Outbreak Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
  • Aim of the Game
  • Component Reference
• Prologue
• Setup
• Building the Horde Deck
• Playing the Game
• Opening Phase
  • Doom Cards
  • Day Tracker
  • Contamination
  • No Hordes to Reveal
  • The Settlers
  • Open Space
  • The Helpless
• Survivor Phase
  • 1. Move
  • 2. Develop
  • 3. Trade
  • 4a. Attack
    • Attack Roll
    • Resources
    • Resource Die
    • Resource Tokens
    • Declaring & Splitting Attacks
    • Successful & Failed Attacks
  • Horde Fallout
  • Experience (Exp)
• Fortune Cards
  • Schematics
• Zombie Phase
  • Step 1: Horde Movement
  • Overrun Settlements
  • Defending Survivor
  • Defence Roll
  • Trap Tokens
  • Hordes & the Main Base
  • The Final Encounter
  • Losing & Winning the Game
  • Difficulty & Game Time
• The Survivors
  • Survivor Profession & Favoured Resource
  • Health
  • Incapacitated & Reviving Survivors
  • Survivor Skills
  • Drop In/Out Play
  • The Doom Die
  • Simple Outbreak
• Survivor Settlement Aid
• FAQ
• Settlement Icon Key

Components

• 107 Zombies
• 13 Final Encounters
• 24 Settlements
• 36 Skill cards
• 70 Doom cards
• 70 Fortune cards
• 10 Survivors
• 12 Buildings
• 20 Zombie Meeples
• 10 Survivor Meeples
• 9 Resource Dice
• 1 Massive Outbreak Board
• 1 Doom Die
• 1 Icon Key
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Final Encounter Meeple
• 120 Outbreak Tokens (Resource, Traps, Day & Exp Tracker, Item, Develop, Power Cut, Schematic, Active/Turn Over, Settlers & Helpless, Fire, Health, Contamination)

Overview

Outbreak is a cooperative game in which one to eight players control a group of survivors, struggling to hold back the hordes of undead and protect the survivor city; ultimately facing the Final Encounter and hoping to survive the cannibal influenza outbreak.

Players start by constructing the survivor city around the main base. This safe area is now surrounded by zombie hordes whose goal is to reach the main base and eat all the survivors inside, overrunning settlements along the way. When a settlement is overrun, players can no longer request its support, so each turn players must attempt to destroy zombie hordes and prepare for the next wave of attacks.

This is a challenging game where cooperation is essential to surviving the Outbreak!

Aim of the Game

The Survivors goal is to overcome the Final Encounter, finish off any remaining Hordes to survive the Outbreak.

Component Reference

• Survivor Settlement hex: each settlement hex shows a settlement title and icon, a settlement skill category (the type of skills your Survivor can learn here), and one or two Settlement Aids that can be requested as an action. See the Icon Key for details.
• Zombie Horde hex: shows the Zombie Horde type, the horde movement track, the resources required to defeat it, the horde Contamination (an effect applied to the game immediately), the horde Fallout (an effect applied to the Survivor who destroys it), and the horde level and experience reward.
• Resource Dice are used in Attack and Defence.
• Day Tracker tracks the day.
• Doom Tracker: Doom cards are added whenever a Settlement is overrun.
• Experience Tracker: defeating Hordes grants experience.
• Doom, Fortune and Skill cards form the decks.
• Survivor card: shows movement each day, Survivor Health, starting and maximum Fortune cards, the total Resource tokens your Survivor can carry, the Survivor Profession skill, the Favoured Resource (Survivors start the game with 2 Favoured Resource tokens), the Develop actions, and the maximum Skill cards.

Prologue

People have been eating each other, they call it Cannibal Influenza or 'the Zombie flu', a super virus, twice as contagious as the Black Death, in the first month 20% of the world's population has been infected. Isolated human populations have managed to survive but these human settlements are under threat from the millions of roaming Zombie hordes. You are one of those survivors...

Setup

Start by placing the Main Base on any hex within the blue border on the Outbreak game board; now build the Survivor City around it. To build the Survivor City consult the Survivor Settlements Table to find the number of Survivor settlements to play with. The number of Survivor settlements used each game depends on the number of players.

