Unknown
Unknown Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Parts
66 Cubes including:
- 20 Green Food Tokens
- 10 Red Ammo Tokens
- 10 Blue Medicine Tokens
- 10 Yellow Scrap Tokens
- 10 Black Barrier Tokens
33 Discs and Tokens including:
- 10 Blue Mission Discs
- 10 Orange Task Discs
- 8 Red Blaze Discs
- 5 Yellow Trap Discs
- 4 Grey Armor Tokens
- 3 Pink Injury Tokens
37 Cards including:
- 16 Survivor Cards
- 16 Mission Cards
- 5 Task Cards
7 Sheets of punchboard including:
- 1 Base Tile
- 50 Starting Tiles
- 21 Hazard Tiles
- 15 Enemy Tiles
- 24 Objective Tiles
- 56 Additional Tokens
32 Meeples including:
- 12 Survivor Meeples. 2 Green, 2 Blue, 2 Yellow, 2 Pink, 2 Red and 2 White.
- 8 Black Monster Meeples
- 3 Purple Animal Meeples
- 3 Orange Beast Meeples
- 2 Grey Stranger Meeples
- 2 Black Devourer Meeples
- 1 Black Brute Meeple
- 1 Black Behemoth Meeple
Base Tile
Noted by the yellow title block, the base tile is where the players begin their exploration, and where they must bring food to keep everyone fed. The numbers on the top, bottom, left and right, along with a 4 sided die, are to determine enemy and token movement in the event of ties. The die is rolled until the outcome matches a number on the tile pointing towards one of the possible paths.
Starting Tiles
Noted by the white title block, starting tiles are the basis for the tile stack every game. They contain all of the resource tiles, markets, and some basic enemy tiles.
Enemy Tiles
Noted by the red title block, enemy tiles are the more threatening enemy lairs. A number of these are randomly selected and added to the tile stack each game to ensure that you never know what you will encounter in the tunnels.
Hazard Tiles
Noted by the green title block, hazard tiles are the various environmental hazards that may be found when exploring the tunnels. Some of these are randomly selected and added to the tile stack each game.
Mission Tiles
Noted by a blue title block, these tiles are used to represent various goals or landmarks. They are added to the tile stack if needed based on the mission and/or task for that game.
Survivor Cards
Of the many people that fled to the underground camp, a few have emerged with special skills and have been assigned to venture out to gather supplies and perform other necessary tasks. Each player plays as one or more survivors, each with their own strengths and play style.
Mission Cards
Each game the survivors are given a mission to complete to help with life in the base camp. Each mission has a specific goal, and may have special actions, items, or other rule changes that are in effect when that mission is played.
Task Cards
For added variety, advanced players may add a task to each game. Tasks are an additional goal focused on making their jobs easier. Once they fulfill the requirements, they receive a bonus, typically for the rest of the game.
Resource Tokens
These represent the various supplies found in the tunnels that the survivors may use as food, ammo, medicine or scrap. Many actions and objectives require use of specific resources, and the base consumes one food token at the end of each turn to keep everyone from starving. The tokens may be carried by the survivors on their card, dropped on tiles, or stored in base.
The resource tokens are: ammo token, medicine token, food token, and scrap token.
Mission Token / Task Token
These are used to track mission or objective progress usually by placing the counters on survivor cards, tiles, base, or the mission or task card itself as certain requirements are completed.
Blaze Token
These are used to show that tiles are impassable due to fire.
Trap Token
Traps that may be set by the survivors to damage enemies that move onto them.
Injury Token
Placed under enemies or allies to show damage taken.
Armor Token
Defensive items that may be crafted and worn to protect the survivors from damage.
Barrier Token
Debris or constructed barricades that prevent movement until removed.
Meeples
These are used to show the position and status of the survivors and enemies as they move and interact on the tiles. The meeple types are: survivors, animals, beasts, behemoth, brute, devourers, monsters, and strangers.
Spare Punchboard Tokens
Extra resource, barrier, armor, trap, blaze, and objective tokens in the event that you lose or run out of wooden tokens. All resources, items, and enemies are considered unlimited, so if you run out of any tokens proxy as needed.
Unboxing
Punch out the tiles and sort them by title color, placing them in the designated slots. The box was designed to hold planned expansion content, so there will be empty slots.
Remove the plastic box insert and place the punchboards underneath it. This will keep the top of the insert flush with the box top when the box is closed to keep the tokens from falling out of their homes.
The punch boards also contain extra tokens in the event that you need more in a particular game. Leave them in the punch boards until they are needed.
Unknown is a complex game, but is built on simple mechanics. This means that the best way to learn the basics is just to start playing and deal with things as they happen. This guide will get you into a basic game as fast as possible, give you short explanations so that you can see how everything works, and reference the appropriate section for more detailed answers. Refer to the quick reference cards, or check the index as questions arise.
Quick Start Setup
Take the Scout mission card and place it on the side of the table.
- This is the introductory mission for Unknown. Your goal for this mission is to explore all the tiles and then get all the survivors (players) back to the Base tile alive.
- The game ends immediately once the requirements for the mission are completed.
Place the Base tile in the middle of the table with 1 of each basic resource tile (ammo, food, medicine and scrap) adjacent to it. The Base tile is where all of the survivors will start the game.
Place 8 food tokens next to the Base tile.
- This is the Base's stockpile. You will use the trade action (pg#20) to replenish the base's food, and trade other needed resources and tokens.
- At the end of each turn, during the upkeep phase, 1 of the Base's food tokens will be removed. If the Base does not have a food token to be removed during this step the game is over and survivors have lost the game.
Set up the tile stack. The tile stack will be made up of all the tiles you will be exploring during the game. It will contain the Starting tiles (tiles with white text boxes), Hazard tiles (tiles with green text boxes), Enemy tiles (tiles with red text boxes and icons on the bottom left called spawn icons) and Mission tiles (tiles with blue text boxes, these are not used in the quick start).
To build the tile stack, start with all of the remaining 46 Starting tiles (minus the 4 that were used in step 3) then do the following:
- Add the following 11 Hazard tiles (tiles with green text box):
- Blaze
- Blocked (2)
- Bridge
- Broken
- Collapse (2)
- Flood (2)
- Irradiated
- Muddy
- Rockfall (2)
- Add the following 5 Enemy tiles (tiles with the red text box):
- Animal (with 2 spawn icons in the lower left of the tile, 1 white border and 1 green border).
- Beast (with 2 spawn icons in the lower left of the tile, 1 white border and 1 green border).
- Brute.
- Stranger (with 1 spawn icon in the lower left of the tile).
- Devourer (with 1 spawn icon in the lower left of the tile).
- If there are 5 survivors add a 6th tile, the monster tile (with three spawn icons in lower left of tile all with white borders).
- If there are 6 survivors also add a 7th tile, an additional stranger tile.
- Shuffle all the tiles face down, this creates the tile stack. Then place it where all players can reach it.
Shuffle the Explorer, Soldier, Doctor, Runner, Hunter, and Trader survivor cards together. Deal 1 survivor card face up to each player. Players will set these cards in front of them. These are the survivors they will be playing during the game. In a 2 player game, each player will control 2 survivors. So deal each player 2 survivor cards.
Each player will select 1 colored meeple (blue, green, pink, red, white or yellow) for each survivor they control and place it on their survivor card(s). This meeple is used to show what color they are in the game (in advanced rules it is also used for turn order but not in the quick start game).
Each player will take a second color meeple matching the one they selected in step 6 and place it on the Base tile. This second meeple will represent their survivor as they move around in the game.
Place resource tokens on each survivor card matching the starting resource tokens pictured at the bottom right of the survivor's card. Resources are used by survivors to perform certain actions and to complete certain objectives.
This ends basic setup. The next part of quick start below will go over how to begin playing the game.
Beginning Play
Select a player to go first. (Who is first player is not very important in your first game. Usually the player using the Doctor or Explorer is a good choice).
- Turn order for the game is:
- Survivor actions.
- Ally actions (nothing in the quick start mission uses this step).
