Zpocalypse 2: Defend the Burbs Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview - Time Cycles
• Survival Tools
  • Ammo/Click Dice
• Survivor Deck
  • Survivor Card - Day Side
  • Survivor Card - Night Side
  • Survivor Traits
• Armory Deck
  • Armory: Weapons
  • Armory: Accessories
• Night Phase
• Dusk Step
• Midnight Step
• Sunrise Step
• Combat
• Your Turn - Action Pool
• Using Dice
  • Combining Dice
  • Fluid Actions
• Points Of Interest
  • Search Locations
  • The Bunker Tunnels
  • Line of Sight (LOS)
  • How The Stairs Work
  • How Windows Work
• Zombies
• The Doom Track
  • Spawning Zombies
  • Pathing - Zombie Movement
  • Knocked Down Zombies
• Horde Attacking
  • Taking Damage
  • Critical Wounds
  • Zombies That Flee
  • Horde Zombies That Are Defeated
• Mutates
  • Mutate Card Anatomy
  • Mutate’s Turn
  • Mutates That Flee
  • Mutates That Are Defeated
• Day Phase
• Morning
• Afternoon
• Neighborhood Meeting
  • Contests - General
  • Contests - Neighborhood Meeting
• Resources, Food, And Armory Cards
  • Getting Items
  • Carrying Items
  • Your Private Stash
  • The Public Stash
  • Trading Items
  • Accessories (Non-Weapon Armory Cards)
• Assigning Day Tasks
  • Task #2 – CRAFT
  • Placing Crafted Upgrade Tokens
• Victory Points
  • The Level-Up Phase
• Recruiting New Survivors
  • Survivor Overflow
  • Trading Survivors
• Campaign Play

Overview - Time Cycles

The game proceeds in two cycles:

Night phase: At night we kill zombies. It’s down and dirty combat. The Night phase is broken into 3 steps:

• Dusk - Setup
• Midnight - Combat begins
• Sunrise - Clean Up

If any player reached a milestone on the progress track during the Night phase, they enter a level-up event before proceeding to Day phase.

Day phase: While the sun’s out we assign tasks necessary for keeping the home and staying alive. The Day phase is broken into 3 steps:

• Morning - Use the action board to send survivors out on tasks.
• Afternoon - Feed survivors so they don’t go hungry.
• Neighborhood Meeting - Determine the leader for the next day.

Survival Tools

DICE

Ammo/Click Dice

If a weapon has the ammo die symbol, you must roll a blue die after making a basic attack with that weapon. If the result of the roll is a “click” – that weapon is out of ammo. Turn the card horizontal to show that you cannot make another basic attack, nor use any of that weapon’s special traits, until reloading the weapon. Unless specified otherwise on the weapon, you must discard an ammo card from your private stash to reload a weapon. Reloading does not cost AP.

Survivor Deck

Survivor Card - Day Side

1. Survivor’s Name
2. Survivor Bio: A tale of woe.
3. Objective: Personal goal for this survivor.
4. Day Trait: A special trait that can be used during the Day phase.
5. Skills: Repeat of survivor skills on reverse side.
6. Starting Survivor: If the corner is dipped in Red, it denotes you may start the game with this survivor in your squad.
7. Victory Points: End game victory point tally for keeping this survivor alive. Personal Objectives Each survivor has a unique objective - a mini quest for that survivor to accomplish. Each objective is worth its own amount of VP. When an objective is completed, immediately:

• Move your squad forward on the progress track equal to that objective’s VP reward.
• Flip the survivor token with the number matching the survivor’s objective you just completed over to the “finished side” (showing 2 stars).

Survivor Card - Night Side

1. Survivor’s Name
2. Night Trait: A special trait that can be used during the Night phase.
3. Starting Survivor: If dipped in red, denotes you may start the game with this survivor in your squad.
4. Skills: A survivor’s honed talents and natural prowesses. Combat: Primarily used for killing zombies during the Night phase. Firearms: Proficiency with ranged weapons. Melee: Feats of physical strength, namely smash and bash. Non-Combat: Primarily used for actions during the Day phase. First aid: Basic medicine and wound treatment. Mechanics: Engineering, carpentry and general construction. Sneak: The ability to act without being noticed. Talk: Salesmanship, communication, and coercion.
5. Stats: Your survivor’s physical attributes. Health Points (HP): The amount of damage a survivor can sustain before becoming dead or...Undead. Smarts: A survivor’s ability to think beyond the next kill and meal; used for searching for loot and passing certain challenges. Defenses: Your squad’s combined ability to dodge and deflect attacks. Unless otherwise stated, defenses may be depleted before HP. Speed: How far a survivor can move before needing to catch their breath. Denotes max number of squares you can move in a turn.

