Reference

Turn sequence
1. Move
2. Draw an event (Op)
3. Attempt an action (special action)
4. If at Mission Nexus, attempt to complete mission

Combat
1. Determine your team's initiative (tactical edge):
icons + NET Level + 1d6.
+1 if in a friendly-controlled installation.
+Terrain modifier.
2. Determine OPFOR initiative:
Highest tactical edge of the OPFOR units + 1d6.
+1 if in an OPFOR-controlled installation.
+Terrain modifier.
3. Higher initiative fires first; your team fires first if tied. Roll # of dice =
combat factors. 5's and 6's are hits: flip a unit (crash), eliminate an already
flipped unit, or eliminate a gear.
4. Other side fires (after hits have been applied).
5. Now you may choose to breakoff combat.
6. If all of one side is eliminated or there is a successful breakoff, combat
ends. Otherwise return to step 1.

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Phobos Rising! Insurgency on Mars
rules rewrite by baychang@bgg - v1.2, 2017.10.01

Overview
In Phobos Rising you command an insurgent team on Mars that must gain
control of Earth Federation installations in preparation for launching the
Martian rebellion. Each turn you will move your team and then draw an
event, which may include encountering and combating hostile forces. Then
you will make an action attempt, such as taking over an installation,
recruiting new units or commandeering vehicles, or restoring units to full
strength. One of your actions is to discover the mission parameters, which
also reveals the location where the mission can be completed. In the
campaign game, you will pick up where you left off after each mission,
completing a total of four missions to win.

Ability tests
There are five kinds of abilities (skills), indicated by icons:
cyberwarfare (NET Run, cyber)
leadership and recruiting (leader)
restore and repair (nano-morph)
piloting (hot pilot)
specialized weapons (sniper)
These icons appear on your units (cadres, vehicles), equipped gear,
installations that you control, and previously completed mission cards
(enhancers). When you attempt an action (special action, challenge, check),
carry out an ability test: count up all the icons of that ability on your units,
gear, controlled installations, and previously completed mission cards, and

1
 the mission card (enhancers) now add to your abilities for future
missions.
*The Let's Ride mission reward is the Utility shuttle. This is the 2-2
vehicle.
2. Count the number of cards left in the event deck. Add this number to
your TP (recruiting points).
3. Any installations you control remain under your control.
4. NET Level remains where it is.
5. Shuffle event cards and deal event and reserve decks as per setup but
deal one fewer card to the event deck per mission accomplished.
6. On each OPFOR Deployment in the next mission, draw one
additional OPFOR unit per mission accomplished.
7. Randomly select one of the remaining missions, saving Phobos Rising
for the final mission.
8. Spend TP to recruit units, gear, and Ops as per setup.
9. Place the Team marker in any friendly-controlled installation or the
TAZ.

If you lost the mission:

1. All installations revert to OPFOR control.
2. Reduce NET Level by one.
3. Reshuffle the failed mission card back with the remaining mission cards
and select one, saving Phobos Rising for the final mission.
4. Spend TP to recruit units, gear, and Ops as per setup.
5. Place the Team marker in a random hex.

You win the campaign if you win the fourth mission, Phobos Rising. If you
lose two missions in a row, you lose the campaign.

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 9. Form initial team.

Select the starting units of your team (hyper team) from the 10
remaining red/beige units (cadres) and the 6 remaining green gear
markers. The gear markers are double-sided, with different gear
indicated on each side (choose one side). You have 12 recruiting points
(team points, TP) to spend; units cost 2 TP, gear cost 1 TP. In addition,
you can add Ops cards from the reserve deck to the bottom of the
event deck for 2 TP each. Record any unspent TP, which can be used
during Recruit actions during the game. Place all selected units in the
Team Box.
10. Place any remaining units and gear in the Friendly Recruit Pool box.
11. Place the white Team marker in a random hex determined by rolling
2d6.

Turn sequence
1. Move
2. Draw an event (Op)
3. Attempt an action (special action)
4. If at Mission Nexus, attempt to complete mission

1. Move
Your team, represented by the Team marker, always moves together.

● Ground Movement. Until you acquire a vehicle, you will be using

ground movement. Movement points = lowest movement factor of
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 ExoHuman unit can only be recruited at the Lab, if friendly-controlled,
or the TAZ.
● Repair. For each success, flip a unit to its full strength side (combat
effective).
● Enhanced Move. If you have a vehicle, for each success gain an
additional movement point for next turn.
● Sniper. Only used for the Sniper Challenge event and the tests for
two of the missions.
● Build TAZ. Succeed on both ability tests (tested individually) to
place the Temporary Autonomous Zone marker in your hex (hex
cannot already contain an installation). The TAZ, which is always
friendly-controlled, provides the following benefits when you are in its
hex:
○ If your Team ends a move in a TAZ, drawing an Ops card is
determined by rolling a die and seeing if it’s <=NET track.
○ Add an extra die for and actions.
○ May recruit in the TAZ.
● Quantum. The Mission Nexus marker must already be on the
map. If you succeed on all three ability tests (tested individually), either:
○ Move the Mission Nexus marker to your current location; or
○ Select a card from the discard pile and shuffle it into the event
deck.