- Enemies (there are multiple parts to this step, all you need to know for now is that enemies move during this step. After you encounter your first enemy you can read more about this step).
- Upkeep (this is where base will eat a food every round which will cause you to lose if base cannot eat a food).
- During survivor actions players take turns in a clockwise order, with each player completing their turn before the next player begins.
- During a player's turn they will perform actions using up their action points (AP) (the number of action points available each turn is shown in the lower left corner of the survivor's card).
- Actions are taken one at a time.
- You can take the same action multiple times in the same turn.
- All actions except some survivor specific abilities cost 1 action point (AP) to perform.
- Three of the actions you need to learn to start the game are Move, Gather and Explore. It is better to learn these 3 actions, then start playing the game and learn the remaining actions (pg#18-20) as the game goes on.
Move
- Move, like all actions in the game, requires 1 action point (AP) to perform.
- Move allows a survivor to move 1 tile horizontally or vertically. Nothing in this game is done diagonally.
Gather
Gather 1 type of resource from any or all tiles within 1 range.
- Resources may be gathered from tiles with gatherable resource icons (shown in the bottom right side of the tile), or resource tokens on the tiles.
- Gathered tiles are cleared (flipped over) to indicate that they have been gathered, and the survivor gains resource tokens for each tile gathered and places them on their survivor card.
Explore
Reveal the top tile from the tile stack and place it adjacent to the survivor.
- A survivor may choose any adjacent spot provided that it does not form a 2x2 square.
- A survivor may not choose to explore if there are no valid placements adjacent to their current tile.
- In the unlikely event that a tile is drawn and all of the valid placements would cause any survivor to be both unable to explore new tiles and unable to return to base, it is shuffled back into the tile stack and a new tile is drawn.
Quick Start Character Abilities
- EXPLORER - Has 4 AP, good general purpose survivor.
- DOCTOR - Gathers and uses medicine more efficiently, good for healing.
- HUNTER - Enemies she kills drop food, good for combat.
- RUNNER - Can move quickly over cleared tiles, such as tiles that have been gathered, good for supply runs.
- SOLDIER - Gathers and uses ammo more efficiently, good for combat.
- TRADER - Trades and exchanges goods more efficiently, good for supply runs and exchanging resources at base.
Now you can begin playing. As you start exploring you will run into new types of tiles. The next page of the quick start will give you basic information about the tiles. It will also tell you where to go in the manual to find out more about them and other game information that you will need.
Tiles With Knockback (page 13)
A knockback icon on the bottom left of a tile causes survivors to run away when it is explored until there are the indicated number of tiles between them and the source.
- Survivors may choose a dead end that does not fulfill the entire knockback range.
Example: Yellow survivor spends 1 AP to explore and finds a Flood tile, which has a knockback of 3. He places the Flood tile and is knocked back until there are 3 tiles between him and the Flood tile.
Resource Exchange (page 12)
A resource exchange icon on the tile indicates that survivors may, as part of a trade action, exchange resource tokens for different ones at the rate indicated. If the icon is at the top left, it is a continuing effect and may be used repeatedly. If the icon is at the bottom right, it is a single use effect. Base exchanges any 2 tokens to any 1 other token and may be used again, a market tile exchanges up to 3 for an equal number of others and then clears (flips over).
Impassable Tiles (page 14), and Barriers (page 19)
Tiles with hazard tape across the middle are impassable, meaning they may not be entered by survivors or enemies. Enemies may spawn on them, and move off normally, but may not reenter.
Barrier tokens may be placed by survivors (pg#18) or spawn from some Hazard tiles and render a tile impassable until they are removed. Any attempt to enter a tile with a barrier token, either by a survivor or an enemy, will remove one token.
Enemies (page 24)
Enemy lairs have one or more spawn icons in the bottom left corner and will spawn the indicated enemy meeples, on the tile for white bordered icons, on the nearest Hazard tile for green bordered icons.
- Enemies may be dealt with through ranged attacks, traps, or move/close combat. (pg#19-20)
- Survivors may not interact with tiles occupied by an enemy, except to move onto it.
- Enemies move (pg#21) during the enemy movement phase (pg#17). This phase occurs after all survivors have completed their turn (pg#17). The quick reference card indicates how many tiles they will move, and indicates their preferred target.
- If an enemy enters base while there are no survivors there, it removes 3 food and then takes 1 damage, this repeats until the enemy is dead or there is insufficient food in which case the players lose the game.
Close Combat (page 22)
Whenever an enemy and a survivor occupy the same tile, they immediately enter close combat. This occurs in rounds, with each combatant dealing one damage to the opposing team until one side is defeated.
Injury and Incapacitation (page 23)
Survivors may take damage either by encountering enemies, or due to a Hazard effect such as Broken.
- 1 damage causes survivors to be injured, and reduces their AP by 1 until healed using the heal action (pg#23). Lay their meeple on its side to indicate injured status, shown in the manual with the icon.
- A second damage incapacitates the survivor, leaving them with 0 AP until a heal action restores them to the injured state. Lay their meeple flat on the tile to indicate incapacitated status, it is shown in the manual with the icon.
Once all survivors have taken their turn, the survivor action phase ends, (pg#17) any enemies on the board take their turn, and then one food is removed from the base's stockpile. If food cannot be removed when needed, the players lose the game.
For the Scout mission you will take turns until you have explored all of the tiles and all the survivors have returned to base. Other missions will have other objectives (pg#32-36).
Setup
Select 1 mission card. This can be done randomly, or by following the story set (pg#39).
Place the Base tile with 1 of each basic resource tile (ammo, food, medicine, and scrap) adjacent to it.
Place food tokens next to the base tile. The amount of food tokens placed is determined by the Starting Balance table below. This is the base's stockpile, where you will place future resources and tokens traded to base during the game.
Set up the tile stack, starting with all of the remaining starting tiles.
- Shuffle all of the hazard tiles and randomly add 13 of them.
- Shuffle all of the enemy tiles and randomly add the number specified in the Starting Balance table below.
- Shuffle the tile stack.
- If the selected mission requires mission tiles, split the tile stack into a number of separate piles equal to the number of mission tiles needed. Add 1 mission tile to each pile and shuffle each pile separately. Place the piles on top of each other (usually stacking them no more than 2 piles high so they don't fall over). When drawing tiles, draw from a single pile until it is exhausted before moving on to the next pile.
Randomly select one survivor card for each player. If there are less than 3 players, assign additional survivors to each player until there are at least 3 survivors.
Select a color for each survivor. Place 1 meeple of that color on the survivor's card.
Place a second meeple matching each of the colors from step 6 on the base tile.
Place resource tokens on each survivor card matching the starting resource tokens pictured at the bottom right of the survivor's card.
Starting Balance
| Survivors | Number of enemy tiles (easy) | Number of enemy tiles (normal) | Number of enemy tiles (hard) | Starting Food |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 12 |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 12 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 3 |
Tiles
The survivors build the board during play by exploring tiles. Each tile has text and icons to let the players know what the tile is and how the tile functions.
Lair
Any tile that causes an enemy to spawn is considered a "lair," whether that effect is on the tile itself or granted by another card or tile. If a tile causes an enemy to spawn on a different tile, the tile causing the spawn is considered the lair, not the tile where the enemy spawns.
Continuing Effect
Any effect or ability of the tile that remains until the tile is cleared.
- Repeating spawn: Spawns the specified enemy during any enemy upkeep phase when there is no enemy of any type on the tile.
- Resource exchange: Allows the survivors to exchange resources for different resources at the specified exchange rate as part of an [Action: Trade/Drop] (pg#20). A resource exchange with a 2 on the bottom token and a 1 on the top token would allow a survivor to exchange 2 resource tokens for a 1 resource token of a different type. For instance, 1 ammo and 1 medicine could be exchanged for 1 food.
- Uncommon effect: An effect that requires more explanation than the symbols on tile provide. See hazard tiles (pg#25-26) for explanation of their uncommon effects, or the quick reference card for more details.
Name and Type of Tile
The background color in the box indicates the type of tile. The word inside the box is the name of the tile.
