ZOMBIE ASSAULT
By Jörg Hansen
j_hansen@web.de
INTRODUCTION
A "Zombie Plague" combat dice variant for 1 zombie player and 1-4 human players
Subject of the game
"They come. And want your brain." Players search the board for equipment which helps them fight
their way to the saving car or to barricade in the house. Zombies try to eat the brain of all
participants.
Material
All game components are listed at the bottom.
Game setup
Each human player chooses a character sheet and distributes 18 Skillpoints among the character
traits (movement costs double). He marks the results with chits on the sheet and gets one
character pawn in matching colour.
The zombie player gets the zombie sheet with common values for all zombies, and 4 zombie pawns
for each human character. This is his maximum, which can be raised by some zombie cards and
lowered by the death of human characters.
The "Car Keys" card is shuffled with 7 other equipment cards and dealt on the search sheet.
The remaining equipment cards are shuffled and dealt as well (resulting 3 cards per search
box).
Characters start at random border, zombies start at opposite border. First human player
begins.
Game turn
Game proceeds clockwise.
Character turn: 1) equipment - 2) move - 3) action (one maximum)
Zombie turn: 1) appear - 2) move - 3) action (one maximum)
Equipment (characters only)
All equipment cards of a character may be dropped. Place a numbered chip on the characters
space and a corresponding chip next to the board. Dropped items are placed there.
A character may take any dropped equipment cards if he's in the same space with such a
numbered chip.
Adjacent characters may trade their equipment in this phase.
Appear (zombies only)
Unused zombies (eg. killed in previous rounds) may appear on random starting points. Several
zombies starting at the same point may be placed on adjacent spaces.
Move
Each pawn may orthoganally move a number of spaces up to its "move" trait. Movement may not go
through walls and obstacles. Movement through windows cost 2 movement points. Pawns may move
through friendly pawns, but the maximum limit is 1 pawn per space after the movement.
Action: Search (characters only)
Characters may search adjacent search places, if they didn't search the same before. A chip of
their colour is placed on the search field and the player draws the top card of the
corresponding search sheet. If it's not a "Found nothing" card, the equipment card is placed
next to the character sheet, and the zombie player gets 1 zombie card (!).
Action: Hand-to-hand attack
Each pawn may attack adjacent pawns. Attack value of zombies and unarmed characters is their
"strength" trait. Attack values of Hth weapons is detailed on the equipment cards. Defense
value is always the "skill" trait.
Characters may combine their Hth attacks by combining their attack values. Zombies may combine
their Hth attacks by getting attack value +1 per additional zombie.
Action: Ranged attack (characters only)
The target of a ranged attack must be in LOS of the attacker. LOS is blocked by walls,
barricades and bushes (not furniture). The attack value is detailed on the equipment cards.
Defense value is always the "skill" trait. Characters may combine their ranged attacks by
combining their attack values.
A critical miss means the weapon is out of ammo. The rifle may be used as Hth weapon
afterwards.
Action: Barricade
A character may barricade or open an adjacent door/window by placing an appropriate marker on
the opening or taking it from the board.
Zombies may crash barriers, if at least 4 zombies are placed on adjacent spaces next to the
barrier. Power-nailed barriers need 8 zombies (see equipment cards).
Damage
Damaged zombies are killed instantly (exc. zombie master, see zombie cards) and go back to the
zombie player who may put them back into play on the next "appear" phase. Killing characters
may advance on the emptied space.
Damage characters track their damage on the character sheet at the "life" trait. If it's
reduced to 0, the character is out of play. His equipment cards are dropped (see "equipment"
phase). The death of a character reduces the maximum amount of zombies by 4 (eg. the next 4
killed zombies come out of play)
Cards
Characters may posess an unlimited number of equipment cards, but never more than 2 weapons
(drop all other). They may use their equipment at any time during their turn.
Some equipment card are limited in their number of use, which is tracked by chips.
The zombie player may have an unlimited number of zombie cards, but uses only 1 per turn.
End of game
There are 3 ways to end the game:
1.) All search spaces are searched by at least one character. All windows and doors of the
house are barricaded. All living characters are inside, all zombies outside the house. Victory
for the human players!
2.) All search spaces are searched by at least one character. All living characters spend a
whole turn without fight next to the car, one of them possesses the car keys. Victory for the
human players!