Survivor Traits

Traits are special abilities unique to each survivor, which improve a survivor’s performance. Survivors each have two traits: one night trait (on the Night side of the card) and one day trait (on the Day side). There are two kinds of traits:

• Passive Traits are always in effect. Passive traits are distinguished by having no cost.
• Active Traits are abilities that must be activated by paying the associated action point cost. You can tell a trait must be activated if it has an AP die symbol cost next to the abilities name.
• Night Traits can only be used during the Night phase, and Day Traits can only be used during the Day phase.

Armory Deck

Armory: Weapons

1. Basic Attack Cost: The amount of effort required to attack with this weapon.
2. Range: How many spaces away a weapon can reach when making a basic attack.
3. Type: Weapons use either firearms or melee skill to wield. Accessories show the accessory symbol, and usually don’t count towards carry limit when equipped.
4. Click Die: If a blue ammo die is present, this weapon can run out of ammunition
5. Armory Card’s Name.
6. Combat Traits: Combat oriented traits usable by this weapon. Some require a prerequisite of skill to use. Like survivor traits, these can be passive or active.
7. Impromptu Weapon: If the right corner is dipped in red it denotes you may start the game with this weapon in your squad.
8. Victory Points: End game victory point value for keeping this weapon in your inventory.
9. Basic Weapon Damage: A reminder that basic attacks deal 1 damage.

Armory: Accessories

Unlike weapons, accessories are usually worn, and do not count against your survivors card limit when equipped. Weapon Traits Just like a basic attack, traits also have an associated action point cost. In order to use an activated trait, you must allocate the appropriate number of action points by physically moving the number of dice required to pay for the abilities. The AP cost of traits may be paid with multiple dice. The total number of dice that can be spent on a weapon in a single turn, for both basic attacks and special traits, is limited by that survivor’s skill of the associated type.

Night Phase

Dusk Step

Begin by spawning zombies.

1. Flip all survivors to the Night side of their card.
2. Reset your squad’s defense wheel. Add up all of the defense values on every survivor in your squad, including any modifying armory cards.
3. Squads may begin anywhere inside the house.
4. Set the turn clock on the Horde card to turn one. Time to do some killlin’.

Midnight Step

Combat begins. Starting with the first player, each player takes a turn. When each player has had a turn, the zombies take their turn. After the zombies’ turn is over, move the turn clock forward 1 place. At the end of hour five, move to the sunrise step.

Sunrise Step

Remove all zombies from the map. For each weak zombie removed, add +1 to the Doom Track. For each fresh zombie removed, add +2. For each mutate removed, increase the Doom Track by +1 for each point of HP remaining on that mutate. If any player reached a milestone during the Night, move to a level-up phase. If not, proceed to the Day.

Combat

Your Turn - Action Pool

At the start of every turn during the Night phase, create your action pool for that turn by rolling two six-sided dice for each survivor in your squad. Once the dice are rolled, organize them in numerical order based on what you rolled. Each pip on the die represents an action point (AP), and the Z (zombie symbol) represents six points. These dice are now your action pool. You may spend them to perform one action per die, or combine multiple dice to meet the cost of a single action. You will spend your action dice on the following:

• Moving
• Basic attacking
• Active special traits (on survivors or armory cards)
• Search locations
• Unarmed combat
• Certain items or perk cards
• Skill challenges (not used during combat)

Using Dice

When using dice to pay for moving, place them on your squad board. When using dice for basic attacks, place them on that weapon’s illustration. When using dice for special traits, be they on weapon or survivor cards, place the dice in that trait’s text box. When using dice for other functions, like search locations, put the dice off to the side.

Combining Dice

If you want to pay action points but didn’t roll a high enough number on a single die to meet the cost of an ability, you can combine dice to reach the requirement. In addition, Perk Cards allow you to add additional dice to a basic attack of the same attack type.

• Limitation: A trait or basic attack that has a cost of Z you must roll a natural Z and may not combine dice to the equivalent value of 6.
• Limitation: The number of total dice that can be allocated to a weapon, for both basic attacks and special traits, is limited by your survivor’s skill in that type.