Tile types: Base, Enemy, Elite Enemy, Hazard, Objective, Starting.
A striped background on an enemy nameplate indicates an Elite Enemy. These typically take a bit more strategy to deal with, but is balanced by increased rewards when their lair is gathered. It is recommended that you remove them for the first few games.
Instant Effect
Any special effects that the tile produces once, immediately when it is explored.
- Enemy spawns on current tile: Spawns the specified enemy type on the current tile. This is indicated by the white outline around the enemy icon.
- Enemy spawns on hazard tile: Spawns the specified enemy type on the nearest hazard tile. This is indicated by the green outline around the enemy icon. If there are multiple enemies spawning on hazard tiles they will all spawn on different hazard tiles if possible.
- Token spawn: Spawns the specified token(s) on the current tile.
- Uncommon effect: Effect that requires more explanation than the symbols on tile provide. See hazard tiles (pg#25-26) for explanation of their uncommon effects, or the quick reference card for more details.
Example: During the first enemy upkeep phase, there is a monster on the spawn pit, so a new one does not spawn. That monster then moves during the enemy move phase, so that during the following turn's enemy upkeep phase a new monster spawns.
Example: The white border spawn icon spawns an animal on the animal tile. The green border spawn icon spawns a second animal on the nearest hazard tile.
Requirements to Clear
Resources that must be spent or conditions that must be met in order to clear (flip over) the tile. Tiles without a requirement to clear or gatherable resources may not be cleared unless specified by missions, tasks, or other sources.
Knockback
All survivors in range flee until there are the indicated number of tiles between them and the source. Movement caused by knockback does not cost AP. Knockback indicated on enemy tiles is associated with the spawned enemies, not the tile. If the enemy spawns on the same tile as a survivor, they enter close combat instead of suffering knockback. Knockback indicated on hazard tiles occurs at the tile, and also affects enemies within range. If there are multiple paths for survivors or enemies, the players may choose the path taken, even if it results in a dead-end before the knockback range is reached. Overlapping knockbacks occur in order with the closest occurring first, survivors may choose in the case of ties, and may choose to ignore any after the first. When knockback would cause a survivor to enter a tile containing an enemy, they may choose to end the knockback effect before entering the enemies tile.
Example: The survivor explores an animal tile with a dual spawn. 1 animal will spawn on the animal tile and 1 on the hazard tile. Both animals cause a knockback of 2. The survivor is closer to the animal on the animal tile so he is affected by that knockback first. He may choose to be knocked back to either tile 2 (dead end), tile 3 (can end movement before entering the enemies tile) or the hazard tile.
- If the survivor moved to the hazard tile it would trigger close combat, killing the animal and preventing the second knockback from happening.
- If the survivor moved to tile 2, they are out of range for the second knockback.
- If the survivor moved to tile 3, they may ignore the second knockback or move to tile 2, or move to the animal tile.
Example: The survivor explores a flood, the survivor and the animal would both be affected by the flood's knockback of 3. The animal is knocked back to tile 2, and the survivor may choose either tile 1 or 2.
- If the survivor moved to tile 1, he would reach a dead end, ending the knockback effect.
- If the survivor moved to tile 2, it would trigger close combat with the animal.
Gatherable Resources
Any resource tokens or other items that are given to the survivor that clears the tile through a gather action, clear action, or other effect.
- Basic resources: Ammo, food, medicine and scrap.
- Multi resource: An icon with multiple colors may be gathered as any one of the indicated colors, not both.
- Resource exchange: Allows the survivors to exchange resources for different resources at the specified exchange rate as part of an [Action: Trade/Drop] (pg#20). A resource exchange with a 3 on the bottom token and a 3 on the top token would allow a survivor to exchange up to 3 resource tokens for up to 3 resource tokens of a different type. For instance, 2 ammo and 1 medicine could be exchanged for 3 food. Because this is part of the gather resources area of the tile, the tile would clear after the exchange.
Impassable Tile
Black and yellow stripes through the middle denote an impassable tile. Impassable tiles may not be entered by survivors or enemies. They also block line of sight (pg#17). Hazard effects (pg#25) do not effect or cross impassable tiles. Enemies that spawn on the tile may exit normally but may not re-enter.
Example: The animals spawn on the animal and impassable tile. The animal on the impassable tile may exit in either direction. The animal on the animal tile may not enter the impassable tile and so may only move down. The survivor may not enter the impassable tile to initiate close combat, or perform a ranged attack on either animal since the impassable tile breaks line of sight.
Fortified Tile
Black and yellow striped borders indicate that the tile is fortified. Prevents hazard effects (pg#25) from affecting or crossing the tile. Line of sight (pg#17) may originate on a fortified tile, but may not enter or cross it.
Example: The Blaze coming from the left stopped at the base tile because it is fortified and blocks hazard effects. The stranger on the right does not have line of sight into the base tile because it is fortified so does not perform his ranged special ability. The survivor can see out of the fortified tile so they can use a ranged attack on the stranger.
Playing a Short Game
To play a shorter variant of the game, select a mission labeled "Short" in it's middle title bar. Short missions, and the shortened tile stack, have been balanced to have roughly the same difficulty as a normal game but take 20% less time to complete. To build a short tile stack, follow these steps.
- Remove 2 of each basic resource tile (ammo, food, medicine, and scrap) from the starting tiles.
- Remove 1 beast, 1 monster, and 1 animal from the starting tiles.
- Complete the rest of the setup process as normal.
Difficulty
Overall difficulty is estimated on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being a game with no mission, and 10 being the theoretical maximum. Each mission's rating is shown on pages 32-36, and players may tune the game's overall difficulty by adding or removing enemies and hazards. Since difficulty rating does not take into account clever use of player abilities, it is possible to play and win a game with a difficulty over 10.
- Each random enemy is worth 2 difficulty points.
- Two hazards are worth 1 difficulty point.
Survivor Cards
Each player controls one or more survivors during the game, represented by their survivor cards. Keep one meeple of the survivor's color on the survivor's card (or on the action tracker on the quick reference card) to remember their color and to track the number of actions they have remaining for their turn. Any resource tokens, items, or special pick-up tiles carried by the survivor are placed on their card to indicate who owns them. Survivors may carry an unlimited number of resources, items, or tiles without any penalty. For details on specific survivors, see pg#27.
- Survivor name
- Survivor traits: Any special traits or abilities that may modify actions, or give bonuses when certain events occur.
- AP: The number of action points that the survivor may spend each turn.
- Starting resources: Resource tokens that are given to the player at the beginning of the game.
Mission and Task Cards
To win the game the survivors must complete the mission (and the task if one has been added). Missions and tasks have requirements that must be met, and may add or modify actions or rules while they are in play. Each Task also gives a bonus when completed which usually persists for the rest of the game. A mission or task is considered complete when the final requirement is met, either through performing the required action or depositing the final needed resource. Completion itself is not an action and does not cost an AP, though the final task or trade usually does. Resource costs may be modified by survivor abilities, and special mission or task actions may trigger survivor abilities.
- Name of the mission or task: Mission names are blue, task names are orange.
- Short or long: Some missions have separate short and long versions. Short missions are roughly the same difficulty, but take about 20% less time to complete.
- Completion requirements: Describes how to complete the mission or task. If there are objective counter spaces the event needed to add a counter to the card will be defined. Any required resource tokens are also listed, and may be placed on the card from base at any time. Once all of the listed icons are filled or the described event occurs, the mission or task is complete.
- Tracking icons: Icons for the required tracking or resource tokens needed to complete the mission or task.
- Setup: Lists any tiles to be added or other changes to the setup process.
- Mechanics: Defines any actions or rules that are added or modified while this card is in play. Unless specified, all actions defined cost 1 AP, have a range of 1, and must be within line of sight. Any resource or token costs of the defined actions are shown next to their name.
- Reward: Any actions, items, or other bonuses given or modified once the task is completed.
Allies
Allies are tokens representing non-player characters on the survivor's team. They are controlled by the players and take their turn after all of the survivors but before any enemies.
