Maximum Apocalypse
Maximum Apocalypse Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Credits
- Survivor Overview
- Veteran & Dog Rules
- Game Setup
- Example Setup (Mission 1)
- Playing the Game
- 3. Player Actions
- Effect Ranges Explained
- Damage and Combat
- 4. Monster Activation
- 5. Hunger and other Status Effects
- 6. Check for Victory
- End of Game
- Saving Your Progress
- Example Turn
- Solo Mode
- Allies Expansion
- Multi Class Variant
- Mission 1
- Missions 2-3
- Missions 4-5
- Mission 6
- Missions 7-9
- Missions 10-12
- Monster Spawn Deck
- Legacy Campaign Rules
- Card Anatomy
- Glossary
- Quick Reference
Components
- 14 Survivor Character cards
- 7 Survivor Figures
- 6 Health Dials
- 14 Survivor Standees
- 6 Reference cards
- 30 Surgeon cards
- 30 Fireman cards
- 30 Gunslinger cards
- 30 Mechanic cards
- 30 Veteran cards
- 30 Hunter cards
- 13 Ally cards
- 108 Monster cards
- 12 Dividers
- 54 Scavenge cards
- 38 Map tiles
- 6 Hunger dice
- 30 Monster tokens
- 3 Star tokens
- 12 Fuel tokens
- 20 Poison tokens
- 60 Hit Point tokens
- 24 Bullet tokens
- 52 Monster Spawn cards
- 2 Spawn dice
- 3 Storage trays
Credits
Game Design and Development: Mike Gnade
Original Artwork: Gustav Rangmar
Graphic Design: Gustav Rangmar and Mike Gnade
Playtesters: Stavros Tsiakalos, Paul Richter, Hermes, Patrick Wilhelmi, Martin Koch, Dan "Bacadiar" FitzSimons, Table for Two Show, M. Triemstra, Andrew Pavlis, Daniel P. Stevens, Joshua Burt, Julien Bertrand, James Stewart-Jones, Rae & Chris Yocum, Rob Gaulden, Sontana Intraweat, Sarah Walther, John J. Fitek, Bongo Machongo, Kevin Lee, Jason Hendricks, David Tipton Jr, Psychic Kitty, Zac "Rufus" Fleury, Rick F. Kwan, Tseebaka, Chester C., Hamoud A. Alkhaldi, Zak Richardson, Ziliang Wang, Benjamin Guinane, Leon "Tyrael" Jesmanowicz, Casey Bertels, the Mabie Family, Colton Kenney, Brandon Lindquist, Raymond Taylor, Michelle Fursa, and Zane Hill
Survivor Overview
Fireman
The Fireman may have fought fires before the apocalypse, but now he uses his protective equipment to set his enemies ablaze. He's a beefy tank that excels at absorbing damage and is deadly at close range with his deadly ax.
Hunter
The Hunter is a jack of all trades who is deadly with her bow and arrows. She is great as a scout who can reveal tiles and traps, but she's also great at scavenging and can fend for herself. If she ever gets into too much trouble, she can hop on her motorcycle and retreat.
Gunslinger
The Gunslinger is all about dealing damage with their trusty pistols. He excels at midrange where he can defend himself and pick off monsters in front of other survivors. Even tough bosses should fear his focused shots and when he gets his guns blazing.
Surgeon
The Surgeon is a support class who focuses on healing and boosting the actions of other survivors on her team. As she gets her scrubs and scalpel, her healing abilities improve. She may not carry a lot of weapons, but her Taser can stun enemies and she can always throw a Molotov cocktail if things get intense.
Mechanic
The Mechanic is a support class who focuses on boosting her team's damage output by upgrading weapons. That's not all though, she also focuses on defense and preparation and is a whiz at building turrets, nail bombs, and mines.
Veteran & Dog
The Veteran isn't much of a people person, but he does love his loyal dog. This unique character comes with two different character cards and their deck revolves around diverse dog instant actions and a wealth of old military gear for the Veteran. The Veteran is a great all-rounder who can deal with amassing monster tokens and more. He just goes a bit nutty if his dog dies.
Veteran & Dog Rules
When playing as the Veteran and the Dog, you can select which monster is attacking which character but must evenly distribute monsters between the characters. For example, if you have three monsters attached to you - one will damage the Veteran, one will attack the Dog, and the third one you can choose to attack the Veteran or the Dog. You can choose each monster that is attacking each character.
If a monster hits all players in range, it hits both the Veteran and the Dog. Similarly, if you end your turn on the Hospital, you can restore 2 health to both the Veteran and the Dog.