4. Attempt to complete mission

The missions all require you to control a certain number of installations. If
you have fulfilled that part of the mission, and you are at the Mission Nexus,
you may attempt to complete the mission.

8
 ● OPFOR Deployment. Pull a number of units out of the OPFOR cup
equal to your NET Level.
+1 unit if in Security HQ or Biodome.
+1 unit for each previously successful mission.
Conduct combat against these units (see below).
● NET check. Roll 1d6 and compare to your NET Level. Resolve as per
card.
○ OPFOR Hyper Swarm. When executing OPFOR Deployment, pull
OPFOR units equal to the number of OPFOR-controlled
installations (instead of NET Level) and add +2 to their tactical
edge. If you win combat, remove this card from play. If you lose,
reshuffle this card into the event deck.
● Misc. (Multi-Tool and Sandstorms of Mars.) Follow instructions on card.

"Win/Lose: 1 Op": This means that if you succeed at the event, add one
card drawn from the reserve deck to the bottom of the event deck,
effectively giving you an additional turn to complete the mission. If you fail,
draw and discard face down a card from the event deck, reducing the time
allotted to complete the mission.

Combat
1. Determine your team's initiative (tactical edge): leadership ability (total
number of icons) + NET Level + 1d6.
+1 if in a friendly-controlled installation. Terrain may additionally affect
initiative; see Terrain Effects Chart.
2. Determine OPFOR initiative: Highest tactical edge of the OPFOR units +
1d6.

5
roll that many dice. 5's and 6's are successes (positives); 1's cause negative
consequences (burnout).

Note: Rods of God and Swarm gear have asterisks, which indicate one-
time use. Return these to the Friendly Recruit Pool after using Rods of God
in combat or Swarm in a NET Run check.

Setup
1. Select mission. Set aside the Phobos Rising mission card; it is used as
the final mission of the campaign. Randomly select one of the other 3
missions and place it face down.
2. Set up event deck. Set aside the OPFOR Hyper Swarm event card.
Shuffle the rest of the events and deal 8 cards as the event deck.
Shuffle the OPFOR Hyper Swarm card with the remaining 5 cards to
create the reserve deck.
3. Place the 8 blue Earth Federation units (OPFOR, opposition force) in a
cup.
4. Place each of the 8 brown installation markers in a different random
hex (cell) on the map, name side up. Roll 2d6 to determine each hex,
assigning the first die to the first digit of the hex, and the second die to
the second digit.
5. Place the green Mission Nexus marker in the Nexus Marker box.
6. Place the green NET Level marker on space 1 of the NET Track.
7. Place the 3 red vehicle units (shuttles) in the Friendly Recruit Pool box.
8. Place the white TAZ installation (Temporary Autonomous Zone) and the
red/beige 3-2 unit (the ExoHuman) in the Friendly Special Units
Available box.

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Official Variants

• For NET Run and Quantum actions, you can apply a Positive result for
each success.
• Positive rolls (5's and 6's) must first be used to cancel Burnout rolls
(1's). Then apply remaining results.
• Positive rolls (5's and 6's) may be used to cancel Burnout rolls (1's).
Then apply remaining results.
• Start with more TP (recruiting points), e.g. 15 TP instead of 12.
• Start with more cards in the event deck, e.g. 10 cards instead of 8.

11
 your team members. Each hex costs 1 movement point. Must stop
when you move into certain types of terrain (see Terrain Effects Chart)
and in OPFOR-controlled installations.
● Vehicle Movement. (You can acquire a vehicle using the Recruit action
at the Spaceport.) Movement points = lowest movement factor of your
vehicles. Each hex costs 1 movement point. Unlike ground movement,
not required to stop in any terrain; but must stop in OPFOR-controlled
installations.
● Spaceport Hop Movement. If you control the Spaceport installation,
you can move directly to or from the Spaceport and any hex on the
map as your move.