- By default allies interact with the game exactly as a survivor would, suffering knockback, being targeted by enemies that target survivors, etc.
- They have 1 health, 0 AP, deal 0 damage in combat, and may not perform any normal actions.
- The card or tile that defines the ally will change some of these attributes, and specify any special traits or abilities.
Turn Order
Survivors may choose to take their turns in any order, but once a survivor begins their turn they must complete it before another survivor may begin their turn. Once a survivor's turn is complete they should move their meeple on the action tracker to 0. Then the group should select which of the remaining survivors will go next. If this is your first game, you may wish to randomly select a survivor to go first and have play progress clockwise from that survivor.
- Survivor actions: Each survivor starts their turn with the number of action points (AP) indicated on their survivor card. They may take actions until they cannot or do not want to perform any more actions. Survivors are not required to spend all of their AP. Any action that costs AP does so when the survivor begins their turn.
- Ally actions: Any allies will take actions in any order chosen by the players unless specified by another card or tile.
- Enemy upkeep: Enemies spawn from lairs. These enemies will not move during the enemy movement phase or cause knockback. Any interactions with barriers or traps occur.
- Enemy movement: All enemies move, except enemies that spawned during the enemy upkeep. Any interactions with barriers or traps occur. See enemy movement section (pg#21) for more details.
- Enemy main: All stunned enemies recover. Any interactions with barriers or traps occur.
- Enemy combat: All combat that occurs as a result of the enemies' movement, spawn, or recovery happens simultaneously. See the Close Combat section (pg#22) for more details.
- Upkeep: Remove 1 food from the base. If a food cannot be removed, the game ends and the survivors lose.
Range
The range between two objects is the shortest number of moves over explored, passable, non-diagonal tiles it would take to reach the target.
Example: The lower right tile is impassable, so the survivor is at a range of 5 from the left middle tile.
Line of Sight
If the path between two objects is a straight, non-diagonal line of placed, passable tiles with no turns then the objects have line of sight to one another. Line of sight may originate at fortified tiles (indicated by the yellow striped border) such as the base tile, but may not enter or cross it. Barriers break line of sight.
Example: The survivor has line of sight one tile to the right, and 2 tiles up, to the stranger. The stranger has line of sight 2 tiles to the right, and 1 tile down (because of the fortified base tile.)
Actions
These are the standard actions that a player may take during their turn. Some missions, tasks, or survivor traits may add or modify actions. Throughout the manual and cards actions are shown in the following format [ACTION: (title of action) (cost of action)]. For example: [ACTION: create outpost, 3 scrap] this action is called "create outpost" and costs 3 scrap to complete. Unless noted, all actions cost 1 AP, have a range of 1, and must be within line of sight. Actions affecting a tile may not target a tile occupied by an enemy unless that enemy is incapacitated.
Clear Tile
Flip over a tile with a requirement to clear (see Tiles section, pg#13) by paying the required resources or meeting any other specified requirements.
- Any gatherable resources indicated on the tile are gained when it is cleared and do not require a separate action.
- Clearing these tiles is not a gather action, so matching adjacent resources are not gathered while clearing these tiles.
- Once a tile is cleared it loses any effect or ability that it had. Any tokens, enemies, survivors, or items on the tile remain on the tile and in effect.
- Tiles with neither a requirement to clear or gatherable resources may not be cleared unless specified by the mission, task, or survivor.
Example: The survivor could spend 2 scrap and 1 AP to close the spawn pit, and would gain 1 food for doing so. Since this is a clear action and not a gather action it could not be combined with the nearby stranger and food tiles.
Create Armor
Spend 2 scrap to create an armor token, placing it on your survivor card.
- When the survivor takes damage from any source, remove an armor token and reduce the damage taken by 1 until either the survivor runs out of armor or the damage is reduced to 0.
- Armor may be traded, and survivors may carry as much armor as they like.
Create Barriers
Spend 1 scrap to place a total of 2 barrier tokens.
- They may both be placed on one tile, or split between multiple tiles within range.
- A tile containing one or more barrier tokens is considered impassable (pg#14).
- When an enemy, survivor, or token attempts to move onto a tile with a barrier token, the move fails and 1 barrier token is removed.
- Movement due to knockback does not remove barrier tokens.
- Enemies and tokens attempt to go around barriers whenever possible.
- Barriers may be placed on tiles occupied by survivors and on impassable tiles.
Example: The survivor placed a barrier on his own tile and the adjacent tile as a single action. He may move up, or remain on his current tile. When the animal and monster attempt to move, they will each destroy a barrier but remain on their current tile.
Create Trap
Spend 1 food and 1 scrap to create a new trap and place it one a tile within 1 range, or into your inventory (may be placed later for 1 AP.)
- Traps remain on the tile until an enemy successfully enters or spawns on the tile. The enemy then takes 1 damage and the trap is destroyed.
- Traps may be picked up as a gather or trade action, but may not be disassembled into resources.
- Traps may not be placed on impassable tiles, including tiles containing barriers.
Example: The survivor placed a trap on his own tile. When the Beast enters the tile, the trap deals 1 damage to it and is removed.
Eat Food
Spend 1 food to gain 3 AP. This still costs an AP to perform.
Explore
Reveal the top tile from the tile stack and place it adjacent to the survivor.
- They may choose any adjacent spot provided that it does not form a 2x2 square.
- A survivor may not choose to explore if there are no valid placements adjacent to their current tile.
- In the unlikely event that a tile is drawn and all of the valid placements would cause any survivor to be both unable to explore new tiles and unable to return to base, it is shuffled back into the tile stack and a new tile is drawn.
Example: The survivor cannot explore up or down because either direction would create a 2x2 square.
Gather
Gather a resource from tiles.
- Gatherable tiles have resource icon(s) in the lower right corner of the tile and do not have a clear cost in the upper right corner of the tile. (pg#13)
- Any number of tiles or tokens within 1 range may be gathered at once if they are all gathered for the same resource.
- To gather from a tile, gain the resources shown in the lower right corner of the tile, then clear (flip over) the tile.
- Survivors may carry an unlimited amount of resources, items or tiles. (pg#15).
Example: The survivor could gather 2 food from the bunker and food tiles as one gather action, or 2 ammo from the ammo and bunker tiles as one gather action. The spawn pit has requirements to clear and so cannot be gathered in this way.
Heal
Spend 2 medicine to heal another survivor, or 3 medicine to heal yourself.
- When healed, incapacitated survivors become injured, and injured survivors return to normal.
Example: The survivor has taken 2 damage and is incapacitated so they cannot perform any actions. The survivor spends 2 medicine to heal the incapacitated survivor to injured state. The survivor can perform actions again but begins their turn with 1 less action point because they are still injured.
Move / Close Combat
Move to any adjacent passable tile.
- If attempting to move onto a tile containing a barrier token, the move fails and 1 barrier is removed.
- Moving onto a tile containing an enemy triggers close combat (pg#22.) This is resolved immediately and does not cost an additional AP.
- Survivors may not enter impassable tiles, but may exit them if their current tile becomes impassable.
Example: The survivor could move left, but could not move to the ammo tile since diagonals do not count as adjacent. An attempt to move down would fail and instead remove the barrier token.
Ranged Attack
Spend 2 ammo to deal 1 damage to an enemy within 2 range and in line of sight.
Example: The survivor spends 2 ammo to attack the monster 1 tile away then, as a second action, spends 2 more ammo to attack the beast 2 tiles away.
Trade / Drop
Survivors may do any or all of the following as a single action:
- Give, take, drop or pick up any number of tradable tokens or items with survivors, passable tiles, or base within 1 range.
- Trade resources using a tile with a resource exchange special ability (pg#12) within 1 range, following the rules defined by the tile.
- Survivors may carry an unlimited amount of resources, items or tiles. (pg#15).
Example: The survivor could trade any number of tokens with base, himself, and another survivor. For example he could take food from a survivor and place it directly into base, exchange 2 scrap from his inventory for 1 ammo, and give it to a survivor all as a single trade action.