3.) All characters are dead. Victory for the zombies!
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Game components
The map
The map is a grid of ca. 20x25 spaces. There's a house of ca. 11x11 spaces, divided in 5 rooms
and equipped with some windows and doors. Outside there's a car somewhere, maybe a garage as
well. Scattered all over the map are some obstacles (bushes and furniture), and 8 search
spaces: 1 per room, 3 outside the house. Around the map border are 6 numbered zombie start
spaces.
Player's stuff
Beside the map you need for each human character 1 character pawn, 8 chips and one character
sheet in a matching colour. The characters sheet shows the character traits "strength",
"skill", "shoot", "move" and "life" and 8 numbered boxes, where player can keep track with
chits. The zombie player gets 4 zombie pawns per human character player (+3, one extra marked
as zombie master, each one appearing as a result of a zombie card) and a zombie sheet with the
values strength=2, skill=2, shoot=0, move=2, life=1.
There a 16 zombie cards and 24 equipment cards in play (see below), and a search sheet with 8
boxes according to the 8 search spaces on the map.
Furthermore you need some barrier marker, some numbered pairs of chips, some neutral markers
and some combat dice.
Combat dice
Combat dice are ordinary 6-sided dice with two sides called "hits" (5-6) and one side called
"klik". All attacks have an attack value that determines how many dice to roll. The attacker
rolls and counts his hits. All defenses have an defense value ("skill" in this game) that
determines how many dice to roll. The defender rolls and counts his hits. If the attacker gets
more hits than the defender, the defender is damaged by the difference. The attacker never
suffers any damage.
A critical miss is rolled if the attacker rolls at least one hit and more "kliks" than hits
(only used for ranged attacks in this game).
Equipment Cards
# Name Description
6 - found nothing
2 - power pills - doubles movement & strength of a character this turn
3 - first aid kit - 3 uses, regains 1 life point
3 - axe - attack value = strength + 1
1 - power nails - if used at barricading the barrier needs 8 zombies to crash
1 - flame thrower - attack value = 5 in a sector of 3x5 (affects characters too)
1 - molotov cocktail - 3 uses, attack value = 8 in target space, 4 adjacent spaces,
2 two spaces away (affects characters too)
1 - uzi - attack value = shoot + 2
1 - rifle - attack value = shoot + 1, if empty: attack value = strength + 1
1 - car keys
1 - marbles - 3 uses, characters may not be attacked by zombies this turn
(inside the house only)
1 - chain saw - attack value = skill + 2
1 - pistol - attack value = shoot + 1
1 - skateboard - movement = skill + 2 (outside the house only)
Zombie Cards
# Name Description
1 - blackout - move target character this turn
1 - unlivin' next door - place 1 new zombie in an unoccupied room of the house
1 - stooge - target character has half of his movement & strength this turn
1 - miss you - target character must run to one other character (chosen by target)
as fast as possible
1 - tough guys - all zombies have doubled strength this turn
1 - zombie master - random starting point. strength, skill, move & life = 3
1 - get lost - target character may be moved 6 spaces (or less, if occupied) in a
random direction - even through walls
1 - claustrophobie - target character may not enter the house next turn, or has to leave
the house as fast as possible
2 - exhausted - target character may not attack next turn (but move)
1 - panic - target character flees all zombies as far as possible for the next 2
turns
1 - butterfinger - target characters drops one random equipment card on a random zombie
starting point
1 - surprise - place 1 new zombie next to a character that searched his last turn
2 - fear - target character may not move next turn (but attack)
1 - crash! - remove one barricade
Designer's Notes
Playing is most fun with at least 2 characters - the more the better. Human players in a 2/3-
player game are advised to play more than one character simultanously.
The scenario (including the grand idea of the barricades) and the map design is inspired by
/partially taken from "Zompie Plague" by Brian S. Roe & Scott Kilander (check it out:
www.fortressfigures.com/zombieplague/) - hope, no one worries about it, since both games are
for fun & for free. The character traits are an simplified example of the combat dice rpg. The
character portraits are done with the help of Jeff Heberts awesome Hero Machine
(www.heromachine.com). The ideas of the zombies cards are inspired by the stunning artwork of
Twilight Creation's boardgame "Zombie!!!", which we used for our copy of the game.
MAPBOARD AVAILABLE
Great Design by Jörg Hansen:
Download it from here