Survivor Settlements Table
Number of players	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Number Survivors each player controls	4	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Number of Survivor Settlements	8	8	12

Example: In a 4-player game, 8 Survivor settlements would be picked at random.

Draw all the Survivor Settlements at random. Think carefully about their placement. The first 6 settlements placed, must be adjacent to the Main Base, surrounding it completely, the remaining settlements can now be placed on any open edge as long as they have two points of contact with another settlement within the red border on the Outbreak game board.

The Survivor City is now complete.

Each player selects a Survivor (or Survivors, depending on the number of players, players may control more than one Survivor), collects the number of Fortune cards (p13) indicated on their Survivor card (p16), and take 2 favoured Resource tokens. Players place the pawn of their Survivor colour on the Main Base along with one Helpless token (p9).

Take all the remaining Resource tokens and put them into the Store (the area where tokens are kept). When Resources are used in the game, they are taken from and returned here. If there are no tokens left of a particular Resource, the Store is considered to be empty. Place all the Fortune, Doom and Survivor Skill cards in separate decks on the board (in their designated areas) along with the Day & Exp (Experience points) tracker tokens.

Building the Horde Deck

Next we build the Horde deck that players will be facing during the Outbreak! Separate and shuffle all the Hordes into piles by level; levels 1 to 6 and separate the Final Encounters (p15).

Now draw a number of Hordes following the table below:

Horde Deck Table — Number of Level Hordes to add when building a Horde deck

Game Time	Difficulty	Lv1	Lv2	Lv3	Lv4	Lv5	Lv6	Final Encounter
2h	Normal*	20	15	10	5	2	2	1 (Lv1)
2h	Hard	12	12	12	12	3	3	1 (Lv1)
3h+	Very Hard	17	20	20

(This table is only a guide, feel free to play with any number of Hordes in a deck)

Shuffle all the drawn Hordes together. Now pick 8 random Hordes from this deck and shuffle in 1 randomly selected Lv1 Final Encounter. Add these 9 Hordes to the bottom of the newly created Horde deck. Taking from the top of this new Horde deck, surround the Survivor City completely placing the Hordes facedown, so they are hidden until they are revealed each Opening Phase.

Example: A Normal* difficulty game would consist of: 20 Hordes from lv1, 15 from lv2, 10 from lv3, 5 from lv4, 2 from lv5, 2 from lv6 and one Lv1 Final Encounter, hidden in the last 8 hexes of the Horde Deck.

Playing the Game

Survivors can take their turns in any order. A Survivor must complete their turn before another Survivor can begin theirs. This is a fully cooperative game; players collectively decide which Survivors activate and in what order, regardless of who is controlling them.

Each day of the game consists of 3 Phases, played in this order:

1. Opening Phase
2. Survivor Phase
3. Zombie Phase

Opening Phase

Step 1: Reveal Doom (Ignore this step on the first day of the game, go to Step 2).

Reveal any Doom cards collected on the Drawn Doom Tracker and move them down to the Active Doom Tracker.

Doom Cards

Doom cards are negative effects that hamper the player's progress during the Outbreak. A Doom card is drawn whenever a Survivor settlement is Overrun or upon defeating certain Hordes.

A maximum of 3 Doom cards can be added to the Drawn Doom Tracker each day, for every Doom card that can't be added, players lose 3 Exp from the Experience Pool (If there is no Exp in pool, nothing happens).

Doom cards drawn are kept facedown, on the Doom card tracker, until the Opening Phase, where they move to the Active Doom Tracker.

At the end of a Day, any Active Doom cards are discarded (and place on the discard deck). Doom cards do not affect a Survivors Fortune card hand size.

Step 2: Move the Day Tracker.

Take one of the Day Tracker Tokens and place it on the Day 0 (0) hexagon, on the Day Tracker, at the start of the game. In the first Opening Phase it will move to Day 1 (1).

Each Opening Phase, move the Day Tracker along one hex.

Day Tracker

In each Opening Phase, the Day Tracker Token is moved, when the Survivors reach day 10, take the Day Tracker Token and return it to the 0 hex and place the second Day Tracker Token on the 10s hex below, this way Survivors can track days 1 to 39, letting them know how long they have survived the Outbreak.