Fluid Actions

There is no set turn order, or sequence you must follow. You may spend dice from your action pool in whatever order and combination you see fit.

• Limitation: No leftovers. If you spend a die that has a higher value than the action point cost requires, you do not make change. The same is true for attacks and special traits. Moving Moving your squad costs one AP per space. To move, take one die from your action pool and place it on your squad board. You may then move a number of spaces equal to or less than the value of that die.
• Limitation: Your squad is only as fast as its slowest survivor. Special Traits will often allow your squad to move additional spaces, unrestricted of your squad’s speed limitation. Additional Movement Rules

1. Your squad can move vertically, horizontally, and diagonally.
2. Your squad may pass through other squads while moving, but may not stop moving on the same space as another squad.
3. You may not move through zombies or impassable areas. Basic Attacking The basic attack cost is the amount of AP required to make an attack with that weapon, and the range determines how many spaces away that attack can target. Unless specified by a card or the story booklet, each basic attack can only have a single target. The basic attack cost can be paid with a single die, or a combination of dice.

• Limitation: A weapon can only be used for a basic attack once per turn. Special traits will offer additional opportunities to bust up skulls.
• Unless modified by items or traits, basic attack = 1 damage. Active Traits To use an active trait, allocate the required amount of action points by physically moving dice to the trait’s text box. Active traits and basic attacks from the same weapon may have two different targets.
• Limitation: Each special trait can only be used once per turn. Some traits will indicate that they can be used less frequently.Put the corresponding survivor token on a once per day ability to show that it has been used. How Skills Affect Combat Weapons are broken into two categories - firearms and melee. The total number of dice that can be allocated to a weapon in a single turn, for both basic attacks and special traits, is limited by your survivor’s skill in that weapon type. Skills can be increased by perk cards and decreased by critical wounds. However, there is no limit on the total number of dice used to pay the cost for a survivor’s activated trait. Unarmed Combat The basic attack cost for unarmed combat is 6 AP, range 1, melee. Making an unarmed basic attack causes that survivor to lose 1 HP. The number of dice spent to make an unarmed attack is limited by a survivor’s melee skill. MAP

Points Of Interest

• Bio: If your squad steps onto a Bio space, take a Bio token and attach it to a single survivor in your squad. Survivors infected with Bio lose 1 HP at the beginning of every afternoon step - but there is no immediate penalty.
• Radiation: If your squad enters a Radiation space, take a Radiation token and attach it to a single survivor in your squad. Survivors who suffer a Radiation token lose 1 HP immediately. Survivors who have a Radiation token attached may spend the token during the Level-Up phase to select a mutation card, instead of a normal skill upgrade.
• Arduous Terrain: Arduous spaces cost players 2 AP to move through instead 1 AP. If the arduous symbol appears on the line or corner between spaces, it only refers to moving directly over the symbol. Zombies move up to three spaces a turn, with each arduous symbol taking an additional point of movement. If a zombie has moved two spaces and the last space they would land on is arduous terrain, they may still move onto that space but become knocked down.
• Search Location: Goodies hidden from plain sight. See below.
• Impassable: These spaces can’t be walked over or attacked through. They are blocking line of sight, and must be maneuvered around.
• North, South, East, and West: These spaces are where zombies make their entrance onto the map. The story booklet will indicate where to place these tokens. As spawn locations, these spaces have no additional effects on game play.
• Window Drop-in locations: These spaces are numbered, corresponding to the above window. If your squad jumps or falls out of a window, they land on the landing space with the corresponding number.
• Refuel: Spend 4 AP to reload a gas powered weapon.

Search Locations

• When standing on a searchable space, you may spend a single die from your action pool to draw a card of the designated type. Note that this means you’ll have to allocate an entire die to searching. You cannot use leftovers from another ability.
• When searching, look at cards from the top of the designated deck equal to the amount of AP spent on the die. However, the number of cards looked at cannot exceed the highest smarts stat among survivors in your squad (although you may end up spending more AP).
• Select one card and add it to your carried items. Put the other cards on the bottom of that deck in a random order.
• After searching a location, shuffle the search tokens face down, so only the “X” side is showing. Once the tokens are mixed up, chose one and flip it face up. If the revealed side has a number displayed, you must immediately spawn weak zombies equal to the number revealed. The player who did the searching may choose how the zombies spawn, but each must be adjacent to the searched space. Leave the token “X” side up on that space to show it is not searchable again for the remainder of this night of combat. At the beginning of a new night of combat, remove all existing search tokens.