The Veteran and Dog share a hunger die. Whenever the Veteran eats anything, he gives a bite to his good ole Dog so you don't need to worry about managing two hunger levels.
The Veteran has a storage limit of 4, and the Dog has a limit of 0 (because dogs don't have hands). The only equipment the Dog can equip is the Dog Collar.
If both characters are alive, use the lower stealth statistic. If one character dies, you can continue playing until the other character is eliminated.
Game Setup
1. Pick Survivors
Before we get into Mission 0: Tutorial, each player must decide which survivor they are going to play.
When choosing a survivor, players claim the matching survivor's figure (or standee), deck, character card, health dial, along with a hunger die, and a Player reference card.
Each player then proceeds to setup their play area by placing their Survivor character card faceup to the side outlining their innate ability in their play area. They set their Health dial to the health value displayed in the upper right of their character card. Then, they take a hunger die and set it to '1'. This value represents that survivor's hunger level. Finally, each player shuffles their Survivor deck, places it next to their character card and draws 4 cards from it to create their starting hand.
Players will eventually place their figure (or standee) on the starting tile outlined in the mission. This is typically the Van tile unless otherwise specified by the mission.
2. Select a Mission
Take the Mission Log and turn to your current mission. Each Mission will layout your Objectives, the tiles and monster cards used, example map layouts and more.
After reading through the Mission's introduction, you build the map with the tiles outlined in the current mission and follow any additional setup instructions filed under Mission Setup.
3. Build the Map
Set aside the Van tile. Then, make a stack with the map tiles included in the mission. Shuffle the tiles and build the map by placing facedown all the tiles in the stack. This can be done by following any of the map examples provided for the mission, or according to a unique pattern of your choosing. When building the map, each map tile must be orthogonally adjacent to at least one other map tile. Tiles cannot overlap. After the final map tile is placed, place the Van tile adjacent to a tile on the outer edges of the map (unless otherwise specified in the mission).
Each player can now place their survivor's figure (or standee) on the starting tile for the current mission. For the Tutorial Mission, it is the Shopping Mall.
4. Build Monster Deck
Each Mission will indicate which monster sets are to be used in the current game (an indicator of the set to which each monster belongs can be found in the bottom right corner of a monster card). Take all monster cards for each used set and shuffle them together to form the monster deck. Leave room for a monster discard pile next to it.
Then, each player draws a monster card (unless the mission specifies otherwise). When a monster card is drawn, attach it to the player's character and place it in their play area.
Monster cards stay attached to you (even if you move) until they are destroyed or removed via another effect.
5. Organize Scavenge Decks
Take the Scavenge tray and Scavenge cards and separate them into the Fuel (Red), Food (Green) and Ammo/Gear (Blue) Scavenge decks. Shuffle each deck separately and place them into the correct spot on the Scavenge tray. Set the Scavenge tray off to the side of the map within easy reach of all players.
Scavenge cards
A. Card Type & Card Title Card types are indicated with either a Lightning bolt (denoting them as an Instant Action card) or a Backpack (denoting them as Gear).
B. Quick Reference Scavenge cards are color coded to the deck they belong to for easy sorting.
C. Range (if applicable) An indication of the distance at which the card can be used.
D. Card Effect
6. Set out tokens
Take the plastic token tray and Spawn dice out of the box. Put them next to the map within easy reach of all players.
7. Pick a starting player
Gameplay in Maximum Apocalypse is divided into a series of turns. Players select randomly (or with a method of their choosing) the starting player, and hand them the Spawn dice. The first player resolves their turn, and then game play will continue clockwise, with each player taking a turn.
Example Setup (Mission 1)
Maximum Apocalypse Campaign
The campaign starts with the following tiles. Tiles will be added/subtracted as the campaign progresses.
- 1x Van (6)
- 2x Gas Station (4,5)
- 1x Police Station (6)
- 2x Farm (3, 11)
- 1x Shelter (2)
- 1x Open Field (8)
- 1x Bandit Camp (9)
- 1x Hospital (3)
- 1x Shopping Mall (8)
- 1x Forest (5)
- 1x City Street (6)
- 1x River (11)
Mission 0: Tutorial
The sirens were the only warning you had before everything went to hell. You were lucky enough to be close to a shopping mall and barricaded yourselves inside, but now your food is gone, and help is not coming. You have to figure out what happened out there and find a way out.
You decide to climb up to the mall's roof. Amongst all the chaos on the street and destroyed cars, you're able to spot a Van in the distance that looks to be in good condition. Without food, your only choice is to venture outside and try to make it to that Van.