Along the Day Tracker, events will occur, Doom Cards are drawn, Settlers will appear at the Main Base and Survivors can gain Fortune Cards. When the Survivors reach Day 10, they must also reveal +1 Horde each day, at Day 20+2 and at Day 30+3.

Step 3: Reveal Hordes

Reveal 1 Horde for each Survivor. Turn over a facedown Horde.

Players must reveal a Horde for each Survivor from any of the Hordes surrounding the Survivor City. E.g., 4 Survivors; 4 Hordes are revealed in each Opening Phase. To reveal a Horde, simply turn over a Horde and add a Zombie meeple.

Players still reveal Hordes for Incapacitated Survivors who are not yet Revived (p16).

A revealed Horde meeple begins at the Outbreak position.

Outbreak: place a green Zombie meeple on the Outbreak icon.

Contamination

Certain Hordes enter the game with a Contamination. Contaminations are found on the left-hand side of the hex. A Contamination is a negative effect applied to the game immediately (See Contamination & Fallout Key).

No Hordes to Reveal

In some circumstances there may be no Hordes left, surrounding the Survivor City to reveal in 'Step 3: Reveal Hordes', as all the Hordes are already revealed. When this happens, simply draw and reveal a new Horde from the top of the Horde deck, then add it to any settlement edge.

Step 4: Move Settlers & Helpless

The Settlers

Settlers (Settler tokens) are groups of people needed to construct and populate new locations.

When the Survivors reach Day 3 on the Day Tracker, the first Settlers appears at the Main Base. If the Main Base is Overrun (p15), no Settlers appear.

Each Opening Phase, the Settlers (Settler token) can be moved one Settlement. When the Settler moves onto an Open Space (p9), they construct a New Survivor Settlement.

Players simply place a New Survivor Settlement of their choice in the Open Space; the Settler Token is then removed from play, and the new Settlement is complete.

Whenever a new Settlement is complete, each Survivor gains a Fortune Card.

If the Settlers are alone on a Settlement that is Overrun by a Horde, they are defeated and removed. If the Settlers share a Settlement with a Survivor when it gets Overrun, the Settlers are pushed back to another adjacent free Settlement, as the Survivor protects their retreat.

The Settlers are classed as a Survivor regarding card effects, they can be affected by Doom cards, but they can't take Wounds, they are affected by Contamination and Fire tokens.

Open Space

Open Spaces are revealed when Survivors defeat Hordes. Only Settlers can enter Open Spaces, these are locations that have been cleared of Hordes, but have not yet been populated or built on.

The Helpless

The Helpless (Helpless token) represents all the young, old, and infirm, who are unable to fight in the Outbreak. The Survivors have sworn to protect these people and must do so at all costs.

• The game begins with one Helpless token on the Main Base.
• Each Opening Phase, the Helpless can be moved one Settlement.
• If the Helpless are alone on a settlement that gets Overrun, the Helpless are immediately defeated and the game is over, as all Survivors lose the will to carry on fighting.
• If the Helpless share a settlement with another Survivor when it's Overrun, the Helpless are pushed back to another adjacent free settlement, as the Survivor covers the Helpless retreat.
• The Helpless are classed as a Survivor regarding card effects, they can be affected by Doom cards, but they can't take Wounds.
• The Helpless are affected by Contamination and Fire effects.

Step 5: Replenish Hordes

Any empty spaces (edges without Hordes) surrounding the Survivor City are filled with new Hordes from the Horde deck. When the Horde deck is empty, replenishment stops.

Survivor Phase

Survivors can perform each of these 4 actions once: 1: Move. 2: Develop. 3: Trade. 4: Attack OR Request Settlement Aid OR Search. (Fortune Cards can be played at any time during a day)

1. Move

It costs one movement to move one Settlement in any direction. Movement can be split, a Survivor with a movement of 2 can move 1 Settlement, attack and move 1 again. Survivors cannot move onto or through Overrun settlements.

Optional: Active Tracker Tokens. When playing solo, use these tokens to track which Survivors you have activated each day.

2. Develop

As a Develop action Survivors can spend experience to build Garrisons, Watchtowers, learn new Skills, revive Incapacitated Survivors and more.

• Bulwark: Place a Bulwark token at any location. When a settlement with a Bulwark is Overrun, remove the Bulwark token instead. Multiple Bulwarks are allowed each settlement.