Enemy Movement
The enemy movement phase of the turn occurs in three parts. First, all enemies select a target. Second, once all targets have been selected, all enemies select their path. Third, all enemies move.
Target Selection
Enemies will target the nearest of their preferred type of target as noted on the quick reference card, usually base or a survivor. To determine the nearest target, follow these steps until one results in a target. In the case of a tie, roll a 4 sided die until the result matches an arrow on the base tile pointing to one of the tied targets.
- If there is at least one target along a path with no barriers, choose the nearest of those targets.
- If all paths to a target contain at least one barrier, choose the nearest of those targets.
- If there is no path to a valid target, the enemy will remain stationary.
Example: The beast will target a survivor since the path to another survivor includes a barrier. The animal will target a survivor since both paths include a barrier but that survivor is closer.
Path Selection
Once all enemies have selected their target they move the number of tiles noted on the quick reference card. All enemies move simultaneously. Resolve all moves with unobstructed paths first to make it easier to remember. If there are multiple equidistant paths to the selected target, roll a 4 sided die until the result matches an one of the 4 numbers on the base tile corresponding to the direction of one of the tied paths.
Example: The beast is equidistant from both survivors. The players roll a 4 sided die until the result matches the direction of the green or yellow survivor, (in this case a 2 or 4) and then the beast moves in that direction.
Obstructed Paths
Enemies will likely encounter barriers, traps, and survivors when attempting to move. Follow these steps to determine the outcome.
- If the tile contains at least one barrier, remove one barrier token and end one enemy's movement on the previous tile. Repeat this until either all barrier tokens have been removed, or all enemies have ended their movement.
- If the tile contains at least one trap, remove one trap and deal 1 damage to an enemy moving onto the tile. Repeat this until either all traps have been removed or all enemies have been killed or stunned. If a trap kills an enemy, abilities that would have triggered by that enemy entering the tile will not occur.
- If there is at least one survivor on the tile, all enemies moving onto the tile end their move and proceed to close combat.
Example: All 3 enemies would attempt to move left. The players decide to stop the beast with the barrier, so he remains on the current tile and the barrier token is removed. The players then decide to assign the 1 damage from the trap to the stranger, so he is killed and the trap is removed. He does not perform his ranged attack special ability since he died while entering the tile. The animal has a speed of 2, and there is nothing remaining to block him, he continues his move to a survivor and triggers close combat (pg#22).
Close Combat
Close combat occurs whenever an enemy spawns on, recovers on, or successfully enters a tile containing a survivor or the base tile. If the tile contains barriers or traps, those resolve before close combat begins. If the creature is moving, beginning close combat ends the move, even if the creature survives and would have moved further. Close combat is resolved in the following order:
- Damage is dealt: If there are any survivors on the tile, each survivor and enemy deals 1 damage.
- If the survivors outnumber the enemies, enemy damage is reduced by 1 for every 2 excess survivors.
- Damage is received: All damage is assigned by the players and occurs simultaneously.
- Players may not assign more damage to a survivor than it would take to incapacitate that survivor.
- Combat continues: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all survivors on the tile are incapacitated or all enemies on the tile are killed or stunned.
- Base defense: If combat is occurring on the base tile, any remaining enemies remove 3 food from base and take 1 damage.
- Repeat this step until all enemies on the base tile are killed or stunned.
- If sufficient food cannot be removed during this step, the players immediately lose the game.
Example: When the beast enters the tile, it will trigger close combat. Each survivor will deal 1 damage for a total of 3, but since the beast is outnumbered by 2, his damage will be reduced by 1 (to 0).
Example: Each survivor will deal 1 damage for a total of 2, and each beast will deal 1 damage for a total of 2. The players may not assign both damage to the survivor since he is already injured, but may assign both to another survivor, or 1 to each.
Example: The survivor will deal 1 damage, choosing to kill the beast, and the enemies will deal a total of 2, incapacitating her. The devourer will then remove 3 food and take 1 damage. Since he has 2 health he will then attempt to remove another 3 food. Since there is not enough food to complete this, the players immediately lose.
Injury and Incapacitation
Each survivor is always in one of three health states: healthy (standing up, shown in the manual as such), injured (laying with one leg and one arm on the tile), or incapacitated (laying flat on the tile). Survivors begin the game healthy.
- For each point of damage a survivor receives, their health state is demoted one step.
- For each point of damage a survivor is healed, their health state improves one step.
- Becoming injured, or starting your turn while injured, costs 1 AP.
- Incapacitated survivors can't take actions, ignore knockback, are ignored by enemies, and do not count as present for any special requirements.
Enemies may be healthy, injured, or stunned. When an enemy with more than one health takes damage, it becomes injured, indicated by placing an injury token under the enemy meeple. Injured enemies act normally unless noted in their description. Stunned enemies do not move, initiate close combat, or perform their special abilities.
Example: The injured survivor loses 1 AP before he can take any actions at the beginning of his turn. The incapacitated survivor cannot perform any actions. If the healthy survivor went first this turn, healing both the incapacitated survivor and the injured survivor once, the incapacitated survivor would begin with his normal number of AP. The healthy survivor would be injured instead of incapacitated and begin with 1 less than their normal AP.
Forfeiture and Respawn
At any time during their turn, if the base has at least 4 resources, the players may decide to forfeit a survivor (incapacitated or otherwise) and train and outfit a new one from one of the remaining people at camp. To do this, perform the following steps:
- Move all resources and tokens from that survivor's card to their current tile.
- Draw a new survivor randomly from the unused survivor cards (do not give them their starting resources) to replace the forfeited survivor.
- Move the survivor meeple to base. That meeple now represents the new survivor card.
- Remove 4 resources from base.
Example: The Explorer survivor is incapacitated and inaccessible, so the players decide to forfeit him and respawn him as another survivor.
- The Explorer's resources are placed on the tile where she was incapacitated.
- The Tracker is drawn at random and replaces the Explorer card.
- The new survivor meeple is moved to base, and reset to healthy status.
- The players remove 4 resources from base so they have 2 food remaining.
Enemies
Survivors will encounter enemies as they explore the tunnels. Enemies spawn on different locations as specified on their tile (pg#12, instant effects), and will move a number of tiles per turn (their speed) towards their nearest target until they are killed. An enemy occupying a tile prevents any interaction with that tile except for movement. Stunned enemies do not move, cause their special effects, or prevent interaction with tiles. Enemies suffer knockback caused by hazards, but not by other enemies. Unless otherwise noted, entering a tile containing only stunned enemies will not cause close combat, but those enemies will still retaliate each time they are damaged in close combat. When enemies are killed, they are removed from the board.
| Name | Health | Speed | Target | Special Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animal | 1 | 2 | Survivor | — |
| Beast | 1 | 1 | Survivor | — |
| Behemoth | 3 | 3 | Base | Deals 1 damage to everything on its tile (including other enemies) during close combat. Remove from random enemy draw pile if playing a behemoth mission. |
| Brute | ∞ | 1 | Survivor | When this enemy takes damage it becomes stunned. This enemy does not take part in the Base Defense portion of close combat (pg#22). |
| Devourer | 2 | 1 | Base | When exiting a tile the devourer places a barrier token on that tile. This occurs even if the Devourer is killed upon entering the next tile. Heals during enemy upkeep. |
| Monster | 1 | 1 | Base | — |
| Stranger | 1 | 1 | Survivor | Ranged (2): May perform a ranged attack to deal 1 damage to a survivor within 2 range and in line of sight. This is triggered whenever a survivor enters this range through a move action or knockback, after the stranger enters a tile, or spawns (after his knockback occurs). Participates in close combat normally in addition to this ability. |
Example: Since the base tile is fortified it blocks line of sight. The stranger cannot perform a ranged attack on a survivor. However line of sight is not blocked from within a fortified tile, so a survivor could perform a ranged attack on the stranger.
Example: If the stranger moved forward, he would perform a single ranged attack at the end of his move. The players would assign 1 damage to either survivor. If either survivor then moved onto the stranger's tile, close combat would occur as normal.