Mission Setup
- Remove the Boss cards and then shuffle the remaining cards in the Zombie (Z) set to create the Monster deck.
- Place the Shopping Mall tile on the left side of the map. All players start on it.
- Place the Van tile faceup on the other side of the map.
Mission Objectives
- Collect and deliver 1 Fuel per player to the Van.
- Return all players to the Van when all other objectives have been completed.
Conclusion
You finish fueling the van, just as the horde of Zombies catches up to you. You jump in, slam the door, and screech away. The roads are covered in debris and dead bodies. You are all in shock. It's much worse than you imagined. Out of desperation, one of you turns on the CB radio. After wading through some static, you hear a human voice, "Hello is anyone out there? I need help!"
Mission 1: The Scientist
Add the following map tiles to the game:
- 1x Graveyard (4)
- 1x Open Field (6)
- 1x City Street (5)
- 1x Gas Stations (9)
- 1x Shelter (12)
- 1x Forest (8)
- 1x River (10)
- 1x Bandit Camp (3)
- 2x Tunnel (4, 10)
- 1x Grocery Store (9)
You quickly realize the message is a recording played on a loop. Most of the details are garbled, but after listening to it repeatedly, you're able to piece it together. This person on the radio claims to be a scientist able to stop this nightmare. You all agree that it's worth the risk to try and find this person and start heading towards the source of the broadcast.
Mission Setup
- Set aside the Boss cards and then shuffle the remaining cards in the Zombie (Z) set to create the Monster deck.
- Set aside the Scientist Scavenge card.
- Place Star token A at least 4 tiles away from the Van.
- Reminder: When the Police Station tile is revealed: Place Star token B on that tile.
Play Area
A. Survivor Discard Pile
B. Survivor Deck Whenever you draw a card, you draw from your Survivor deck unless otherwise specified.
C. Character Card
D. Equipped Gear Gear cards are played to your play area and take up storage.
E. Starting Monster This monster is attached to the Fireman and will activate at the end of each Fireman's turn until it is discarded.
F. Player's Hand
Playing the Game
During their turn, a player will perform all of the following steps. Then, their turn ends and the game proceeds clockwise.
Each turn follows the same order:
- Spawn Monsters
- Draw a Card
- Player Actions
- Monster Activation
- Hunger and other Status Effects
- Check for Victory
Map Tiles
A. Scavenge Icon This icon indicates which Scavenge decks (Red, Blue, Green) you can draw from when performing the scavenge action on this tile. If there is more than icon, you may choose from the decks displayed.
If there is no symbol in the upper left, you cannot scavenge on this tile.
B. Spawn When this number is rolled during the Spawn monsters phase, a monster token is placed on this tile.
C. Indoor Icon & Tile Name Some map tiles have the house icon. These are considered indoor tiles.
D. Trigger This is the condition which triggers the tile effect. In this example, you would trigger the effect when the tile is revealed.
E. Tile Effect Nearly every location has some kind of effect. The effect is resolved immediately when the trigger conditions are met.
1. Spawn Monsters
Roll the two Spawn dice. Place a Monster token on each faceup map tile where the Spawn number (B) matches the combined roll result. If there are no revealed tiles matching the roll result or if a '7' is rolled, no monsters are spawned. The maximum is 3 Monster tokens per tile; do not place any new tokens on tiles that already have 3 tokens.
If a player is currently occupying a tile where a monster token should be added, each player on that tile must draw a monster card instead of placing that token.
2. Draw a Card
Draw a card from your Survivor deck and add it to your hand. Your hand limit is 10 cards. If you ever have 10 cards and draw a card, you draw and then immediately discard a card from your hand. If your deck is empty and you cannot draw a card, you are eliminated.
3. Player Actions
You must take exactly 4 actions each turn, selected as any combination of the actions listed below. You may take the same action several times in the same turn, each time counting as 1 action.
- Move to an orthogonally adjacent tile.
- Draw a card from your Survivor deck.
- Scavenge: Draw a Scavenge card matching the Scavenge icon on your current tile.
- Play a card from your hand.
- Perform an action on a card in your play area.
Move
Spend 1 action to move your figure (or standee) to any orthogonally adjacent map tile. You cannot move diagonally. Before moving onto an unrevealed tile, reveal it and resolve any trigger, if applicable.
For example, you reveal and enter a Bandit Camp tile, triggering its Enter effect. You must decide whether to suffer damage or discard an equipped gear card.
Encountering monster tokens It is dangerous to enter tiles with Monster tokens on them. If you enter a tile with at least one monster token and have a monster card attached to you, immediately draw a monster card for each token. Each new monster is attached to you and placed to the right of existing monsters in your play area. Then remove all tokens from your current tile.