• Restore Settlement: Remove all Power Cut, Contamination or Fire tokens from the Survivors current Settlement.

• Garrisons: Place a Garrison at any location. Multiple Garrisons can be built on the same settlement. Garrisons are removed after use and if Overrun.

  A Garrison has 3 different functions:

  • A lone Garrison grants a 2 Resource dice Auto Defence Roll against an attacking Horde. An Auto Defence Roll is a defence roll made when no Survivors are present at the Settlement.
  • It adds 1 additional Resource die to the Defence Roll of a Defending Survivor (p14).
  • It adds 1 additional Resource die to the Attack Roll of an Attacking Survivor (p11).

• Watchtowers: Place a Watchtower at any location; it adds +1 Resource die to a Defence Roll. Watchtower Survey: allows players to look at any adjacent facedown Hordes, before revealing Hordes in the Opening Phase, and generates 1 Exp each Opening Phase. Only one Watchtower per settlement, the Watchtower is removed if the settlement is Overrun. A Watchtower does not grant an Auto Defence Roll.

• Build Schematic: Item Schematics can be built by visiting named Settlements (see Schematics p13).

• Learn First Survivor Skill: Each survivor settlement is marked with a different skill class, only skills from that class can be learnt at that settlement (see Survivor Skills p16).

3. Trade

A Survivor can make one Trade action in the Survivor Phase. They can give, exchange or take any amount of Resource tokens or Fortune cards (including Schematics) with other Survivors on the same Settlement.

4a. Attack

Attack Roll

A Survivor can only make an attack (Attack Roll) against adjacent revealed Hordes. To attempt an attack, a Survivor rolls 3 Resource dice. To succeed in destroying a Horde they must roll matching Resources equal to the Hordes resistance. The Skull face of the die can represent any Resource the player chooses.

Attack Example: The Diplomat makes an attack on the adjacent Zombie Horde. They roll 3 Resource dice, rolling 1 Ammo icon they defeat the Horde.

Resources

There are five different Resources in Outbreak. These represent the different Resources Survivors need to help fight the Zombie hordes. Survivors can collect additional Resources from Settlements and every time they fight, they roll Resource dice to defeat Hordes. Note: Players are allowed to roll more dice than provided by the game. If players are required to roll more dice than provided, simply reroll a die and use resource tokens to represent current rolls.

Resource Die

The Resource die has six faces showing the five Resources and the Skull.

1. Gasoline. Gas is used to burn Zombies and power Survivor's machines.
2. Barricades. Barricades provide essential protection from roaming hordes.
3. Ammo. Guns aren't any use without it.
4. Supplies. Food, water, toilet roll, all things crucial for survival in an apocalypse.
5. Explosives. They blow things up.

The Skull face is wild and can represent any one Resource.

Warning: some Hordes require players to roll skulls when attempting to defeat them.

Resource Tokens

Resource tokens collected, can be combined with Attack or Defence rolls to equal a Hordes resistance. Used Resource tokens are returned to the Store. Attacking or Defending Survivors may also use Resource tokens of one or more Survivors on the same Settlement.

Declaring & Splitting Attacks

A Survivor may roll their Attack action and declare the target (or targets) after the roll. Attacks can be split, allowing a single Survivor to attack multiple adjacent Hordes. A Survivor makes an Attack roll, allocating Resource dice results to multiple adjacent Hordes, to which Resource tokens can also be added independently. Survivors cannot combine attacks together. Defence Rolls (p14) cannot be split and only target the attacking Horde.

Successful & Failed Attacks

If the attack is successful, the Horde (and zombie meeple) are removed and any Fallout effect (p12) takes place immediately. For each Level of Horde defeated, add equivalent Exp (p12) to the Exp tracker. If the attack fails, nothing happens.

Horde Fallout

Certain Hordes come with Fallout; an effect that is applied to the Survivor who destroys them. The Fallout effect; bottom right.

Fallout; the Survivor who defeats this Horde, would collect a Fortune card.

Fallout effects only apply to a successful Survivor Attack or Defence roll. If a Horde is removed from play via a non-survivor skill or action, nothing happens.

Fallout effects take place at the end of the Survivor's entire attack, so Resources gained from a Fallout effect cannot be used in the same Attack action.