Example: If the survivors moved, the stranger would perform a ranged attack at the end of each of their move actions. Each survivor would take 1 damage. If either survivor then moved onto the stranger's tile, close combat would occur as normal.
Hazards
Each game the survivors will encounter a number of different environmental hazards. Hazard tiles have a green nameplate and varying effects that generally hinder the survivors' progress. Impassable tiles may not be entered, and the impassable effect persists until the tile is cleared. Unless noted, other special effects occur when the tile is explored and do not persist. Hazard effects do not affect or pass through fortified tiles (like Base) or Objective tiles, but the full knockback still occurs. Hazard tiles without a clear cost may not be cleared even though their effects may not persist, since they may still be a spawn location for enemies. Knockback caused by hazard tiles effects enemies as well as survivors.
Blaze
- Impassable tile.
- Immediately spawns a blaze token on all tiles within 2 range. Any tiles later connected or made passable that are within range also get a blaze token and trigger the original knockback effect.
- Blaze tokens are impassable. Everything except objective tokens on a tile with a blaze token after the knockback effect is resolved are immediately removed from the game. Objective tokens are instead placed on the nearest passable tile.
Example: Since the survivor cannot escape the blaze, he is immediately removed from the game. If either barrier is later removed, a blaze token is added to that tile.
Blocked
- Impassable tile.
Bridge
- Impassable tile.
- May be cleared by paying 2 scrap.
Broken
- Exploring survivor takes 1 damage and is moved onto the Broken tile.
Collapse
- Impassable tile.
- Place the collapse on top of the tile it was explored from unless that tile is an objective tile. If so, then collapse is placed in the spot it was explored.
- Everything on the tile collapse was explored from is knocked back 1 tile.
- After the knockback effect everything except objective tokens that are still on the tile with collapse are removed from the game. Objective tokens are instead placed on the nearest passable tile.
Flood
- All gatherable tiles within knockback range are immediately cleared.
- Any items on those tiles are destroyed except objective tokens. This does not effect items carried by survivors, allies, or enemies.
Example: The scrap tile is cleared. A survivor is knocked back 3 tiles. The Hive tile is not cleared since it is an objective tile which blocks hazard effects from passing through it, so the food tile is not cleared. Fortified tiles (like the base tile) also block hazard effects, so the ammo tile also not cleared.
Irradiated
- Impassable tile.
- May be cleared by paying 2 medicine.
Muddy
- Persists.
- Entering or beginning your turn on muddy costs 1 AP.
- This includes entering the tile during a knockback effect.
Rockfall
- Once placement is selected, Rockfall switches places with the tile occupied by the exploring player and anything on their tile.
- Then place 3 barrier tokens on the Rockfall.
Example: Rockfall is placed. Rockfall and the survivor's tile switch places. The survivor, and the trap, move with the tile. 3 barriers are placed on Rockfall.
Survivors
Botanist
Her knowledge of plants and their properties comes in handy, even underground.
Traits: You may spend 1 AP and a medicine to clear a gatherable lair tile and place a food on it from the general supply (not the base stockpile or survivors.) During the upkeep phase place a food on the lair from the general supply until there are a total of 3 food or until any of the food on the tile is gathered. Flipping the tile in this way does not count as a gather action, and does not give you any of the gatherable resources on the tile. Lairs with a clear cost are not considered gatherable. [Action: Eat Food] gives you 1 additional AP this turn in addition to the normal bonus.
Example: The Botanist uses her ability, spending 1 medicine to clear the animal's lair and places 1 food on the tile. On each of the next 2 upkeeps 1 food is added to the tile.
Captain
A natural leader, he excels when working with others, getting the most from them and himself.
Traits: Once per turn, you may move another survivor (who is within 1 range) 1 tile. This may happen at any time during your turn when there is a survivor in range, and does not cost AP. They must be within range for you to initiate the move, but the move may take them out of range. You cannot move incapacitated survivors. Starting your turn within 1 range of 1 or more other survivor(s) grants you 1 additional AP this turn. This is determined when you start your turn, not at the beginning of the survivor action phase. Incapacitated survivors do not trigger this effect.
Example: The Captain begins his turn with 4 AP since another survivor is within 1 range. If he moves down, that survivor is then within 1 range, and he may use his ability to move them without spending any AP.
Doctor
His past medical training allows him to more efficiently gather and use medicine.
Traits: All medicine costs are 1 medicine less for you, but never less than 1 medicine. [Action: Gather - Medicine] or any action that consumes medicine costs you 0 AP. The trade action does not consume resources, so it does not apply. Both abilities include standard actions, tile interactions, and any actions defined by missions.
Explorer
Exploring underground isn't much different from his past expeditions, which makes everything a little easier.
Traits: Has 4 AP.
Hunter
The animals in the tunnels aren't as appetizing as deer, but there is still meat to be found if you know how to prepare it.
Traits: When you kill an enemy with a ranged attack, trap, or during close combat, the enemy drops 1 food token on the tile where it died. Place a food token on any traps set by the Hunter to remind you that they will drop a food if they kill an enemy. [Action: Create Trap] costs you 0 AP.
Investigator
Her keen eyes are always looking for clues about what could be around the next corner.
Traits: After performing [Action: Gather], you may immediately perform two separate [Action: Explore] each at the cost of 0 AP. These explore actions follow normal explore rules, and may only be taken if there is a valid placement available. Complete the first [Action: Explore], including any knockback or other triggered effects, before performing the second [Action: Explore].
Example: Gathering the food grants the Investigator 2 free Explore actions. The first reveals a brute, which has a knockback of 1. Since there are still valid explore locations after being knocked back, the Investigator may still Explore a second time without spending AP.
Mechanic
His love of tinkering has helped him hone his skills, and acts as a great motivator.
Traits: [Action: Gather - Scrap] or any action that consumes scrap costs you 0 AP and gives you 1 additional AP this turn. This includes standard actions, tile interactions, and any actions defined by missions. The [Action: Trade/Drop] does not consume resources, so it does not trigger this trait.
Example: The Mechanic moves twice, landing on the spawn pit. He kills the monster in close combat and becomes injured, and the injury costs him 1 AP reducing his AP to 0. This does not end his turn because his trait allows him to spend scrap for 0 AP. He can then spend 2 scrap to close the spawn pit and gain 1 food for 0 AP. This will also gain him 1 additional AP this turn because of his trait.
Nurse
A little extra care can make anyone's day better.
Traits: All Injured survivors (including the Nurse) starting their turn within 2 range of you gain 1 additional AP this turn. This occurs when a survivor begins their turn, entering range after starting their turn does not trigger this bonus. Performing [Action: Heal] on a survivor also gives that survivor 2 additional AP this turn in addition to healing them. The additional AP can stack.
Example: The Nurse performs [Action: Heal] on an injured survivor, they will begin their next turn healthy and with an additional 2 AP. The Nurse then moves down and ends her turn. Since she is within 2 range, at the beginning of the survivor's turn, they will lose 1 AP due to injury, but gain 1 AP from the Nurse's ability.
Runner
She can't run a marathon down here, but once the path is cleared the stamina still helps.
Traits: Twice per turn, you may perform an [Action: Move] onto a cleared tile for 0 AP. These do not have to be consecutive moves. This only applies to cleared tiles, not normal unclearable tiles such as base or environmental hazards.
Example: The Runner spends 1 AP to move onto the base tile. The [Action: Move] onto the cleared tile does not cost an AP, but the one onto the hazard tile does.
Scavenger
Checking every nook and cranny, he usually finds a little extra of everything.
Traits: When you perform an [Action: Gather] that flips at least 2 tiles and produces 2 or more of a single resource type you gain 1 additional resource of that type. Tokens dropped on tiles, and resources rewarded for a clear tile action are not included when determining this bonus.
Example: The Scavenger gathers the lab and animal tiles for food as a single [Action: Gather]. He gains 1 bonus food token, for a total of 3.
Scouts
An extra set of eyes lets these siblings get a quick overview of their surroundings.
