Nemesis at Wrexhammer Games Day: A Tense Battle for Survival in Deep Space

Wrexhammer Games Day – Saturday 17th May

Games Day didn’t go quite as planned. Originally, we were set to play at Wrexham Lager Club, but due to a last-minute mix-up, we found ourselves without a venue. Thankfully, our friends at 4th Planet Games, Red Dragon's Vault, and TableTaps, came to the rescue, offering their gaming spaces—proving once again that the local gaming community is as resourceful as it is welcoming.

Among the games played on the day was Nemesis—a tense, semi-cooperative survival horror game set aboard a spaceship teetering on the brink of disaster. The players were: myself, Richard Dodd, and Gavin Hughes. The premise of Nemesis is straight out of a sci-fi horror movie:

You and your crew-mates have just awoken from hyper-sleep on a deep-space vessel, only to discover that something has gone terribly wrong. The ship’s systems are malfunctioning, strange noises echo through the halls—and it quickly becomes clear you’re not alone. Alien creatures (called Intruders) have infested the ship, and survival is anything but guaranteed.

What are the Players Working Towards?

Each player in Nemesis has two secret objectives—one corporate and one personal. Early in the game, they will be forced to choose just one to pursue. These objectives can be cooperative, competitive, or outright murderous. For example:

• Send a signal and ensure the ship reaches Earth.

• Make sure a specific crew-mate doesn’t survive.

• Discover the weaknesses of the Intruders.
  

At the same time, players must manage basic survival:

• Fix or check the ship's engines.

• Set the destination (hopefully Earth).

• Avoid being infected or killed by the Intruders.

• Escape the ship, if needed, using the escape pods or hibernation chambers.
  

Cooperation… with a Knife Behind Your Back

While the game often starts out semi-cooperative—with everyone working together to fix the ship or fight aliens—trust erodes quickly. Since objectives are hidden and survival options limited, players have to second-guess each other constantly. It’s entirely possible (and common) for players to sabotage one another, trap someone in a burning room, or launch an escape pod while others are screaming for help.

In short, Nemesis is a game about surviving, completing your objective, and hoping nobody else’s goal involves your untimely death.

Character Drafting: Nobody Wants to be the Scout?

When it came time to choose characters, I was left with two options—the Scout or the Pilot—after both had been rejected by the other players. Rich, picked the Soldier, keen on his brute-force potential, while Gav, opted for the Mechanic, no doubt drawn to their versatility and repair skills.

Between the Pilot and the Scout, I went with the Pilot, largely because her opportunities to open and close doors sounded like they could come in clutch in a game where alien intrusions are constant threats. My Secret Mission Both my corporate and personal secret missions, required me to Send the Signal, so finding the Comms Room was a must. It was then a choice between “all of the rooms on the ship must be explored”, or “collect an alien egg, and survive in an Escape Pod, or the Hibernatorium”. I opted for the latter. I chose this as I wasn't sure that we would get through all of the rooms.

My Secret Objective. One card to rule them all.

Intrigue, Suspicion, and Screaming in the Corridors

As always with Nemesis, it wasn’t long before things spiralled into paranoia. The ship’s engines needed checking, strange noises echoed through the corridors, and of course—the Intruders showed up at the worst possible moments.

The Queen has arrived and she is NOT happy!

Rich’s Soldier played his role to full effect, blasting anything that moved, while Gav’s Mechanic quietly toiled away fixing malfunctions and generally looking suspicious around the ship's engine bays.

Who Lived? Who Died? Who Completed Their Objective?

As anyone who's played Nemesis knows, survival is never guaranteed, and alliances are paper-thin. The real tension came from trying to deduce each other’s hidden objectives. Were we really working together—or just biding time before blasting someone out of an airlock? Unfortunately, I got slimed in the very first round, which meant that I was generating additional noise as I glooped and slipped around the ships corridors. I ended up dying first, accumulating too many serious wounds and getting locked in combat, meaning that I could not use many of the cards in my hand.

"So, just to be absolutely clear, my options are to either stay in the Comms Room, which is currently on fire, or to move to the ER, where there's an alien waiting for me?"

Gav, came closest to completing his mission, having sabotaged the ship's engines and making his way towards an escape pod. Unfortunately for him, there was a particularly resilient intruder blocking his path and when he defeated it, another came to take its place!

Rich, lasted the longest, but was ultimately unable to research the Intruders' weaknesses in the lab before succumbing to his injuries.

Final Thoughts

Despite the last-minute venue change, the Nemesis session was a highlight of the day. Thanks to our fantastic local games stores for saving the event and to Rich, and Gav, for a tense, hilarious, game. Nemesis, is a brilliant pick for fans of theme-heavy, high-stakes gaming. Just don’t trust anyone—especially the Mechanic!