The complete Nemesis board game and expansion buying guide

In Nemesis, you and your fellow crew mates are locked in a ship in deep space with a dangerous alien species on board. It’s a board game with incredibly exciting gameplay, fun narrative choices, and more than a few tense moments. However, there’s so much more to this top-rated tabletop title than it’s base game. In this guide, we’re reviewing all the available Nemesis editions and expansions to help you and your group get the best survival horror experience.

Where to start: Nemesis Base Game

There are two places where you can begin your journey in the Nemesis universe: the original base game and Nemesis Lockdown. Both are standalone games that utilize many of the same gameplay mechanics, and neither one is a bad choice for your first playthrough. Classic Nemesis, however, is perhaps slightly less complex. The original follows the mission to find Earth, which is a narrative that’s a little bit easier to follow. Both games have plenty of atmosphere, awesome miniatures, and interesting personal objectives cards that make it all too easy to betray your friends.

Nemesis Lockdown

Nemesis Lockdown is a standalone game set within the walls of a hidden base on Mars. The new alien species, the Night Stalkers, utilize a light and dark mechanic that’s absent from the original. The computers are more powerful and there are a few extra ways to escape the station and survive. The end game uses contingency plans rather than coordinates cards, and it’s a bit easier to avoid making noise when you move your character. You can’t go wrong with either Lockdown or the original Nemesis, and getting both isn’t a bad option either. Mixing and matching the characters from the two boxes is great fun and allows you to tinker with the game’s difficulty.

Nemesis Board Game Expansions

Once you have either the original base game or Lockdown in your collection, you can upgrade your experience with the game’s expansions. You can mix and match the added content with either version of the game, but if you have Nemesis: Lockdown and not the original, you should prioritize the Stretch Goals expansion instead of jumping into the other options first. More details on this box and our recommended buying order follow below.

1. Nemesis Lockdown Stretch Goals Expansion

Nemesis Lockdown Stretch Goals adds the Chytrids, a deadly new alien threat with completely different mechanics from the Night Stalkers. If you have Lockdown in your collection but not the original Nemesis, you’ll want to pick up this expansion first, as it adds new cards that make the classic game’s expansions compatible with Lockdown. If you instead have the base game only, you can choose any of the other three main expansions first.

2. Nemesis Aftermath Expansion

Five new characters, the shuttle board addition, and the epilogue game mode await you in the Nemesis Aftermath expansion. The epilogue adds about an hour to the end of a normal game of Nemesis, and allows you to pick up a different character whose goal is to investigate what happened aboard the ship. It’s a great way to bring players who were eliminated early on back into the game.

3. Nemesis Carnomorph Expansion

The Carnomorph expansion adds a brand new monster that replaces the intruders from the base game, along with a handful of new event cards. This new terror focuses on mutations and the absorption of DNA. While it might start out looking innocuous, it can quickly evolve into a new form that’s more deadly than anything you’ve come across so far. The new Flesh Beast and Butcher miniatures are particularly satisfying to paint and play with.

4. Nemesis Void Seeders Expansion

In the Void Seeders expansion, you’ll have to manage your character’s sanity as well as their health bar. That’s because the new monster in this box, the signature Void Seeders, can infect both your mind and body. There’s slightly less combat than the Carnomorph expansion, but this might actually be preferable for certain players. This time around you’ll also have to manage the adverse effects of the new panic deck instead.

5. Nemesis Terrain Expansion

If you love the miniatures in Nemesis and want to upgrade the visual appeal of your board game, the Terrain Expansion is a solid choice. This box doesn’t add anything new to the mechanics of the game, and thus it’s not really considered one of the game’s main expansions. However, it replaces many of the plainer cardboard components with more durable plastic ones. If you play Nemesis a lot or you enjoy collecting miniatures, it’s worth getting.

6. Nemesis Kings Miniatures

If you already own all the main Nemesis expansions and want to complete your collection, there are two additional miniatures packs you can pick up. The first of these is the Nemesis Kings pack, which adds five additional figures that replace the base game, Void Seeder, and Carnomorph king and queen intruders. There are also a few art cards included that match the new miniatures.

7. Nemesis Space Cats Miniatures

The Space Cats Miniatures kit is a cosmetic upgrade for Nemesis that replaces some of the aliens with cats. While it’s not a necessity for enjoying the game, it’s definitely a fun, goofy twist. Like the Kings pack, it includes a few neat art cards that match the figures, which makes for the perfect collector’s item. There’s also a Lockdown Space Cats miniatures add on for players with that version of the game.