Traits: Once per turn, you may draw the top 5 tiles from the tile stack. Then look at 3 of those tiles. After you have looked at the tiles, shuffle all 5 tiles together and place them on top of the tile stack. When the scouts are in the game, if you split your tile stack, ensure that you are only drawing tiles from the stack that they are scouting. If playing a mission that requires you to shuffle tiles back into the tile stack, instead of placing the 5 tiles back on the tile stack, keep those 5 tiles separate until all 5 are explored or more tiles are scouted.
Skeptic
Expecting the worst means that she is always ready and prepared when it happens.
Traits: You may ignore knockback. This applies to knockback from any source, but does not make you immune to any other effects of the knockback source. When you explore a lair you gain 2 AP this turn. Any enemies that spawn from that lair do not spawn until after you spend your next AP or end your turn. This allows interaction with the lair since it is not yet occupied by an enemy, but does not prevent the enemy from spawning, even if the action clears the tile.
Example: The Skeptic explores a spawn pit. Since it is a lair, she gains 2 AP. After it is placed, but before the monster spawns, she chooses to ignore the knockback effect and then perform [Action: Clear Tile] on the spawn pit. Once that action is complete, the monster spawns.
Soldier
Years of military experience come in handy when dealing with weapons and ammunition.
Traits: All ammo costs are 1 less ammo for you, but never less than 1 ammo. [Action: Ranged Attack] or any action that consumes ammo other than [Action: Trade/Drop] costs Soldier 0 AP. The [Action: Trade/Drop] does not consume resources, so it does not trigger this trait.
Strategist
An eye on the big picture helps to get the right skills where they are needed.
Traits: Once per turn at a cost of 0 AP you may gain the abilities of another survivor or move another survivor 1 tile (the moved survivor may be at any range.) The gained ability will be in effect until the next upkeep phase. If taking an ability that triggers from an event, the ability must be taken before the event occurs. Any abilities that trigger at the start of your turn may be used if you take the ability before performing any actions. If taking an ability that changes your starting AP, add or subtract the difference from your current AP. If moving another survivor, the move may be performed at any time during the strategist's turn.
Example: The Strategist takes the Skeptic's ability before exploring, and may then ignore the knockback when he explores the flood.
Example: The Strategist takes the Nurse's ability at the beginning of his turn. Since he has not taken any actions yet, her ability grants him 1 AP from being injured. Since the ability remains until the upkeep phase, the injured survivor would also gain 1 AP when she begins her turn.
Tracker
Adept at following trails and hiding his own.
Traits: Once per turn, an [Action: Move] that reduces your range to an enemy costs 0 AP. This applies to any enemy, not just the closest. At any time you may choose to be untargetable or targetable to enemies for movement and combat. Being untargetable will prevent enemies from targeting you or initiating close combat when you are on the same tile. You may choose to be untargetable for the enemy movement phase and still opt to initiate close combat yourself with an enemy on your tile. This choice applies to all enemies at once, you may not select specific ones. You may ignore knockback from enemies.
Example: The Tracker's first [Action: Move] cost 0 AP since it reduced his range to the stranger. The tracker then moves to the stranger tile, choosing to be untargetable. At the end of the turn, the stranger will target a survivor unless the Tracker opts to become a possible target.
Trader
Experience as a salesman helps when exchanging goods.
Traits: [Action: Trade/Drop] costs you 0 AP. You may trade 1 resource with the Base tile for 1 resource of any other type. This may be done as many times as desired as part of any trade action within range of base.
Example: The Trader, as a single [Action: Trade/Drop], may take any number of resources from a survivor, himself, and base, exchange them for the same number of any resource, and then redistribute them between the survivor, base, and himself.
Missions
Activate
Mission: Explore 3 console tiles in the same round.
Setup: Add 3 console tiles to the tile stack.
Info: When a console tile is explored, it is picked up by the exploring survivor. If all 3 tiles are held by survivors, the players win. Otherwise during the upkeep phase, shuffle all explored console tiles back into the tile stack. The console tiles are not placed on the board when explored, but picked up by the exploring survivor and kept until the upkeep phase.
Difficulty: 1
The short version is identical, but is played with a shortened tile stack.
Behemoth
Mission: Hurl 5 canisters at the behemoth to destroy it.
Setup: Add 6 behemoth tiles to the tile stack.
Info: When the first 5 behemoth tiles are explored, they may be gathered for 1 canister token. This functions as a normal gather action. When the 6th behemoth tile is explored, it spawns a behemoth that moves 3 tiles per turn towards base and deals infinite damage in close combat. The spawn occurs when the tile is explored, regardless of whether or not the previous tiles have been gathered. The stats for the behemoth enemy spawned by this mission are different from the normal random behemoth enemy spawn. Since the behemoth is not killable with damage, if it enters base the players immediately lose.
[ACTION: Hurl Canister] Must be within 1 range of the behemoth. Place the hurled canister on the mission card to keep track of progress.
Difficulty: 5
The short version is played with a short tile stack, 1 less behemoth tile, and requires 4 hurled canisters (instead of 5).
Expand
Mission: Place 3 Outpost tokens.
Info: [ACTION: Place Outpost, 3 scrap] place outpost token. Token must be at least 12 tiles from base or another outpost token. Ignore barriers when calculating this range. Shortening the range after a token has been placed does not remove the token, but may effect the placement of new tokens.
Difficulty: 6
The short version is played with a short tile stack, and the required range is reduced to 9.
Example: Since the collapse tile is impassable and the barriers on space (8) are ignored, the range from base to the final tile is 12, so the green survivor on space (11) may place an outpost token on space (12). Once the outpost token has been placed, a tile may be explored to shorten the path back to base without affecting the placed token. Any future outpost tokens would use the altered range to determine valid placement.
Hive
Mission: Clear all 5 Hive tiles.
Setup: Reduce random enemy tile draw by 2. Add 5 hive tiles.
Info: When a hive tile is explored, all hive tiles spawn a monster. This includes the newly explored hive tile, and all other hive tiles that are currently on the board. The spawned monsters cause a knockback of 1, following the normal knockback rules (pg#13). Once all hive tiles are explored, hive tiles may be cleared for 1 AP. This functions as a clear tile action, costing 1 AP, and no resources, with a range of 1.
Difficulty: 9
The short version is played with a short tile stack, the requirement is reduced to 4 Hives, and 4 hives are added during setup (instead of 5.)
Example: The survivor explores a Hive tile. All Hive tiles spawn 1 monster.
- The survivor is knocked back 1 tile because the monster spawned on the tile next to them.
- Another survivor does not get knocked back because the monster spawned on their tile and instead enters close combat with the monster.
- The monster takes 1 damage and dies.
- That survivor takes 1 damage and becomes injured.
Map
Mission: Explore a path of tiles to form a square that is at least 9 tiles on each side.
Info: Impassable tiles may be part of the square. The perimeter may be any shape as long as a 9 x 9 square would fit on or inside it. The perimeter does not need to be passable, but it must be contiguous.
Difficulty: 3
The short version is played with a short tile stack and the size of the required square is reduced to 8.
Onslaught
Mission: Clear 15 lairs.
Setup: Increase random enemy tile draw by 5.
Info: Place a mission token on the mission card each time a lair is cleared to keep track. The spawned enemies do not need to be killed to succeed, the survivors only need to clear 15 lairs.
Difficulty: 8
The short version is played with a short tile stack, the requirement is reduced to 11 lairs, and 4 additional lairs are added during setup (instead of 5.)
Refugees
Mission: Place all 5 refugees on the refugee camp.
Setup: Add 6 refugee tiles to the tile stack.
Info: When explored, the first 5 refugee tiles are immediately cleared and the exploring player gains a refugee token. When explored, the 6th refugee tile becomes the refugee camp. Each refugee token in your inventory costs 1 AP. Refugees may only be traded to base, survivors, or the refugee camp. Survivors may carry as many refugees as they want, even if it costs more AP than they have. Refugees remain on incapacitated survivors until traded. If the survivor is forfeited, the refugees remain on the tile until gathered.
Difficulty: 6
The short version is identical, but is played with a short tile stack.
