Fireteam Zero: Africa Cycle Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• New Upgrade Cards
• New Gear Cards
• New Focus Cards
• Thornspawn Monsters
• Thornspawn Twist Cards
• Objective Cards
• Card Notes
  • Upgrade cards
  • Gear cards
  • Thornspawn twist cards
  • Notes on source coverage
• Missions
  • Operation: Sticks and Bones
    • Act 1: Sowing Seeds
    • Act 2: Fertile Ground
    • Act 3: Reaping
  • Standalone Mission: Between the Bones of the Earth
  • Standalone Mission: Lost and Found
  • Standalone Mission: Clockwork
  • Mission source note

Components

• 13 Thornspawn monster figures: 8 Minions, 4 Elites, 1 Boss
• 3 Thornspawn monster reference cards
• 8 Thornspawn twist cards
• 13 objective cards
• 32 upgrade cards
• 20 discovery cards
• 30 gear cards
• 4 focus cards
• 4 sector tiles
• Discovery tokens for: Sigil of Black Flowers, Bloody Stump, Bramble King, Throne of Kuthal-Har, Wooden Bowl, Celestial Sculptor, Survivor's Truck

New Upgrade Cards

The Africa Cycle includes 32 new upgrade cards, 8 for each role.

Some of these upgrade cards add rerolls to your attack. Each reroll allows you to reroll one of your attack dice after rolling for your attack.

New Gear Cards

The Africa Cycle includes 30 gear cards representing items which your heroes might find as they search the battlefield. These cards can be shuffled together with your event cards to form a single set of cards. Then, whenever you are instructed to draw some number of event cards at the start of a mission to construct your recon deck, you will draw those cards instead from this combined set of event and gear cards.

Gear cards are placed in front of your hero when discovered and provide some ongoing game effect for as long as they remain in play. Gear cards may not be discarded or given to other heroes unless indicated on the card!

Not everything you might find out there is going to be beneficial -- there are some cursed items out there which have malicious effects and others which are mixed blessings at best!

New Focus Cards

The Africa Cycle includes 4 new focus cards, 1 for each role.

• First Aid (Leader, card LF01-A): As an action, you may allow an ally in your location to draw one card.
• Rifle Combat Focus (Marksman, card MF01-A): When you perform a Bullet attack, you may discard any number of Brawl attack cards to increase your attack strength by 1 per card.
• Nimble (Close Combat, card CF01-A): For purposes of determining if you are able to flee a location, you may ignore one monster.
• Trauma Kit (Demolition, card DF01-A): Any ally that ends their turn in your location with one card or fewer in their hand, may draw a card.

Thornspawn Monsters

The Africa Cycle includes 13 Thornspawn monster figures and 3 Thornspawn monster reference cards: Scavenger (Minion), Wooden Man (Elite) and Prime (Boss). Monster stat values are printed on the reference cards.

• Scavenger (Minion, card T-T01): Nimble. Scavengers cannot be prevented from moving or activating. Attack strength is increased by 1.
• Wooden Man (Elite): Implacable. If a Wooden Man is not killed, it moves one space toward its attacker.
• Prime (Boss): Durable. Prime's damage resistance cannot be reduced below 2 for any reason.

Thornspawn Twist Cards

The Africa Cycle includes 8 Thornspawn twist cards.

• Strong (T-T01): All monsters inflict a minimum of 2 damage when they attack. This damage may still be reduced or negated.

Objective Cards

The Africa Cycle includes 13 objective cards. Each mission's Mission Objectives list (see the Missions section) names the objectives used.

• Defend the Survivors (OBJ A1.2.01, objective card): Place 5 intel tokens on this card. At the start of the Tactics Phase, remove one token from this card for each monster in the truck's location and then move the truck to the next location along its route. This objective is complete when the truck reaches the exit point. For purposes of monster movement, the truck is considered to be the Start Player. If all tokens are removed from this card before this objective is completed, you lose the game.

