Nemesis · Board game rules
Which cards count for Surprise Attacks?
Quick answer
Only Action cards and Contamination cards count toward the hand size for surprise attacks; Quest Object cards do not.
Details
When resolving a surprise attack during an encounter, you compare the number on the drawn Intrus token with the number of cards you have in hand. [p.18 — Rencontre] The rulebook specifies that this comparison uses "cartes Action et Contamination" (Action cards and Contamination cards). [p.18 — Rencontre]
Quest Object cards are placed horizontally next to your player board and are not considered part of your hand until they are activated. [p.22 — Objets de quête] Therefore, they do not count toward the hand size calculation for surprise attacks.
Regular Object cards that you hold in your inventory also do not count—only the cards physically in your hand (Action cards and Contamination cards) matter for this calculation.