Example: The Runner trades all 5 refugees from base to himself. The trade costs 1 AP, as does each refugee, leaving him with less than 0. He may still use his special ability to move onto 2 cleared tiles per turn, but may not take any other actions (including trading away the refugees.) On his next turn, the refugees will again cost him more AP than he starts with. This will continue each turn until another survivor uses a trade action to remove at least 3 of the refugees.
Scout (great introductory mission)
Mission: Explore all tiles and return to base.
Info: All survivors must be alive. All survivor meeples must be on the base tile and either healthy or injured. Survivors may be forfeited and respawned at base to fulfill this requirement if there are sufficient resources to pay for the respawn.
Difficulty: 2
The short version is identical, but is played with a short tile stack.
Stragglers
Mission: Have 6 refugees in base.
Setup: Add 6 refugees tiles to tile stack.
Info: When explored, refugee tiles spawn a refugee ally token that may move 1 tile per turn. Refugee tokens move during the ally action phase, and are controlled by the players. This move is a standard move action and follows all normal rules. Refugee tokens do not have AP, so effects that lower AP do not effect them.
Enemies that target survivors will instead target refugees that are outside of base and uninjured, and receive 1 bonus movement when they do so. Refugees in base are not targeted, including those that entered base this turn. Refugees will be targeted even if a survivor is closer. Enemies entering tiles with a survivor still trigger close combat even if they are targeting a refugee. Refugees deal no damage in combat. Refugees have 1 health, if they take damage they become incapacitated. If a refugee takes damage, place an injury token under them to indicate that they are incapacitated and require 1 heal action to fully heal them. If close combat contains a refugee and at least one survivor, damage may be assigned by the players to either the survivor or the refugee.
Difficulty: 6
The short version is identical, but is played with a short tile stack.
Example: The refugee in base is no longer a target. The refugee at the bottom is targeted by the beast even though the green survivor is closer, and the beast gains 1 additional movement (because of the stragglers mission) for a total of 2 movement.
Water
Mission: Place a water source token on the base tile.
Setup: Add 4 water tiles to the tile stack.
Info: [ACTION: Test Water Source, 2 medicine] clear water tile. This action may only be performed on the first 3 water tiles that were explored. Place an objective counter on the card to track how many tiles have been tested.
Once 3 water tiles have been tested, the last water tile will do this 2 times during the upkeep phase: spawn a water source token on the nearest passable tile without a water source token. If there are no passable tiles (including barriers) this effect does not occur. Tokens do not effect movement or other interactions. Water tiles are numbered as they are explored, not as they are tested, meaning that the 4th water tile is always the last one that is explored, regardless of when the others are tested.
Difficulty: 6
Example: On the previous turn, water source tokens were spawned on the water tile and the tile above it. The irradiated tile is impassable, and the tile above contains a barrier, so the next two tokens will spawn as shown below since those are the nearest two accessible tiles.
Tasks
Camaraderie
Kill 5 enemies while near other survivors.
Info: Place a task token on the camaraderie task card whenever an enemy dies with more than half of the survivors (rounded down) in line of sight and 2 range of the enemy. In a 5 player game there would need to be at least 3 (half of 5 rounded down, plus 1) survivors in range and line of sight of the killed enemy to get credit.
Once there are 5 tokens on the Camaraderie card, this task is complete.
Reward: When an enemy dies within 2 range and line of sight of at least 2 players, all such players may immediately take 2 actions for free. The players may choose to take these actions in any order. If this occurs during a survivor's turn, these actions are performed before that survivor completes the rest of their turn. If this occurs during any part of the enemy's turn, these actions are performed immediately before the upkeep phase.
Foraging
Bring 4 plant tokens to base along with 2 medicine for testing.
Info: An [ACTION: Gather - Food] that clears at least 1 tile will now produce 1 plant token in addition to its normal resource of food tokens. Regardless of how many food tokens are gathered at once a survivor will only receive 1 plant token. [ACTION: Clear tile] does not trigger this effect. This effect persists even after the completion of the task. Survivors may only carry 1 plant token at a time, however with [ACTION: Trade] a survivor may trade multiple tokens at once as long as each survivor has no more than 1 plant token at the end of that trade action.
Once there are 4 plant tokens and 2 medicine in base, remove them, and this task is complete.
Reward: Every plant token traded to base is replaced with food.
Gas Testing
Use the gas on 3 enemies and bring their corpses to base for examination.
Info: [ACTION: Test Gas, 1 medicine] stun target enemy within 1 range and place a specimen token under that enemy. The specimen token will move with that enemy from now on. Upon killing that enemy the specimen token will drop on the tile where they were killed and may be picked up. Specimen tokens will need to be traded to base to complete the task.
Once there are 3 specimen tokens at base this task is complete.
Reward: All Enemies spawn stunned.
Perimeter
Place 6 fence tokens.
Info: [TILE: Bunker] and [TILE: Workshop] may be gathered for 2 fence tokens instead of their normal resources. This is a gather action, following all normal rules but produces fence tokens instead of the resources listed on the tile.
[ACTION: Extend Perimeter] - place fence token adjacent to base or another fence token. This costs 1 AP and has a range of 1. Placed fence tokens do not interact with survivors or enemies until the task is completed.
Once 6 fence tokens have been placed, this task is complete.
Reward: Tiles containing fence tokens function as a base tile during trade actions and barrier tokens versus creatures. Any base abilities that are not part of a trade action are not included in this effect. Fence tokens both impede enemy movement and block enemy line of sight but do not have similar effects on survivors.
Radio
Repair 2 radios.
Info: [TILE: Bunker] may be gathered to gain a radio token instead of their normal resources. This is a gather action, following all normal rules but produces radio tokens instead of the resources listed on the tile.
[ACTION: Repair Radio], must be within 1 range of a workshop tile. This does not clear the workshop. Place the spent radio token on the radio task card to track progress.
Once 2 radio tokens have been placed on the Radio card, this task is complete.
Reward: [ACTION: Talk] gain another survivor's abilities until the upkeep phase. This costs 1 AP and may be done at any time during the survivor's turn. If taking an ability that triggers from an event, the ability must be taken before the event occurs. Any abilities that trigger at the start of your turn may be used if you take the ability before performing any actions. If taking an ability that changes your starting AP, add or subtract the difference from your current AP.
Story Missions
Unknown tells the story of a group of survivors that have fled underground from catastrophe above. Playing this set of missions in order will take you through the first era of their survival and adjustment to their new lives. Playing in this order is not required. These missions are not arranged in increasing difficulty, so don't be surprised if you need to adjust the difficulty to progress through some of the earlier ones successfully.
Scout
The survivors arrive at a suitable campsite and try to get their bearings. Scouts are sent out to see what is nearby and hopefully acquire some supplies.
Recommended survivors: Explorer, Soldier, Doctor, Runner.
Activate
It is found that the local power is still functional, but deactivated. We need to get it out of emergency mode so that we can use it.
Recommended survivors: Investigator, Scavenger, Captain, Scouts.
Refugees
Some of the survivors talk of missing friends and family. The camp is full, but perhaps we can find them and move them to a safer location.
Recommended survivors: Scavenger, Runner, Captain, Mechanic.
Onslaught
The power is on, but it has stirred up the tunnel's other inhabitants. We must hold them off and hope that the rush subsides.
Recommended survivors: Skeptic, Hunter, Tracker, Nurse.
Map
The refugees tell stories of creatures they saw while alone. We should establish a perimeter to ensure our safety.
Recommended survivors: Trader, Skeptic, Hunter, Explorer.
Water
Water stores are running low. There are possible sources nearby, but we will need to test them and then direct the flow back to base.
Recommended survivors: Doctor, Investigator, Biologist, Scouts.
Expand
With a better understanding of the surrounding area, it is decided that outposts are needed to defend against the threats.
Recommended survivors: Mechanic, Trader, Tracker, Strategist.
Behemoth
Something huge is headed towards the camp, and our weapons have proven ineffective. Some of the caustic chemicals stored in the tunnels might be able to stop the behemoth if we can collect enough of them.
Recommended survivors: Scouts, Strategist, Nurse, Biologist.