Experience (Exp)

Whenever a Horde is defeated, add 1 Exp for each level of the Horde to the Experience Tracker (e.g. defeat a Lv4 Horde, add 4 Exp to the tracker). Exp can be spent to learn new Skills, build Watchtowers, Bulwarks, revive Incapacitated Survivors and more.

Losing Exp

Every time a Doom card can't be added to the Drawn Doom Tracker (because it's full) players lose 3 Exp from the Experience Tracker (If there is no Exp in pool, nothing happens).

Experience Tracker

Exp is pooled collectively and tracked on the Experience Tracker. As a Develop action, Exp can be spent freely by a Survivor during their turn. Exp cannot be spent if the Main Base is Overrun. Remember: If there is no Exp in the Experience Tracker, Incapacitated Survivors cannot be revived!

4b. Request Settlement Aid

Survivors can request the aid of a Settlement they currently occupy. Settlements have either one or two sources of aid but only one can be utilised per Survivor turn. See the Settlement Icon Key reference sheet and Survivor Settlement Aid section (p18) for more details.

Settlement Aid cannot be used by the Helpless or Settlers (but they can be affected by aid actions).

Many settlement Aid effects are Passive, effects that always apply; these don't require an action to be used by a Survivor. The Passive effect icon is shown on the settlement.

4c. Search

A Survivor can search their current Settlement. They simply draw a Fortune card, and add it to their hand. A Survivor can hold Fortune cards up to their hand limit, they are free to draw cards over their hard limit, but must discard cards after any exchanges.

Fortune Cards

Fortune cards have positive effects that help the Survivors. Any number of Fortune cards can be played at any time as free actions. Fortune cards are kept in a Survivor's hand (up to their hand size), and used at any point in a day (yes, even in the Zombie Phase). Fortune cards are discarded after use (place them on the discard deck). At the start of a game, each Survivor begins with the number of Fortune cards (picked at random), equal to the hand size limit shown on their Survivor card. Fortune cards collected over the hand size limit, must be discarded after any exchanges.

• Fortune card effects generally overrule other card effects, such as Doom card effects. Occasionally players will see (Skills No) on Doom cards, these effects cannot be overruled.

Survivor Fortune card hand size.

Schematics

Fortune cards marked with the spanner and driver icon are special item Schematics. These Schematics can be built by visiting named settlements and spending Exp.

Once built, Schematic Fortune cards are not discarded after use, but kept in the hand of the Survivor (Fortune card hand size limits still apply). The Schematic effects apply as long as the Survivor holds the card. Only one Survivor can use a built Schematic card each day.

Place a Built token on a completed Schematic.

Example Schematic card: The Blood Drinker Machete Schematic. To build visit: Desert Plains. BD Machete: For every Skull you roll in Attack or Defence, roll +1 Resource die.

Zombie Phase

Horde Movement: Horde meeples move along this path: From Outbreak to Swell to Overrun, towards the Main Base.

• Outbreak: When a Horde is revealed place a Zombie meeple on the Outbreak icon.
• Swell: In the Zombie Phase move the Zombie meeple from the Outbreak icon to the Swell icon.
• Overrun: In the following Zombie Phase, move the Horde hex on top of an adjacent Settlement, as it Overruns. The zombie meeple on the Swell icon is reset back to the Outbreak position, ready to begin its movement from this position, the following day.

Hordes move towards the Main Base. Hordes will take the shortest route to the Main Base, unless the route is already Overrun by another Horde. When there are two routes of equal distance, or an already Overrun settlement, the players can choose where the Hordes will move (must still be towards the Main Base). If all Horde routes are blocked, Hordes closer to the Main Base are pushed forwards; this can have a domino effect, so watch out!

In this example (right), the Looter (blue arrow) has already Overrun a Survivor settlement (moving towards the Main Base), as this settlement is already Overrun, the Zombie Horde above it will Overrun the Command Centre (orange arrow). If the Command Centre were also Overrun, the Zombie Horde could push the Looter forwards, Overrunning the Main Base.

Step 1: Horde Movement

Hordes move by level, starting with all Level 1 through to all level 6 Hordes. When there are Hordes of the same level moving, players chose which individual Hordes move first. After a Horde has Overrun a settlement, its attached meeple is reset back to its starting position.

Once a Horde has been moved, it cannot be taken back.