The Bunker Tunnels

The Bunker Tunnel entrance is a special crafting card that unlocks a new mode of maneuvering around the map. Once the tunnels have been opened (the Bunker Tunnel crafting card has been completed) players may travel between the tunnel entrances underground, without needing to walk across the plagued surface.

• Tunnel Movement: Entering the tunnels costs 1 AP per survivor in your squad. You may combine any number of dice to meet this cost. Once you have entered a tunnel, your turn is immediately over. Place your Squad onto the Tunnel Card - you are traveling underground! At the beginning of the following turn, before you roll to create your action pool, you may choose any tunnel entrance for your squad to emerge from (at no AP cost).

Line of Sight (LOS)

If you can connect the center of your squad’s current space to the center of another space with a straight line that does not cross any red walls or impassable spaces, you have a clear line of sight (LOS). Even if your target is within the required range, they cannot be targeted with an ability unless they are within clear line of sight.

• If there is ever any doubt about LOS, assume that zombies can see players, but players cannot see zombies.
• LOS also dictates the way zombies move.

How The Stairs Work

To travel to the upstairs board, players must walk up to the top of the stairs. While standing on the stairs, your squad is located on a space shared by both boards. You are not standing on two spaces - they are actually the same space overlapping. If you are standing on the top of the stairwell, you are in the unique position of being able to see both the 2nd and 1st floors. You may end your movement on either the stairs or landing; however, the space you stop on must be clear on both the upstairs and first floor tiles.

How Windows Work

While standing in front of a second floor window space (#1-9), your squad may look out onto the yard and shoot the ground below. Count range the same way as normal, using the space directly below the window on the first floor with the corresponding number to determine range. Your squad can choose to jump out of a window. If you jump from a window, land your squad on the corresponding numbered space directly below the window. Each survivor in your squad takes 2 direct damage. If you land on the same space as another squad or zombie, each survivor and zombie on that space also takes 2 damage, and your squad lands on any adjacent empty space.

Zombies

Horde Zombie - Weak Each weak zombie deals 1 when attacking. Weak zombies are killed after taking 1 damage. Horde Zombie - Fresh Each fresh zombie deals 2 damage. Fresh zombies turn into weak zombies after taking 1 damage.

The Doom Track

The Doom Track represents how much attention your party has drawn from the massive horde surrounding the suburbs. The Doom Track is measured using the zombie meeple on the progress tracker. Zombies that are left standing when the Night phase ends will increase the Doom Track. Occurrences in the story booklet will also contribute to your mounting doom. Each Night phase begins by spawning fresh zombies equal to the current position on the Doom Track. For each milestone passed the previous Day, replace a fresh zombie with a Mutate. If the Night phase ever begins with the Doom Track at 30, your house has become the target of the entire horde and you are overrun. Your current chapter is lost - refer to the story booklet for specific instructions. At the beginning of each chapter, reset the Doom Track based on that chapter’s setup details.

Spawning Zombies

Zombies are placed on the board one at a time, starting from the North spawn location and proceeding clockwise around the East, South, and West locations. Zombies may be spawned on any space adjacent to the spawn location tokens. Two zombies may fit on a single space. If there is no more room, the new zombies will spill over into other spaces. Always begin by spawning mutates first. If more than 20 fresh zombies would be placed on the map at any time, spawn the remainder as weak zombies. Certain events in the story booklet, and other occurrences such as survivor death or search tokens, will cause zombies to spawn irregularly, not on one of the spawn location tokens. Follow instructions on placing these zombies, but if there is ever any doubt, place them in such a way as to maximize their access to squads.