Card Notes

Upgrade cards

• Dual Grenades (LU02-A, upgrade card; attack side and reaction side):
  • Attack side: printed range value 1; attack with 2 grenade dice, +RR.
  • Printed note on the insert: "This card adds 2 rerolls to your attack in addition to increasing your attack strength."
  • Reaction side, Defensive Formation (printed reaction value 2, Monster): Play before a Minion or Elite attacks to reduce its attack strength by 1, or by 2 if there are multiple heroes in the target's location.
• Focus Fire (LU01-A, upgrade card, reaction side; printed reaction value 1, Monster): Play before an ally performs an attack to increase their attack strength by 1 for every reaction played (including this one).

The following upgrade cards are visible in the insert, but their card text is covered by overlapping cards and is not transcribed: Jacketed Slug, and the other upgrade cards named in the insert's upgrade stack.

Gear cards

• Rowan Cross (AG1-G, gear): Henry works the rowan sprigs into a complex knotted cross and tucks it into your shirt pocket. It smells like resin and spice. You may discard this item when taking any amount of damage to negate it.
• Signal Mirror (AG5-G, gear): You may make use of the lore specialist's abilities at Range 2 as if they were adjacent to you.

The following gear cards are visible in the insert, but their card text is covered by overlapping cards and is not transcribed: Obsidian Lancet, Cracked Pocketwatch (AG9-G), Cloak of Shadows (AG2-G).

Thornspawn twist cards

The insert shows the twist card names Barbed Thorns and Grasping Vines, but their card text is covered by overlapping cards and is not transcribed.

Notes on source coverage

The insert's component and card spreads overlap, so the full text of most upgrade, gear, twist, objective and discovery cards cannot be read from the document. The discovery cards printed in the insert's component spread are shown with non-English text and are not transcribed. Monster reference cards show only part of their second ability text. Those texts are left out rather than reconstructed. The full card text is printed on the physical cards.

Missions

The Field Guide contains the mission briefings for one three-mission operation, Operation: Sticks and Bones, and three standalone missions. Each mission below gives its Mission Goal, spawn, reserve, twist, recon and setup content as printed. Briefings and After Action Reports are flavour and are omitted.

Operation: Sticks and Bones

Act 1: Sowing Seeds

• Mission Goal: Find the missing EDT members and investigate the possibility of Artifact activity.
• Spawn Pool: Thornspawn; Scavengers, 2 per hero.
• Reserve Pool: None.
• Required Hero Roles: None.
• Twist Deck: Thornspawn.
• Setup: During setup, each player receives 1 focus card for this mission.
• Mission Objectives: Find the EDT; Verify Artifact Activity.
• Recon Deck: Agent Cavil Discovery; Agent Vassily Discovery; The Garden and the Corpse Discovery; 9 random event cards.

Act 2: Fertile Ground

• Mission Goal: Defend the convoy and investigate the town.
• Setup:
  • Place an intel token in the indicated location to represent the truck full of survivors.
  • Spawn 2 Scavengers and 1 Wooden Man in the indicated location before spawning the remaining monsters per the normal rules.
  • Each player receives 1 upgrade and 2 focus cards for this mission.
• Spawn Pool: Thornspawn; Scavengers, 1 per hero; Wooden Men, 1 per hero.
• Reserve Pool: None.
• Required Hero Roles: None.
• Twist Deck: Thornspawn.
• Mission Objectives: Defend the Survivors; Hunt the Creature; Discover the Creature's Plan.
• Recon Deck: Rooftop Sighting Discovery; Alley Sighting Discovery; The White Tree Discovery; 9 random event cards.

Act 3: Reaping

• Mission Goal: Stop the ritual and defeat Prime.
• Setup:
  • When you locate one of these discovery cards, place the corresponding token in its location to indicate where it was discovered.
  • Spawn 2 Scavengers and 1 Wooden Man in the indicated location before spawning the remaining monsters per the normal rules.
  • During setup, each player receives 2 upgrades and 3 focus cards for this mission. (The word "focus" is clipped in the source text, so it is reconstructed from the identical wording used by the other missions.)
• Spawn Pool: Thornspawn; Scavengers, 1 per hero; Wooden Men, 1 per hero.
• Reserve Pool: Thornspawn: Prime (Boss).
• Required Hero Roles: None.
• Twist Deck: Thornspawn.
• Mission Objectives: Break the Ritual; Defeat Prime.
• Recon Deck: Sigil of Black Flowers Discovery; Bloody Stump Discovery; The Bramble King Discovery; 9 random event cards.