If you enter a tile with at least one Monster token and DO NOT have any monster cards attached to you, you may attempt a stealth test (see below) to sneak by them. A player can decide not to attempt a stealth test: in this case, they draw and attach one monster card per token on their current tile. Then, they discard all Monster tokens from their current tile.
Stealth test Roll the two Spawn dice, and compare the result with your Survivor's stealth (represented by the stealth icon) reduced by 1 per Monster token on your current tile. If the combined roll is lower than or equal to your modified stealth, your stealth attempt is successful. You leave the Monster tokens on your tile and keep resolving your turn. If the combined roll is higher than your modified stealth, immediately draw and attach a monster card for each token on your current tile. Then, discard all tokens from your current tile.
If the monster deck ever runs out, reshuffle the monster discard pile to form a new deck.
Draw
Spend 1 action to draw a card from your Survivor deck to your hand. Your hand limit is 10 cards.
Scavenge
Spend 1 action to draw a card from a Scavenge deck based on the Scavenge icon (A) of your current tile. Tiles that display multiple colored icons allow you to choose to draw from one of the matching Scavenge decks. If a tile does not have any of these icons, you cannot take the scavenge action. You may Scavenge each tile only once per turn.
Play a Card
Spend 1 action to play a card from your hand. There are two types of cards that you can play on your turn: Instant Actions and Gear.
Instant Actions When you play an Instant Action, resolve the card effect. Then, if the card played was a Scavenge card, discard it to the common Scavenge cards discard pile; if the card played was a Survivor card, discard it into your personal discard pile.
Equipping Gear When you play a Gear card, place the card into your play area. Gear typically gives you access to a new action or passive ability. If the Gear has starting ammo (B), place that many bullet (or fuel) tokens on the card when it is equipped (more info on p. 26).
Each piece of Gear has a storage cost (A) that is to be considered against the storage limit each character currently has (everyone starts with a storage limit of 4). If, at any moment during the game (either because you play a card from your hand or by another game effect), your combined storage is greater than your current limit, you must choose and discard Gear cards until you're no longer exceeding your storage limit.
You can only have one copy of a Gear card equipped at a time (Fuel is the only exception).
Instant Actions
A. Instant Icon B. Card Name C. Range (if applicable) D. Card Effect
Gear Cards
A. Storage Cost, Card Name B. Starting Ammo (in Bullets or Fuel) C. Range (if applicable) D. Card Effect
Perform a Card Action
Spend 1 action to activate a card's Action in your play area.
If you use a Gear card with ammo on it, remove an ammo token each time you use that card's action. If you run out of ammo tokens, the action on the card is no longer available to you. The card is not discarded and can be reloaded with more ammo to use again.
Free Actions
Once per turn, you may perform each of the following actions for free (without spending an action):
- You may discard two Survivor cards from your hand to draw a new card from your Survivor deck.
- You may give/take/trade Scavenge cards with another player as long as you are on the same tile.
- You may deliver cards that are part of a Mission Objective to a tile. Example: If you are on the Van tile, you may deliver on the Van any Fuel you are carrying.
After you have finished all of your actions, resolve any End effects on cards and tiles, in the order of your choosing.
Effect Ranges Explained
Many cards have a specific range denoted above their card text. When a range is indicated on a card, it can only target and affect the components within its range. If no range is indicated, the effect is not limited by a range. The three ranges in the game are:
Short Range: eligible targets must be on the the tile that you currently occupy.
Midrange: eligible targets must be on the tile that you currently occupy or on orthogonally adjacent tiles.
Long Range: eligible targets must be within 1 or 2 orthogonally adjacent tiles away from your current tile. You cannot target your current tile.
Damage and Combat
A post-apocalyptic world is a harsh place to survive and players will have to fight and deal damage with their cards to survive. Many cards have a Health value and any card with Health is a valid target. When cards "deal damage" to a target, you will reduce the damaged card's Health accordingly by assigning damage to it.
Players can attack monsters attached to other players as long as they are in range.
Whenever a target has suffered damage equal or greater than its Health value, you will discard that card to the relevant discard pile.
4. Monster Activation
When a monster activates, they typically attack and deal damage to you and any other eligible targets in range of their attacks. Monsters activate from left to right.
A. Card Name B. Starting Health C. Attack Damage D. Range (if applicable) E. Card Effect F. Monster Set (W: Wilderness)
A monster typically deals their damage (C) to the Survivor they are attached to during their activation. If the monster has a range noted on the card (D), they deal every player in range their damage. Remember to note monster card effects (E). Many monsters attacks and effects are further described there.