Pathing - Zombie Movement

1. Horde zombies move up to three spaces, but stop moving when they find something to attack - be that be a survivor or crafted fortification.
2. Zombies always prioritize moving towards the closest squad they can see within line of sight (LOS).
3. If zombies cannot see any squads, they will move towards the staircase and up to the second floor. Then they move to the public stash token.
4. Zombie LOS works the same as players’.
5. Zombie LOS is calculated before movement, meaning zombies will never pick new targets and change directions mid movement.
6. If two squads are equally distant from and within LOS of a zombie, those two squads may choose who is hunted. If they cannot agree, the zombie goes after the player with the most VP.
7. Two zombies can occupy the same space, and zombies will always turn to accommodate a second zombie moving onto or through their space.
8. Zombies do not block the LOS of other zombies.
9. If zombies have LOS on an unobstructed path towards their target (no fortifications or impassable spaces in their way), they will always take the open path.
10. If the only path within a zombie’s LOS is blocked by a fortification, they will move towards and then stop and attack that fortification until it is either destroyed, another target enters their LOS, or a path within their LOS becomes clear. The Zombie Shuffle If a zombie’s third space of movement in a single turn would land them on a square that already has two zombies, it performs a zombie shuffle. Thematically it pushes another zombie forward; however, to make things simpler, take the overflow zombie and place it on an adjacent open space.

Knocked Down Zombies

When a zombie is knocked down, physically turn its miniature on its side. Zombies that are not knocked down always take their turn before zombies that are knocked down. While a zombie is knocked down, treat that space as though it were arduous terrain for all movement and LOS for both players and zombies. Once all upright zombies have moved, the knocked zombies stand up. If a zombie begins its turn knocked down, it will stand up instead of moving. If a squad is within range, that zombie will still be able to attack. Otherwise, the zombies turn will end after standing up.

Horde Attacking

After all Horde zombies have moved, they attack.

1. Weak and fresh zombies group together and attack as one entity – the Horde. The Horde always attacks any and all survivors within range 1.
2. Players are attacked in turn order, starting with player one and proceeding sequentially. If a zombie is adjacent to two squads, it will attack both squads.
3. When a squad is attacked, first note how many Horde zombies are in range.
4. Roll 2d6. If any Z are rolled, your squad immediately suffers a critical wound for each Z.
5. Regardless of whether or not any Z were rolled for the zombie attack, your squad suffers damage equal to the number of horde zombies attacking. Your squad takes 1 damage per weak zombie, and 2 damage per fresh zombie attacking.
6. You must allocate all damage. If a survivor in your squad takes more than they have HP, the remaining damage must be dealt to another survivor in your squad.

Taking Damage

Whenever your squad takes damage, be it from a zombie attack or an occurrence in the story booklet, you may choose to distribute this damage anyway you see fit. Damage is dealt one point at a time. For each point of damage done, you may choose to:

1. Reduce your squad’s defense wheel by one. You cannot choose this option if your squad has 0 defense remaining. Or
2. Reduce one of your survivor’s HP wheels by one. If a survivor’s HP ever reaches zero, that survivor is immediately killed.

Critical Wounds

1. Type: The form of permanent scar left by unspeakable horrors.
2. Effect: The penalty suffered after being dealt a wound.
3. Name: The layman’s term for what awful thing just happened.
4. Victory Points: In the Zpocalypse, battle scars are a mark of pride.
5. Damage Value: The amount of direct damage dealt to the victim. For every Z the zombies roll when attacking, your squad suffers a critical wound. You must select which survivor in your squad will receive the wound before revealing the card. After you have selected the survivor, reveal the top card of the critical wound deck and place it on that survivor. Before anything else happens, that survivor loses HP equal to the damage value of that wound. Then follow the instructions on that critical wound.

Zombies That Flee

At the end of the 5th hour of night (the 5th round of combat) all zombies immediately leave the house and yard. Each zombie that flees increases the Doom Track. Weak zombies increase the Doom Track by 1. Fresh zombies increase the Doom Track by 2. To increase the Doom Track, move the zombie meeple forward the corresponding number of spaces on the progress track.

Horde Zombies That Are Defeated

Each zombie that your squad defeats yields VP.

• Weak zombies - 1 VP
• Fresh zombies - 2 VP. Normally, fresh zombies turn weak after taking 1 damage; however, if your squad kills a fresh zombie in a single turn (deals it 2 damage) you will be rewarded with an additional 1 VP.

Mutates

Every 5 spaces on the Doom Track is a milestone. Each time the Doom Track reaches a milestone, the next time you would spawn zombies, replace the first zombie with a random mutate. If the Doom Track crosses multiple milestones before zombies are spawned, replace that many zombies with mutates on the next spawn. Milestones only trigger a single mutate; once spawned, that milestone is considered a regular space on the Doom Track.