Optional: Tracking Horde Movement. After moving a Zombie meeple, players can choose to lay the meeple down so you know it's been moved that day, this way players won't lose track of which ones have and haven't been moved. Remember to stand them back up at the beginning of the next Zombie phase.

Overrun Settlements

Survivors that are on a Settlement at the time it is Overrun are pushed to an adjacent free (not Overrun) Settlement and then take 1 Wound token. If there are no adjacent free Settlements, move to the closest free Settlement. Incapacitated Survivors are also pushed to an adjacent free Settlement but don't take any more Wounds (see Incapacitated & Reviving Survivors, p16).

Survivors cannot enter Overrun Settlements, nor can they be moved through. Players must add one Doom card to the Drawn Doom Tracker whenever a Survivor Settlement is Overrun. Hordes pass through Settlements on the way to the Main Base, so previously Overrun Settlements are not removed, and can be used by Survivors as soon as they are clear of a Horde.

Defending Survivor

A Survivor on a settlement that is being Overrun is classed as a Defending Survivor and they get to make a Defence Roll. Only one Defence Roll can be made per Survivor Settlement, per Day.

Defence Roll

A Defence Roll is the same as an Attack Roll, except it is made when a Horde is attempting to Overrun a Settlement, during the Zombie Phase. The Defending Survivor rolls 3 Resource dice, to which they may add Resource tokens. To succeed in destroying the Horde the Survivor must match Resources equal to the Hordes resistance, again the Skull face of the die represents any one Resource.

If a Defence roll fails, the Settlement is Overrun, the Survivor is pushed to an adjacent free Settlement and takes 1 Wound token.

Garrisons, Watchtowers and other Develop buildings can add additional Resource die to the Defence Roll of a Defending Survivor, when used.

Defence Rolls cannot be split and cannot affect multiple attacking Hordes. E.g. if a Settlement is being Overrun by 2 separate Hordes, one Survivor can make a Defence Roll against the first Horde attack, and even if they are successful, the second Horde attack would Overrun unopposed.

Auto Defence Roll - An Auto defence Roll is a Defence Roll made when no Survivors are present at the Settlement, only triggered by a Garrison or a Trap Token.

Trap Tokens

Trap tokens can be collected from certain Settlements and placed on a Settlement the Survivor currently occupies. Trap tokens grant a three Resource dice Auto Defence Roll or +3 Resource dice to a Survivors Defence roll. Trap tokens are removed after use.

Note: the source text reads "Defence tokens" in this paragraph; the tokens are the Trap tokens described by the heading and the Trap token icons, so "Trap tokens" is used here.

Hordes & the Main Base

Survivors cannot enter the Main Base if it's Overrun. Multiple Hordes can stack on top of the Main Base (remove Zombie meeples). Survivors must defeat the top Horde on the stack before they can attack any below it. Any associated Horde Contaminations are still in effect. Warning: When the Main Base is Overrun, Survivors cannot spend Exp to Revive other Survivors or learn new Skills!

Step 4: Final Encounter Moves

If revealed, the Final Encounter moves.

The game comes with 7 Lv1 Final Encounters and 6 much harder Lv2 Final Encounters.

The Final Encounter

A Final Encounter is shuffled in with the last 8 hexes of the Horde play deck (p6). The Final Encounters are the most challenging Hordes in the game. If the Final Encounter reaches the Main Base, the Survivors have failed to stop the Outbreak and the game is over!

When the Final Encounter is revealed, add the Final Encounter meeple, then play continues on as normal. The Final Encounter, like the Hordes, moves towards the Main Base. Players don't gain any Exp for killing a Final Encounter, just the glory! If playing with 2 Final Encounters (very hard difficulty), place the extra Final Encounter in the approximate middle of the Zombie Horde Deck.

Use the Final Encounter meeple when revealed.

Losing & Winning the Game

The game ends, when all Survivors have been Incapacitated, the Helpless have been defeated or the Final Encounter Overruns the Main Base. Only when the Final Encounter is destroyed and all Hordes that remain in play are defeated, has the game been won!

Difficulty & Game Time

The games difficulty can be adjusted by playing with higher or lower level Hordes. Adding Hordes to the deck will also add time to the game. See page 5 for the Horde Deck Table.

