns or amount of time, the choice is up to you.

Questions, Comments, Concerns or Suggestions regarding this variant can be posted in our forums