An Activation normally consists of selecting a Hero or Alien Unit and taking up to two Actions with it. Each Hero and each Alien Unit can only be activated once during a Round, unless some special ability says otherwise.
When a Hero, Alien Unit or Blip Token is Activated, discard any unused Overwatch token it may have, then take two Actions. The actions available are Move, Sprint, Melee Attack, Shoot Attack, Interact, Overwatch, and for Blip Tokens: Flip Blip Token.
Note: an out-of-turn Activation still counts towards the once-per-turn limit, but a triggered Action that happens without an Activation does not. Consequently, for example, the Overmind Player's Interruption ability, which lets it activate one Alien Unit during the Hero Players's Turn, means the Alien Unit Activated by that ability can't be Activated next time it becomes the Overmind Player's Turn; but Overwatch attacks and Alien Behaviour Actions don't count as Activations.
Action
On a Model's or Alien Unit's Turn, it may perform two Actions, which must be different (that is, not two of the same Action).
The available Actions are:
- MOVE. Move a number of Squares up to the Model/Unit's Movement Value. Diagonal movement is allowed in open terrain, but only if both of the two Squares that are bypassed by the movement are open. If there are walls or obstacles blocking either, the Model/Unit must move orthagonally.
- SPRINT. The Sprint Action is a variant of the Move Action, which uses half the Movement Value. It exists for situations when the MOVE action has already been used, but the Model/Unit has nothing better to do.
- MELEE ATTACK. Can normally only be performed against Adjacent targets. Roll as many Combat dice as indicated by the Model/Unit's Melee attribute, and resolve the damage.
- SHOOT ATTACK. Can normally only be performed against non-Adjacent targets, and only if there is Line of Sight between the attacker and the target. Units capable of Shoot Attacks usually have two different combat values depending on whether the attack range is short or long. If the unit is within short range, the short range Combat Value must be used, and otherwise, if the unit is within long range, the long range Combat Value must be used. Roll as many Combat dice as indicated by the applicable Combat Value, and resolve the damage.
- INTERACT. The Interact action provides a way for Heroes and Alien Units to interact with various things in the environment. It has no basic effect; it only does something if something in the environment provides an ability for using an Interact Action.
- OVERWATCH. This places the Model/Unit in Overwatch mode, at the ready to make a Shoot attack against any enemy unit that moves to a Square where it is possible to perform an attack. OVERWATCH can use either both the Model/Unit's Actions to enter full-powered Overwatch mode, or just the Model/Unit's second Action to enter a weaker Overwatch mode. Place an Overwatch token next to Model that is in Overwatch mode; the tokens are double sided, so use the red side with a plus in the centre for the full-powered Overwatch, and the blue side without a plus in the centre for the weaker Overwatch.
- PSYCHIC ATTACKS. Alien Units with "psychic" or "psy" in their ability names or descriptions are able to perform Psychic Attacks. Psychic Attacks don't require Line of Sight, and can't be defended against with the normal Defence/Shield Value, but otherwise work similarly to regular Melee or Shoot attacks.
The Alien Units have an extra action available:
- FLIP BLIP TOKEN. If the Alien Unit being moved is still a Blip Token, it can be flipped up and revealed as an action, and may then perform its Alien Behaviour Action.