If a monster is stunned (see Stun p. 31), they do not attack and instead become unstunned.
Monsters attached to a player are considered to be located on that player's current tile.
Example: If the Alien Invader is attached to the Fireman at the end of the Fireman's turn, it attacks the Fireman for 3 damage and also hits any other players on the Fireman's tile or on tiles adjacent to the Fireman because it is a Midrange attack. Every player who is attacked must also discard the top card of their deck into their discard (Burn 1 card).
5. Hunger and other Status Effects
Increase your Hunger by 1 by rotating your hunger die to the appropriate side. If you're already at starvation (see below), increase your hunger damage level.
Starvation
When your Hunger reaches 6, you start suffering hunger damage. Flip your Survivor character card and place the die on the top value of the hunger track (A) then suffer damage equal to the value just covered. Every turn that you would increase your Hunger, instead move the hunger die one step down this hunger track and suffer the corresponding damage. If your damage hits the skull and crossbones, you are eliminated.
As soon as you eat something or reduce your hunger level below 6, flip your Survivor character card faceup.
Note that you lose access to your innate ability when starving and your Stealth value may change.
Other Status Effects
After resolving Hunger, if you have any status effects such as Poison or Insanity cards, trigger these effects in any order of your choosing and suffer the necessary damage.
Damage from Hunger and other Status Effects (Poison, Exposure, etc) cannot be reduced by equipped gear and other cards.
6. Check for Victory
Check the mission objectives. If players as a team have completed all the Objectives, the game is over and all players have won. Otherwise, this marks the end of your turn and play proceeds clockwise.
End of Game
If a Survivor runs out of health or runs out of cards from their Survivor deck, they are eliminated. All monsters attached to that character are discarded and replaced with Monster tokens placed on the last tile that was occupied by the eliminated Survivor. Any Scavenge cards carried by that character are placed near that tile to be picked up by other players on that tile as a free action.
If all players are eliminated or if you are to place a Monster token and there are no monster tokens available, you lose!
To make the game more difficult, you can play according to the following rule: When the first player is eliminated, the game is over and you lose. The game was balanced with this rule in mind.
Once you have completed all mission objectives, you win!
Saving Your Progress
After playing the Tutorial Mission, you may want to save your game. To save your game, place all of the map tiles for the next mission into the bottom of the Scavenge tray. Then, sort the Scavenge discard pile back into the red, green and blue decks. Place those decks over the tiles and then then put the lid onto the Scavenge tray. Now you can return everything to the box.
When starting the next Mission, proceed to a full new setup, including character selection, which means players are welcome to play different characters over the course of a campaign. Nothing is typically carried over between missions unless you are playing our campaign legacy format (see p. 19).
Example Turn
The Mechanic has an Phalanx Robot attached to them. The Autoturret and Welding Helmet are equipped. The Mechanic's Hunger is currently at 5 and is at full health. The Mechanic is on a Gas Station (5) with the Fireman on an adjacent Forest tile. The Fireman has a Robot Scout attached to them.
1: Spawn Monsters
The Mechanic rolls the dice to spawn monsters and rolls an 6. A Monster token is placed on the revealed Police Station (6) and on the Van.
Place Monster tokens on Tiles with a 6. (F: Fireman's Location, M: Mechanic's Location)
2. Draw a card
The Mechanic draws a card and then proceeds to take 4 actions.
3. Player Actions
1st Action: the Mechanic plays Upgrade on their AutoTurret to increase its damage to 5.
2nd Action: the Mechanic scavenges the Gas Station and draws a card from the red deck; it is a Fuel. It must be immediately equipped as a free action or discarded. The Mechanic equips the Fuel and now has no storage slots remaining.
3rd Action: The Mechanic plays Read the Manual on the Fireman allowing them to equip a Proximity Mine from their hand in front of the Fireman and then draws a card from their Survivor deck.
4th Action: The Mechanic plays Nail Bomb to deal the Phalanx Robot, and the Robot Scout in front of the Fireman 4 damage each (Phalanx Robot's effect reduces damage by 1).
There are no End effects in play.
4. Monster Activation
The Phalanx Robot attacks the Mechanic for 4 damage, but the Welding Helmet reduces this to 3 damage. Its attack is Midrange so it also deals 4 damage to the Fireman. The Mechanic suffering short range damage activates Autoturret (discarding an ammo token), which deals the Phalanx Robot 4 damage (+1 from Upgrade, -1 from Phalanx's effect). The Phalanx has 3 health remaining.