Standalone Mission: Between the Bones of the Earth

• Mission Goal: Secure the temple.
• Spawn Pool: Thornspawn and Children of Typhon; Corrupted Animals, 1 per hero; Scavengers, 1 per hero.
• Reserve Pool:
  • The Fetch Harvester x 1 - represents Kuthal-Har. This monster is spawned with one Power token if playing with 2 heroes and two Power tokens if playing with 3 or 4 heroes. Do not respawn this monster after defeating it. All Minion and Elite spawning continues normally and does not stop when this monster is on the board.
• Required Hero Roles: None.
• Twist Deck: Shuffle the Children of Typhon and Thornspawn Twist decks together, removing any cards with duplicate names.
• Setup:
  • During setup, each player receives 2 upgrades and 3 focus cards for this mission.
  • When you locate the Throne of Kuthal-Har Discovery card, place the token in its location to indicate where it was discovered.
• Mission Objectives: Collect the Body of Kuthal-Har; Destroy the Risen Incarnation.
• Recon Deck: Eye of Judgment Discovery; Voice of the Law Discovery; Hand of the Righteous Discovery; Throne of Kuthal-Har Discovery; 8 random event cards.

Standalone Mission: Lost and Found

• Mission Goal: Recover the fragments and locate Quinn.
• Spawn Pool: Infested and The Fetch; Bone Fetch, 1 per hero; Consumed Baitbag, 1 per hero.
• Reserve Pool:
  • Infested Mother of Worms x 1 - represents Sergeant Quinn. This monster is spawned with one Power token if playing with 2 heroes and two Power tokens if playing with 3 or 4 heroes. Do not respawn this monster after defeating it. All Minion and Elite spawning continues normally and does not stop when this monster is on the board.
• Required Hero Roles: None.
• Twist Deck: Shuffle the Fetch and Infested Twist decks together, removing any cards with duplicate names.
• Setup:
  • During setup, each player receives 2 upgrades and 3 focus cards for this mission.
  • When you locate the Wooden Bowl discovery card, place the token in its location to indicate where it was discovered.
• Mission Objectives: Neutralize the Fragments; Locate Sergeant Quinn.
• Recon Deck: Antler Knife Discovery; Flint Arrowhead Discovery; Wooden Bowl Discovery; Sergeant Quinn Discovery; 8 random event cards.

Standalone Mission: Clockwork

• Mission Goal: Destroy the forces growing the forest.
• Spawn Pool: Children of Typhon and Infested; Corrupted Animals, 1 per hero; Corrupted Human, 1 for 2 heroes or 2 for 3-4 heroes; Consumed Baitbag, 1 for 2 heroes or 2 for 3-4 heroes.
• Reserve Pool:
  • Children of Typhon: Cupbearer (represents the Celestial Sculptor, spawn with 2 Power tokens. The Celestial Sculptor is not considered a Boss and spawning does not stop when activated.)
• Required Hero Roles: None.
• Twist Deck: Shuffle the Children of Typhon and Infested Twist decks together, removing any cards with duplicate names.
• Setup:
  • During setup, each player receives 2 upgrades and 3 focus cards for this mission.
  • When you locate the Celestial Sculptor discovery card, place the token in its location to indicate where it was discovered.
• Mission Objectives: Search the Forest; Stop the Clock.
• Recon Deck: Cherubic Conductor Discovery; Seraphic Painter Discovery; Celestial Sculptor Discovery; 9 random event cards.

Mission source note

The mission text was taken from the Field Guide's text layer, because the PDF's page images could not be re-checked after the file was no longer present in the working folder. Some two-column setup text in the Field Guide is clipped; the wording above is the legible reading of it, and the Act 3 setup "focus" wording is the one reconstructed item noted above.