Mutate Card Anatomy

1. Mutate’s Name
2. Damage: Damage inflicted on each attack.
3. Range: Number of spaces away this mutate attacks squads.
4. Speed: How far they can move before finding a target. Zombies won’t move away from a target once they’ve engaged.
5. Abilities: Various special abilities the Mutate can use each turn.
6. HP Tracker: A mutate’s HP changes depending on the number of players in the game. When the mutate spawns, place a cube on the number labeled with the amount of players in your game. When a mutate is dealt damage, reduce their HP track by 1 for each point of damage. Mutates each move a different number of spaces towards the closest squad, determined by their speed. Mutates attack and deal damage to all squads within their range. Each mutate has a unique trait. These traits affect the way they move, deal damage, or take damage from opposing survivors.

Mutate’s Turn

After all players have taken a turn, but before regular zombies move and attack, any mutates on the map take their turn. Mutates cannot be knocked down, and are not slowed by arduous terrain. Pay attention to any special traits that affect the way the mutate moves or attacks. Mutates each roll their own 2d6 to inflict critical wounds. After each mutate has taken a turn, proceed to the regular zombie’s turn.

Mutates That Flee

Increase the Doom Track by 1 for each point of HP remaining on a mutate at the end of hour 5. Do not return that mutate’s card to the mutate deck; in addition to any other zombies or mutates that spawn the following Night, you will also respawn the mutates that fled the previous Night. Set returning mutate’s HP to the amount of HP they fled with.

Mutates That Are Defeated

If a mutate is reduced to 0 HP, all squads on the map gain 3 VP. Remove that mutate’s card from the mutate deck. It will only be re-added at the start of a new chapter.

Day Phase

Morning

As soon as the sun rises, flip all survivors to the Day side of their card. Beginning with the first player, each player assigns a survivor in their squad to a task by placing the corresponding survivor token on the chosen task. Tasks are then completed in order (#1. Scavenging, #2. Crafting, #3. Guarding, #4. Resting).

Afternoon

When the afternoon step begins, all survivors lose 1 HP for each Bio token they have. Then every survivor needs to eat. Survivors that are not fed lose 2 HP. Certain survivors have traits that make feeding more or less difficult. Food (green-marked): can be eaten with no consequences. Two other food types (red-marked) can be eaten, but have drawbacks.

Neighborhood Meeting

After all the survivors have been fed, it’s time to determine who is going to lead the charge for the following day. The player who went last in turn order that day may pick any skill - firearms, melee, first aid, sneak, mechanics, or talking to contest the current leader. Players may also choose to trade survivors between squads. Then update your campaign sheet with the Day’s events and move the day tracker forward (and flip to the Night side).

Contests - General

Whatever skill is chosen is the contest for all players. Each player creates their action pool (2d6 per survivor in their squad). Players then choose one survivor from their squad to participate in the contest. That player may allocate dice equal to the chosen survivor’s skill in the chosen contest. The combined value of all dice used by the individual survivor is the AP spent on the contest for that player. The player with the highest total AP spent on the contest is the winner.

Contests - Neighborhood Meeting

When assigning dice to a survivor for the Neighborhood Meeting’s contest, players may contribute any number of cards from their carried items or private stash to the public stash. For each card contributed this way, that player adds +1 to their chosen survivor’s AP value for that contest. In the case of the Neighborhood meeting, the winner of the contest gets the first player token, and will be the first player for turn order on the following day.

Resources, Food, And Armory Cards

The story booklet and various traits will instruct you on when to draw a resource, food, or armory card. The term Items refers to any Food, Resource or Armory card.

Getting Items

When the group gains Resource, Food, or Armory cards, they are laid out face up where all players can reach. Starting with the first player and proceeding in turn order, each player may select a card and add it to their carried items or private stash.

Carrying Items

Each survivor in a player’s squad can hold two items - including any weapons they have equipped. Alternatively, if one of those survivors is not equipped with a weapon, your squad could carry four additional items instead. Keep carried items off to the side of the squad board labeled carried items. If your squad ever gains more items than they can carry, you must drop the excess items in your private stash.

Your Private Stash

Move the overflow items to the opposite side of your squad board labeled private stash. The private stash may hold any number of items. If your squad becomes encumbered during the Night phase - leave the private stash token of the corresponding player color on the space with that player. If a player is adjacent to or on the same space as their private stash, they may freely exchange items between the stashed and carried sides of their squad board. If a player becomes encumbered by new items while they have an existing private stash token on the board they must choose to either:

• Create a new stash: Discard all items currently on the stashed side of their squad board. Move the new items to that side (or place the new items in the carried side, and move previously carried items to the stash) and relocate their private stash token to their current space.
• Abandon items: Either discard the new items, or discard currently carried items to make room for the new ones. At anytime during the Day phase, you have access to all your items and are free to rearrange items you are carrying or stashing.
• Limitation: You do not have access to your private stash when sending a survivor on a scavenging mission. This only affects the survivor(s) who were allocated to the scavenging task.