A 55 Horde deck takes around 2 hours to play through to completion. Warning: game times can vary depending on experience, play style and number of players.

The Survivors

The Survivors are renowned leaders who have emerged during the Outbreak. Each Survivor Settlement is made up of many individuals, the player Survivors organise these Settlements to attack and defend against the Hordes. There are ten Survivors in Outbreak; each one has a Survivor Profession, slightly different strengths and weaknesses and a Favoured Resource. Each of the ten Survivors has a matching coloured meeple to represent them in the game.

Survivor Card Breakdown: Movement each day; Survivor Health; Favoured Resource; Survivor Profession skill; Starting and maximum Fortune cards; Total Resource tokens they can carry; Maximum Skill cards. The card also carries a Round Summary (Opening Phase, Survivor Phase, Zombie Phase, Defence Roll) and the Develop actions.

Survivor Profession & Favoured Resource

A Survivor Profession can be used any time during a Survivors turn. Survivors start the game with 2 Favoured Resource tokens and can collect 1 Favoured Resource token from the Main Base as a Request Settlement Aid action.

Health

Health represents the damage a Survivor can take and represents the Survivors will to carry on fighting. Survivors have a total Health; this is the number of Wounds a Survivor can take before they are Incapacitated. When a Survivor takes Wounds, place a Wound Token in the Resource Token slots on their Survivor Card, thus reducing their total carrying capacity (until healed).

Wound Token.

Incapacitated & Reviving Survivors

When a Survivor has Wound tokens equal to their Health, they are classed as Incapacitated (lay their meeple down). Incapacitated Survivors lose any Resource tokens they still carry. Another Survivor can Revive an Incapacitated Survivor with a Develop action. The Survivor is revived at their location (stand their meeple back up), with no Wound Tokens. If an Incapacitated Survivor is on a settlement that is Overrun, they are pushed to an adjacent free Settlement.

Note: When a Survivor is Incapacitated from being Overrun, they are forced to an adjacent settlement before they are Wounded (so lay them down at the adjacent Settlement).

Survivor Skills

Settlements grant survivors access to skills in three different classes: Strength, Intelligence & Dexterity. Each Survivor Settlement is marked with a different skill class, only skills from that class can be learnt at that settlement.

To learn a new Skill, a Survivor uses a Develop action, spend Exp then randomly draws 3 Skill cards matching their current settlements skill class icon. They then choose one Skill to keep and return the others to the bottom of the Skills deck. Survivor Skills are explained on each Skill card.

At the Library Survivors can learn Intelligence class skills.

Survivor Skills can be activated in the Survivor Phase. Survivor skills marked with the linked-arrows icon can be active in the Survivor Phase and the Zombie Phase.

Survivor Skills Note: Skill effects generally overrule other card effects, such as Doom card effects. Skills No: Occasionally players will see (Skills No) on a card; this lets the player know this card effect cannot be overruled.

Drop In/Out Play

Outbreak is unique in that it allows for drop in/out game play. Players can start a game with 4 Survivors and if two more friends show up half way through the game, they can join in. Or alternately if people have to leave a game early, they can and the game can carry on.

New players select an available Survivor as per the starting rules. At the beginning of any Opening Phase, the new player(s) may enter the game, starting at the Main Base. In the Survivor Phase they can take their turn (all actions) as normal.

If a player wishes to drop out of play, at the end of any Survivor Phase, remove the Survivor from the game board. Any Resource tokens they still carry are lost and returned to the Store (but they can be traded to another Survivor during their turn).

Remember, for each extra Survivor that joins the game, another Horde must be revealed in the Opening Phase! Similarly, if a Survivor leaves, reveal one less.

The Doom Die

Sometimes this game gets hard, so to ease the players suffering, we introduce: 'The Doom Die'.

When the Active or Drawn Doom Tracker are full, any player may use The Doom Die. The die has 4 Skull icons, 1 Doom icon and 1 Blank (nothing happens) side. A Survivor can substitute 1 of their 3 normally rolled Resource die for The Doom Die, which increases their odds of rolling successfully......BUT, there is one catch, if the player rolls the Doom icon, they must add a Doom card to the Drawn Doom Tracker.

