Project: ELITE

To set up Project: ELITE, first choose one side of the map board and place it in the center of the table. Each player then selects a hero, taking their unique dashboard and corresponding figurine. For a four-player game, four heroes are chosen, ideally complementing each other's unique skills. Place the hero's damage marker on the leftmost slot of their dashboard's damage track and their figurine on its colored base in the Elite starting area. Each player also takes a player aid card, four action dice, and three hit dice. Next, deal starting weapons by randomly selecting basic weapon cards equal to the number of players plus two. Players collectively choose one weapon each, placing it on their hero dashboard. Return unused weapons to the box. Place the three swarm stat cards face-up near the board. Shuffle the eight boss spawn cards and twelve 'All Clear' cards together to form the boss spawn deck, placing it face-down. Separate and shuffle the search, alien tech, and swarm spawn cards into three distinct decks, placing them face-down near the map. Choose a mission and difficulty level from the rulebook, then place the specified mission tokens and search tokens on the map according to the mission's setup instructions. Finally, place all alien and boss figures next to the board and assign one player as the timekeeper, giving them the electronic timer.

The objective in Project: ELITE is to win cooperatively by successfully completing the specific mission objective outlined in the chosen mission scenario. Additionally, all heroes must be together in the Elite starting area at the end of the round for the victory condition to be met. If these conditions are not met, or if certain defeat conditions occur, the players lose the game.

Each round in Project: ELITE consists of five phases: the Event Phase, Alien Spawning Phase, Action Phase, Alien Activation Phase, and End of Round Phase. The Event Phase begins by revealing the leftmost event card on the event track, which can have no effect, an immediate effect (like spawning additional bosses or swarms, or moving aliens), or an ongoing effect that requires players to allocate action dice to resolve. During the Alien Spawning Phase, new alien swarms and bosses are introduced to the map based on the number of players and difficulty, potentially pushing existing figures. The Action Phase is a real-time segment where players roll their action dice simultaneously for a set duration (usually two minutes), making individual decisions to move their heroes, search for items, activate weapons, or resolve ongoing events. The Alien Activation Phase follows, where all aliens on the map perform their abilities (attacking adjacent heroes or those within range) and then move according to their movement values and paths. Finally, the End of Round Phase involves checking for victory or defeat conditions, retrieving action dice, and resetting search tokens.

Project: ELITE is a fully cooperative game, meaning there is no individual or team scoring. Players either collectively achieve victory by completing the mission objectives and having all heroes in the Elite starting area, or they collectively face defeat if any hero is eliminated, an alien figure enters the Elite starting area, or the game reaches the end of the eighth round without the mission being accomplished.

The game can end in one of several ways. Players are defeated immediately if any hero loses all of their lives, or if any alien figure moves into the Elite starting area. If the eighth and final game round ends and the mission's objective has not been successfully completed, the players also suffer a defeat. Conversely, players achieve victory if they successfully complete the mission objective and all heroes are together in the Elite starting area at the end of a round.