The Public Stash

The public stash token represents all items that have been contributed for the good of the group. The public stash token must be kept on the second floor of the safe house. Place one public stash token anywhere on the second floor. Players may relocate it during the Day phase. Any items that are added to the public stash should be kept to the side of the second floor board, with the second public stash token on top of the stack. Item cards in the public stash are available to all players during the Day phase. During the Night phase, players may only take items from the public stash if they are adjacent to, or on the same space as, the public stash token.

Trading Items

During the Night phase, squads may spend 1AP per card to give items to an adjacent squad. This includes trading the Bomb and Molotov Cocktail tokens.

Accessories (Non-Weapon Armory Cards)

Keep an eye out for armory cards with the accessory symbol. Survivors may equip accessories in addition to a weapon. When equipped, accessories do not count towards your squads carrying capacity.

Assigning Day Tasks

Starting with the first player and following turn order, each player takes a turn assigning one of the survivors in their squad to a task on the Action Board. Task #1 - SCAVENGE Whichever player assigned a survivor to the first slot in the scavenging party is the party leader for this expedition. Turn to the scavenging section of the story booklet and follow instructions on determining a location. Once a location is found, and the narrative is read, players will be faced with a choice. Once a choice has been made, the party leader creates the action pool rolling 2d6 for each survivor in the scavenging party. Dice can then be allocated to complete the challenge - however, unless stated otherwise in the story booklet, each challenge must be completed by a single survivor, and each survivor can only allocate as many dice as they have in the associated skill. When the scavenging challenge is completed, follow the loot instructions and bonuses based on your success or failure in whatever option you chose. Players draft cards from the loot pool, one card per player at a time, following the order of tokens in the scavenging party. Any survivors found must be recruited last, after the items. While out hunting for supplies, the scavenging party cannot use items stashed at the base, or be helped by any survivors, items, or upgrades that did not go out scavenging. Any loot the scavenging party returns with can be used for the other tasks that morning.

Task #2 – CRAFT

All players that allocated a survivor to building fortifications have access to the crafting cards. The player who assigned a survivor to the first slot in the crafting team is the crafting leader for that day. That player begins the crafting task by rolling 2d6 for each survivor on the crafting team to create the action pool. The leader has first choice of the dice, but can only use as many dice from the action pool as their survivor has mechanic skill. Basic Crafting

1. Name of the craftable
2. Victory Point: Reward for crafting.
3. Cost: Cost to build. Includes both AP and resources. Description of thing once crafted.
4. Instructions: How and when to use what you craft### Fortification Tokens (Basic)

By placing fortification tokens, you can effectively control the direction of the zombie horde, at least for a while. They must be located on valid squares that do not contain a symbol.

Placing Crafted Upgrade Tokens

Crafted upgrades, provide a benefit to your squad during the Day phase, but also physically appear on the board for the Night phase. Once crafted, follow instructions on the crafting card to determine the placement restrictions for that particular upgrade. Just like junk walls, zombies will try to destroy these structures. When attacking a crafted fortification or upgrade, zombies roll 2d6. If they roll an 8 or higher, the fortification is destroyed. If a structure becomes destroyed, remove the corresponding card from the upgrade slot on the action board, and return it to the crafting deck. Craftable Explosives Molotov Cocktail Token:

• Thrown: Molotov cocktails can be thrown by a survivor in your squad, at a range equal to that survivor’s melee skill. You may target any space within that range, and within LOS. The explosion does 1 damage to all zombies and squads within range 2 (and within LOS) of the targeted location. Discard the token after use. Bomb Token:
• Placed: When your squad gains a bomb token, during the crafting phase they may place it anywhere on the board. During Combat, you may place it on any adjacent square. When a zombie or survivor moves onto the same space as the bomb token, it explodes and deals 2 damage to all zombies and squads within range 1 and within LOS. Then discard the token.
• Limitation: Finish moving all zombies before resolving the bomb tokens area of effect. If a mutate triggers the bomb (mutates move before zombies), then resolve the area of effect before moving zombies. Task #3 - GUARD DUTY Each survivor on guard duty reduces the Doom Track by 1. Task #4 - REST Any number of survivors can rest during the morning step, and any survivor not assigned to another task must rest. Idle Rest: Each survivor that goes on idle rest regains 2 HP, but increases the Doom Track by 1. Bed Rest: Survivors that rest in a bed regain 3 HP, remove 1 Bio token if they have it, and do not increase the Doom Track.