5. Hunger
The Mechanic's Hunger increases to 6 and their character card is flipped over. The Mechanic suffers 2 hunger damage.
6. Check for Win
Not all mission objectives have been completed, so the Mechanic's turn ends. The Mechanic has suffered a total of 5 damage.
Solo Mode
If you're playing with only one character, please change all Long Range cards that deal damage are treated as Midrange; additionally the damage listed on these cards is halved (rounded up). This will allow Long Range weapons and cards to be usable in true solo, without making them too powerful. We also suggest that true solo players expand their storage to 6 slots (instead of only 4) and that Scavenge cards don't count towards the hand size limit of 10.
Allies Expansion
During Setup, pick your main character and remove any Ally cards that match your character class. Randomly select 3-6 Allies to add to the monster deck (the more Allies you include, the easier the mission). Shuffle these Allies into the monster deck and setup and play the mission as normal.
Throughout the course of your adventure, you will encounter these Allies instead of monsters. When you encounter an Ally, place it in front of your character and attach it like you would a monster card. An attached Ally is unrecruited. You can spend an action to recruit an attached Ally to your party by paying their resource cost (A). This cost represents the number and color of Scavenge cards that you must discard to persuade that Ally to join you (i.e. a 2 in a green circle indicates that you need to discard 2 total food cards, not a food card that reduces hunger by 2). After the Ally has been recruited, place them next to your character card. Recruited Allies increase your storage slots and give you access to new actions. They act as a way to continue your game if your main character dies. You may have more than 1 attached ally.
If your main character ever dies, you can continue the adventure by switching to a recruited Ally. Remove your fallen character and their deck from the game. Then, choose one of your recruited Allies to become your new Survivor. Swap the Ally card with the corresponding Survivor character card. Then take that Survivor's deck and draw 4 cards from it.
Please note that Ally characters (whether recruited or unrecruited) start with less health (B) and suffer damage from monsters dealing damage to all players in range. If an Ally card ever reaches zero health, remove it from the game.
A. Resource Cost Discard a number of Scavenge cards matching the color and number shown here. Gray means that you can discard ANY combination of colors until you reach the number of cards needed.
B. Ally Health C. Storage Increase D. Ally Action or Effect
Multi Class Variant
If you're up for playing two characters at the same time, select two different Survivors, place their character cards in front of you, and shuffle their decks together. Then draw 8 cards as your starting hand. Your max hand size is 20. You can play any card from your hand on either character. Otherwise, you must play the game normally, switching between each character's turn and actions. This is a much easier and faster way to play as multiple characters.
Mission 1
First, start by turning to Mission 1 in the Mission Log Book. This mission adds some more tiles that need to be incorporated into building the map. It also introduces mission actions and has you facing off against your first Boss monster.
Mission actions are additional situational actions you can take for a specific mission and are always outlined in the Mission Log. Typically, these actions occur when you reach or take actions on the Star tokens placed on the map. In this mission, you may spend an action to investigate the source of the radio broadcast when you are on the same tile as Star token A. Taking this action triggers the boss and clears this mission objective, so be ready when you do it.
Boss Monsters are just tough monsters who are often immune to some of the more powerful cards of the game. Make sure you have some weapons equipped before you take on the bosses of the game.
Missions 2-3
You should have all the main rules down at this point for Maximum Apocalypse. Missions 2 and 3 continue to feature the Zombie monster set and the same map tiles. Don't forget to mark the Hospital with a Star token when it is revealed in Mission 3.
Missions 4-5
First, note that you will need to add and remove some tiles for the next three missions. This next set of missions features the Mutant (M) set of monsters and introduces the Poison status effect.
Some of the monsters have been irradiated and will poison you when they activate and attack you. When this happens place a poison counter on your character card. Each turn, you will suffer 1 damage for each poison counter on your character until you clear your status effects with a card like Antidote.
Mission 6
This mission is a race against time and introduces a unique map tile removal mechanic. Each time a '7' is rolled during the monster spawn phase, you will remove 1 map tile from the board. If any players are on the map tile that is removed, they are eliminated. Scavenging quickly and efficiently is key in this mission.
Missions 7-9
In these missions you will be facing an alien invasion. Change out the necessary map tiles and monster set. The Alien monsters have a few tricky cards. The first is their Long Range soldier that doesn't damage the character they're attached to, but instead damages a large surrounding area. The Alien Scientist is also rough. When a player draws it, they must immediately destroy an equipped gear or take 6 damage. The Alien Scientist's passive effect is that all alien damage is increased by 1. This stacks and is has no range, so every Alien Scientist compounds the overall Alien threat until the card is removed from play.