2. Draw an event
Draw and resolve the next card from the event deck, which is also the game
timer -- if there are no more cards in the event deck to draw, time has run
out and you have failed the mission. Note that in an OPFOR-controlled
Security HQ you must draw and resolve 2 event cards.

● Challenge. Carry out an ability test (see "Ability tests", above) using the
appropriate ability, but instead of resolving on the Special Actions
Table, resolve success (at least one 5 or 6 rolled) or failure (no 5's or 6's
rolled) as per the card. Ignore burnouts (rolled 1's). If you do not have
the ability, you automatically fail.
○ Pilot Challenge. If you succeed but don't have a shuttle, gain +2
Pilot skill for the rest of the mission.
○ Nano-Morph Challenge. On failure, you may choose to lose a
gear instead.

4
 1. Pull a number of OPFOR units from the cup as specified on the mission
card (NET Level + 1 for each successful mission) and combat them.
2. Carry out individual tests for the abilities indicated by the icons on the
mission card. Your NET Level allows you to assign that many
additional dice, divided among the tests in any way you choose.
You may not roll for an ability that you do not have at least one icon
for.
3. If you achieve the number of successes specified for each ability and
combined for all abilities, you complete the mission!
4. If you fail, move the Mission Nexus marker to a random location (roll
2d6).

Next mission
If you have completed the mission, or if you run out of time by running out
of cards in the event deck, you proceed to the next mission in the campaign.
1. Place the Mission Nexus marker back in the Nexus Marker box.
2. Move units in the Permanently Eliminated Units box to the Friendly
Recruit Pool.
3. Installations and TAZ remain where they are.
4. You keep your current team and gear; flip all units to their full strength
side.
5. (Unclear in rules whether you receive a refresh of an additional 12 TP to
start subsequent missions.)

If you won the mission:

1. Place the successful mission card next to the map. You receive the
reward (bonus) indicated next to Succeed.* In addition, the icons on

9
 +1 if in an OPFOR-controlled installation. Terrain and installation may
additionally affect initiative; consult those charts.
3. Higher initiative fires first; your team fires first if tied. Total the combat
factor of units, vehicles, and gear (a number on a gear is its combat
factor); roll that number of dice. 5's and 6's are hits: flip a unit (crash),
eliminate an already flipped unit, or eliminate a gear.
4. Other side fires (after hits have been applied).
5. Now you may choose to breakoff combat. Roll 1d6; success if <= the
highest movement factor of your units (+1 to movement factor if you
have anywhere). Roll of 6 is always failure. On success, place team in
a random adjacent hex; combat ends and you lose the combat.
6. If all of one side is eliminated or there is a successful breakoff, combat
ends. Otherwise return to step 1.
7. After combat ends, return OPFOR units to cup. Eliminated team units
are placed in the Permanently Eliminated Units box and cannot be
recruited until the next mission; eliminated gear is placed in the
Friendly Recruit Pool and can be recruited again. Exception: an
eliminated ExoHuman is returned to the Friendly Special Units Available
box and can be recruited again.

3. Attempt an action
Choose an action from the Special Actions Table to attempt (except Sniper,
Mission Challenge, and Weapons Systems). In each case, roll dice equal to the
number of icons you have associated with the ability (see "Ability tests",
above). In the case of Build TAZ and Quantum, you need to make individual
tests for each icon, and succeed on all of them.

6
Apply the Positive result for each success rolled (5 or 6). Exception: NET Run
and Quantum -- if you have at least one success, choose a total of one of
the Positive results to apply.

If you rolled at least one 1, apply the Burnout result, but only once no matter
how many 1's rolled. Exception: Enhanced Move -- reduce next movement
by the number of 1's rolled.

● NET Run. This is a multipurpose action. If you have at least one

success, choose one:
○ Discover mission parameters - flip mission card face up, and place
Mission Nexus marker in a random location (roll 2d6).
○ Take control of the installation - flip installation marker. You now
gain the ability shown by the icon shown.
○ Increase your NET Level by one, further penetrating the NET,
helping your initiative and your mission rolls but also raising the
enemy's awareness of you, which will pit you against more hostile
forces during combat.
If your NET Level is at 6, you may look at all the cards in the
event deck (without changing order).
○ Gain 1 Op -- take the top card from the reserve deck and put it on
the bottom of the event deck, effectively giving you another turn to
complete the mission.
● Recruit. Gain 1 TP (recruiting point) for each success, and spend TPs
to recruit a single unit or gear. Recruiting happens at friendly
installations or the TAZ, OPFOR Controlled Space Port or BioDome.
Vehicles cost 3 TP and can only be recruited at the Spaceport. The