Victory Points

Every time you kill a weak zombie, your squad gains 1 victory point (VP). If your squad weakens a fresh zombie, you gain 1 VP. Each time your squad passes a milestone, you have earned the privilege of gaining a perk card. Defeated mutates reward 3 VP to all players in the game.

The Level-Up Phase

Whenever any player passes a milestone, there will be a Level-Up phase immediately after the current phase. Reveal cards from the top of the perk deck equal to the number of players plus one. Following turn order, each player who passed a milestone on the Doom Track in the previous phase will have the option to select a perk card. When a perk is selected, it is immediately assigned to one of that player’s survivors. Replace the chosen perk with the top card of the perk deck, and then the next player makes his or her choice. Once every player has made a choice, put the remaining perks back on top of the deck. If you choose not to take a perk, the milestone will be wasted. If no perks can be chosen by a player (none of the revealed perks are eligible), reshuffle and draw a new set of perks. There is no limit to the number of perks per survivor. Perk Cards

1. Type: Skill, Training or Mutation.
2. Description: Flavor/mechanics.
3. Name: Name of the perk.
4. Skill Icon/Bonus: Reminder of benefit when applicable. Mutations In order to gain a mutation, you must be able to remove one Radiation token from the survivor that perk would be assigned to. If the story booklet ever calls for players to gain perks outside of a normal Level-Up phase, randomized or selected, mutations may be chosen without paying the cost of one .

Recruiting New Survivors

Whenever the story booklet indicates that one or more new survivors are available, draw a number of survivors indicated by the story booklet.

Survivor Overflow

If survivors are drawn and no squad has room for them, discard that survivor, and increase the Doom Track by +1.

Trading Survivors

Players may trade survivors between squads during the Neighborhood meeting. There is no cost for giving a survivor from one squad to the next; however, that survivor transfers with their current HP, and with any perks or wounds currently attached. Survivor Death If a survivor’s HP wheel ever reaches zero, discard their survivor card and all perks or wounds attached to that survivor. Increase the Doom Track by +1. If a survivor dies during the Night phase, place a fresh zombie on an empty space adjacent to your squad. If no spaces are empty, spawn the zombie on the closest empty space. Squad Death If all survivors in a player’s squad are killed in the same phase, they are not out of the game (provided at least 1 other player still has a living survivor). A player who’s entire squad was eliminated will rejoin the game at the end of the phase with two random survivors, each with two random armory cards. Subtract your current chapter number from each new survivor’s HP wheels. Those survivors enter before the perk phase, and may still receive perks based on milestones passed by that player during the phase. If a squad dies during the Night phase, take all items that were in that player’s private stash and add them to the public stash. Then, flip that player’s stash tokens to their death side. Take all items that were carried and equipped by that squad and put them in a pile with one death token on top. Place the other token on the space where the squad died. Any other player may pay 1AP while standing on that token to pick up all items in the pile. If Night ends and no squad has picked up the dropped items, they are all discarded. Losing If the Night phase begins with the Doom Track at 30, or the day counter reaches 30, your party is overrun by the horde. Discard all items that are stashed, and remove any fortifications from the board and crafted upgrades on the action board. You must restart your current chapter. See each chapter for additional set up instructions and other loss conditions. Winning Victory conditions are clearly outlined in each story chapter, however, there will always be an MVP.

Campaign Play

Campaign play refers to playing the Defend the Burbs story continuously, in numerical order, over multiple sessions. Saving or Loading Your Game Use the campaign sheet to record all the important details of your play session. If you are sitting down with a new player in your group, but do not wish to start over from the prologue, that player may join the game by using the instructions in each chapter for starting without a saved game. These are also the instructions you should use if you are not using a campaign sheet, or your campaign sheet is lost or damaged. Campaign Record Sheet The Campaign record sheet is used for keeping track of which players were controlling which survivors, your VP status, item cards, perk cards, which locations you’ve traveled to, and the chapters you have completed.