Missions 10-12
The final missions of the campaign feature the Robot monster set. These monsters are very durable. Pay particular attention to the Phalanx Robots which reduces damage to all robots in midrange by 1. This effect stacks but does not apply to all robots in play; only those within range. Finally, these monsters introduce the destroy keyword – which means they deal additional damage to the player they are attached to when they are killed. In general, the name of the game in these missions is speed and efficiency.
Monster Spawn Deck
The included Monster Spawn deck can be used instead of the dice to reduce randomness. The Monster Spawn deck also includes additional cards that you can choose to include to further customize the game's difficulty level.
If you're playing with the Monster Spawn deck, during the Spawn phase of every round, draw and flip over a card from the deck. Resolve the number on the card as if you rolled that number on the dice.
Legacy Campaign Rules
If you're interested in adding some additional role playing elements and/or introducing additional legacy style rules to the campaign, please visit https://rockmanorgames.com/maximum-mission-tracker/ to learn more and to download free resources, rules and character sheets.
Card Anatomy
Instant Actions
A. Instant icon B. Card Name C. Range (if applicable) D. Card Effect
REMEMBER: As a free action, you can give/take/trade Scavenge cards with other players as long as you are on the same tile. You cannot trade your Survivor cards.
Gear Cards
A. Storage Cost, Card Name B. Starting Ammo (if applicable)
Ammo is displayed as either bullets or fuel. Place the corresponding number of bullet or fuel tokens on the card when it is equipped. The card can never have more ammo tokens on it than the number displayed here.
Ammunition cards will reload weapons with more bullets, but cards with fuel ammo can only be reloaded by removing an equipped Fuel card within Short Range from the game. Reloading this way fully reloads that gear card.
C. Range (if applicable) D. Card Effect
When using the action of a gear card with ammo, discard an ammo token on the card and follow the action and effect described on it.
Scavenge Cards
A. Card Type & Card Title Card types are indicated with a Lightning bolt denoting them as an Instant Action card or a Backpack denoting them as Gear.
B. Quick Reference Scavenge cards are color coded to the deck they belong to for easy sorting.
C. Range (if applicable) An indication of the distance at which the card can be used.
D. Card Effect
Character Cards
A. Character Name B. Starting Health C. Stealth Stat D. Name of Action: Range E. Innate Action or Ability Example: The Hunter's innate ability lets them reveal two orthogonally adjacent map tiles to their current location without triggering any effects.
A. Stealth Stat This stat often gets worse when starving.
B. Hunger Track Note that if you reach the skull, your character is eliminated from the game.
C. Lose Innate Ability
Effect Ranges
Short Range: eligible targets must be on the the tile that you currently occupy.
Midrange: eligible targets must be on the tile that you currently occupy or on orthogonally adjacent tiles.
Long Range: eligible targets must be within 1 or 2 orthogonally adjacent tiles away from your current tile. You cannot target your current tile.
Starvation
When your Hunger reaches 6, you start suffering hunger damage. Flip over your character card and place the hunger die on the top space of the hunger track, suffering 2 damage. Every turn that you would increase your hunger, instead move the hunger die down the hunger track, each time suffering the corresponding damage. As soon as you eat something or reduce the value on your Hunger die below 6, flip your character card back over. If you starve again, flip your card and place the die at the top of the tracker again.
Glossary
Action: Spend an action to resolve the text on this card or tile. Every action (unless otherwise stated) can be resolved more than once per round, as long as the criteria for the resolution are met (for example, at least one remaining ammo is to be on that card if that action requires ammo to be spent).
Ammo: Ammo is displayed as either bullets or fuel on gear cards. Ammo tokens include both Bullet and Fuel tokens.
Attached: If a monster is attached to you, it is currently in your play area in front of your Survivor.
Attack: Resolve this effect every time a monster's attack damages a player.
Barricade: Place a Barricade token on a tile in range. If a monster token or card were ever to spawn on a tile with a barricade, they don't spawn. Remove the Barricade token instead.
Burn: Discard the top card of your Survivor deck into your discard pile.
Counter: Range: If the monster or the character having either an equipped card or ability with Counter: Range is attacked from the designated range and not killed, they immediately retaliate and deal their damage back to the attacking target. If an attack deals damage and stuns the monster, the counter is resolved before the monster is stunned. If a monster is already stunned when attacked, it cannot counter.
Cure: Discard all status effects from the target.
Destroy: Resolve this effect when the monster is killed. When resolving Destroy, damage is only dealt to the player the monster was attached to.