Simple Outbreak

Outbreak has been designed with board gamers in mind; it has a level of complexity to match. We understand the number of rules and content can be quite overwhelming to new and less experienced players. If required, when teaching less experienced players, we suggest:

• Play with low level Hordes
• Ignore Horde Contamination and Fallout effects
• Ignore Experience and buying new Survivor Skills
• Don't play with Fortune Cards

These elements can be introduced over time, when appropriate, so you can focus on the core mechanics of Outbreak.

Survivor Settlement Aid

Players can request aid from Settlements as an action. Many Settlement aid effects are passive effects (p11) that always apply; these don't require an action to be activated by a Survivor. Settlement aid explanations can be found on the Settlement Icon Key and are clarified below:

• Armoury: Collect a Trap Token. Defence tokens can be placed at the Survivors location. Remove the Defence token after use.
  • Trap Token: 3 Resource dice Auto Defence Roll, or +3 Resource dice to a defending Survivors defence roll.
  • A Survivor can collect one Ammo Resource from this settlement.
• Castle Ruin: +3 Resource dice in defence at this location.
• Church:
  • All Survivors remove 1 Wound, then reveal one new Horde.
  • Remove 1 Wound.
• Command Centre:
  • Remove 1 Doom card from the Drawn Doom Tracker (not Active Doom cards).
  • Roll 1 Resource die and collect rolled Resource. Skull = any Resource.
• Desert Plains:
  • Discard 1 Fortune card to remove 1 Wound on Survivor.
  • A Survivor can collect one Explosives Resource from this settlement.
• Fallout Shelter:
  • Survivor may choose to ignore Overrun Wounds and Horde Fallout effects from this settlement (Survivor is still pushed back).
  • A Survivor can collect one Supply Resource from this settlement.

FAQ

• +1 Range Attacks: Attack cannot be split, Survivor is still affected by Horde Fallout effects at range.
• Artillery: Schematic effects cannot be combined with this Skill.
• Assassin: As well as a normal attack, may make a single Resource die attack (cannot be combined).
• Building Limits: All buildings are finite, limited by the number of tokens/pieces in the game.
• Bulwark: All Bulwarks must be removed before any Defence rolls can be made.
• Castle Ruin: Does not grant an Auto Defence Roll.
• Declaring Attacks: The player must declare an attacking action, but not the target of the attack.
• Fallout Shelter: The Helpless are pushed back safely if Overrun.
• Flaming Horde: Fire damage does not stack, a survivor can only take 1 Fire damage each round. Fire damage is applied to Survivors after any defence rolls.
• Fortress: If Overrun, remove the Fortress, then once clear of any Hordes, replace the Fortress.
• Giant Horde: Must be defeated twice, by two separate Attacks (not one Attack, twice the Resources).
• Giant killer: As long as the Survivor is adjacent to a Level 4 Horde, they roll +2 dice in Attack and may spit their attack to target other adjacent Hordes.

Settlement Icon Key

The Settlement Icon Key is the reference sheet for every Settlement and Zombie Horde icon effect. Each Settlement lists its icon effects; a Settlement shows one or two aid sources, and only one can be used per Survivor turn.

• Main Base: Collect 1 Survivor favoured Resource.
• Library: +1 Exp.
• Castle Ruin: +3 Resource dice in Defence.
• Farm House: Roll 1 Resource die and collect rolled Resource. Skull = Any Resource. / Collect 1 Ammo Resource.
• Police Station: +1 Resource die in Defence. / Collect 1 Ammo Resource.
• Military Barracks: +1 Resource die in Attack. / Collect 1 Ammo Resource.
• Work Shop: Trap Token. 3 dice Auto Defence Roll OR +3 dice for a Defending Survivor. / Collect 1 Explosives Resource.
• Laboratory: 2 identical Resource tokens placed here reduce the matching resistance of all Hordes by 1. / Collect 1 Explosives Resource.
• Desert Plains: Discard 1 Fortune card, remove 1 Wound. / Collect 1 Explosives Resource.
• Fallout Shelter: Survivors may choose to ignore Overrun, Fire & Contamination Wounds, and Horde Fallout effects. / Collect 1 Supply Resource.
• Hospital: Remove 1 Wound (Passive effect, once per day). / Collect 1 Supply Resource.
• Town Hall: Restore any 2 Settlements. / Collect 1 Supply Resource.