Discard: Discard, as a free action, an equipped gear to resolve the text on this card.
Docile: Monsters with this trait do not activate at the end of a turn unless they were damaged in that turn.
Drain Life: When a monster deals damage, they also restore Health equal to the damage dealt.
Draw: Resolve this effect when this card is drawn (including during setup). The player drawing this card is the target of the effect.
End: Resolve this effect immediately before moving to the Monster activation step of your turn.
Enter: Resolve this effect when you enter this tile (after any situational stealth checks).
Equip: Resolve this effect immediately after playing this card in your play area.
Exposure: Exposure cards, having all different effects, are considered status effects.
Fully Reload: Choose any equipped weapon and add ammo tokens to it until it returns to the initial ammo value.
Gear: These cards represent pieces of equipment to be played in your play area. They occupy gear slots, and provide new abilities and actions to players.
Hostility: Refers to the slot occupied by the Hostility token on a Tribe card. Each Tribe has their own Hostility which dictates how monsters associated with that Tribe will act.
Incoming Damage: Any damage coming from an external source (attack, tile effect, etc.) The exceptions are damage coming from status effects such as Poison or Hunger.
Insanity: Insanity cards, having all different effects, are considered status effects.
Instant Actions: These cards represent actions immediately resolved upon playing the card, and are discarded immediately after resolving their effect.
Night: Resolve this effect when the Clock reaches the moon symbol.
Non-friendly: Any monster card that is not docile, or any Tribal monster whose Hostility is not Friendly (Trade or Allied) towards the players.
Passive: Abilities that remain in effect as long as the card is in play.
Poison: Place a poison counter on the target card. At the end of a player's turn, that target suffers damage equal to the number of poison counters on it. This is considered a status effect.
Retrieve: Search a (specified) discard pile for a card of your choice and add it to your hand.
Reveal: Resolve this effect only when this map tile is first flipped.
Scavenge: This action can only be taken on a tile once per turn. If a tile reads, Free Scavenge, draw a Scavenge card from the corresponding Scavenge deck as a free action. This does not count as taking the Scavenge action on that tile.
Stacking: If there are ever multiple instances of the same effect, they all apply. Example: Every Alien Scientist in play increases all Alien damage by 1. So, if there are 2 in play, each Alien monster's damage is increased by a total of 2.
Stampede: After a monster with stampede is dealt damage, it immediately resolves its attack. Then it attaches to a different player who is closest in range (if able). If two players are the same number of tiles away, you can pick to whom the monster is now attached.
Status Effects: Includes but are not limited to Exposure cards, Insanity cards, and Poison tokens.
Stop: Choose one: either stop your current movement for this turn (you cannot select the move action again) or if you move again this turn, resolve the following effect.
Stun: A stunned monster does not activate and deal damage at the end of your turn. A stunned monster card is turned 90 degrees to the right to indicate it is stunned. During its activation the monster becomes unstunned instead.
Survivor: Is often used synonymously with player, and relates to a player's character, cards, standee, figure etc.
Target: Any card with health is considered a target. Targets primarily consist of Survivor character cards and monster cards.
Test: Perform a Stealth test, then resolve the Success or Fail text based on your result.
Tribal: Is a descriptor used to indicate that the card belongs to one of the tribes in the game. Tribal cards have a tribe icon before their name.
Weapon: Any gear card that deals damage.
Quick Reference
Turn Reference
1. Spawn Monsters
- Roll Dice to Spawn Monsters:
- Place a Monster token on each faceup map tile whose Spawn number matches the combined roll result.
- Each player on a tile matching the roll, draws a monster card.
2. Draw a Card from your Survivor deck
3. Player Actions (take 4 actions)
- Move to an orthogonally adjacent tile.
- Draw a card from your Survivor deck.
- Play a card from you hand.
- Perform an action on a card or tile.
- Scavenge (once per tile per turn).
Free Actions:
- Discard two Survivor cards from your hand to draw a new card.
- You may give/take/trade Scavenge cards with another player on your tile.
- You may deliver cards that are part of a Mission Objective to a tile as a free action.
4. Monster Activation
- Monsters, in the current player's play area, activate and attack from left to right.
5. Hunger and other Status Effects
- Increase Hunger by 1 and suffer damage from Hunger, Poison and other status effects.
6. Check for Victory
Effect Ranges
Short Range: eligible targets must be on the the tile that you currently occupy.
Midrange: eligible targets must be on the tile that you currently occupy or on orthogonally adjacent tiles.
Long Range: eligible targets must be within 1 or 2 orthogonally adjacent tiles away from your current tile. You cannot target your current tile.