Zombie Plague
Zombie Plague Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Humans vs. Zombies
You've got two options with ZP… you can play the Humans, or you can play the Zombies. Humans are fast and can use weapons, while the Zombies are slow as molasses but have much greater numbers. YOU make the call!!
If playing with more than 2 people (which is, in fact, recommended), everybody takes a split of the available sides… 4 people playing, 2 play Zombies and 2 play Humans (for example.)
Setup
Layout the 6 board pieces (preferably so that they all match up but hey, it's your game, too.) The Human player(s) pick a side to come in from (if they can't agree, mock their lack of teamwork and choose a side randomly). Place the humans on the 1st row of squares on that side. Then place the zombies on the opposite edge. Ta-Daaa!
Victory Conditions
For the Humans: Search every searchable square, barricade ALL the windows and doors, and ensure that there are no zombies inside the house. Once that's accomplished, you win!
For ye Zombies: Kill the humans. 'Nuff said!
Playing the Game
We recommend mounting the item cards onto some cardboard so they're not transparent. Same goes for the board and the barricade tokens, just so their sturdier.
Basics
The Human Player always gets the first turn. Humans have 4 Action Points (AP) each. Every turn, they may perform up to 4 AP's of actions. Simple, eh? Zombies have 2 AP's each. Yes, they are a lot slower. But there are also a lot more of them. Total number of Zombies on the board is limited to four times the number of human figures. Example: 2 human players, up to 8 zombies on the board at a time. Each zombie turn, add one zombie to a randomly determined table edge, unless of course the zombies are maxed out.
The following actions cost 1 AP each:
- Move directly forward 1 square
- Move directly backward 1 square
- Turn 1 facing left or right
- Barricade 1 square's worth of a window or door
- Attack (with bare hands or a weapon)
- Search a Search square
Note: Zombies can only move forward 1 square, turn 1 facing, and attack. That's it. Period. And they can only do it half as fast as a Human.
Action Clarifications
So here's a little clarification as to what these things mean:
Move 1 square forward – just that. As you may have noticed, the Zombie Plague board is set up on a 1 inch grid… all movement (and attacks) happen along these grid lines. The direction your character is looking should be clear on the figure and if not, should be marked clearly on the base (on the figure, or the cardboard stand-up, or the token, or the nickel… you get the idea). No turns, no diagonal movement, nothing like that. Also, anything on the board that looks like an obstacle (couch, toilet, shrubbery, coffee table, etc.) IS an obstacle and cannot be crossed or moved onto. If most of a given square is filled with an object of some kind, that square is still off-limits. Use your best judgment.
Move backward 1 square – likewise, fairly obvious. This is a backstep without changing your facing. If the zombies are getting closer, you can move back and keep attacking with a ranged weapon. But the attack costs its own AP. And of course, this won't help you if you're backed against a wall. Zombies cannot move backwards, they have to turn around to move in the opposite direction. Hey, it sucks to be dead.
Turn 1 facing – left or right, 1 facing. 2 AP's to turn 180 degrees. 4 AP's to turn all the way around and do a little dance… although if that's what you're doing, perhaps you're playing the wrong game.
Barricade a window/door – Each square being barricaded costs 1 AP. If it's a 2-square window, then you have to barricade 1 square, turn, move, turn again, and THEN barricade the other square. Place a barricade token over the window or door. Once an area is barricaded, those pesky zombies can't get in… until they have 4 zombies lined up on the other side. That's right kids, 4 zombies (connected by solid squares, no diagonals, although it does not have to be in a straight line) will take out the barricade at the start of the NEXT zombie player's turn, for no AP cost. They just move right through it. Note that this is the only way a barricade can be destroyed directly.
Attack with/Fire a weapon – you may only attack the square directly in front of you, or the first occupied square in a straight line from you if using a firearm of some kind. Weapon cards have their own modifiers printed on them… we'll get to those shortly. Attacks work differently for humans and zombies. To resolve attacks you can use a 6-sided die, or if you're maniacal like us, you can print our die templates (coming soon!) out onto a label sheet and then affix THAT to the dice. We think it's worth the effort. You'll need at least one die, preferably one for each player.
Human Attacks
Roll ye 6-sider –
1 – OOPS! Unless using a weapon that gives specific instructions for an OOPS result, you lose the rest of your AP's as you struggle to regain control of your weapon (or keep from hitting yourself with it, or stop slipping on the mutilated zombie innards underfoot… the possibilities are near limitless.) If you're using a firearm, an OOPS indicates that you're out of ammo.
2 – MISS
3 – MISS
4 – MISS
5 – Body Shot! The zombie is pushed back 1 square from the direction of the attack. This push may move a figure sideways… that's fine, since it was an outside force and not the zombie itself that did the moving. Also, if the pushed zombie ends in a square occupied by another zombie, THAT zombie gets pushed the same direction, just as if it had also suffered a Body Shot. This continues for as long as there are zombies in a line, although if the movement is blocked by an object, then the push is useless. Unfortunately a Body Shot doesn't really hurt a zombie, it just keeps 'em away.
6 – Head Shot! As every horror movie aficionado knows, they only way to kill a zombie is to destroy the brain. SPLAT!! Remove the offending zombie figure, and count your lucky stars that there's one less in front of you. Then pick your next target.
Firearms give a certain number of squares that the attack can reach, but the attack itself uses the same 6-sided die and the same result chart, modified by the text of the weapon card, of course. If a human is NOT armed with a weapon, they roll as normal. If the result is a body shot or head shot, Roll again. If the second roll is the same as the first, then execute the results of the attack. Otherwise, it counts as a miss. Hey man, have YOU ever tried to destroy a zombie's brain with your bare hands!? We have, and we can tell you that it ain't easy.
Zombie Attacks
Again, roll ye 6-sider:
After you roll, roll again. If the second roll is the same as the first, then the human has taken a Wound (optionally, just roll 2 dice and look for doubles). When a human has been wounded, move them 1 square directly back from the attack (unless blocked by a wall or obstacle,) as they fall back in shock. When a human is wounded, they (the human) roll a die. On an OOPS, they've been zombified. On anything else, they're fine, and they're still fighting. If zombified, replace the figure with a zombie. That player's out. But by all means let 'em play the zombie their character just turned into.
Searching
Search for an item – to search, a human must be directly adjacent to the search square… the ones with the big "X" in 'em. They also have to be facing the square they're searching. For the paltry cost of 1 AP, they can draw a Search Card from the deck. Aaah, search cards. Weapons, medicine, random nonsense, and unexpected zombie attacks… any of the above are possible when you draw a card. You've been warned! Of course, for the humans to win, they have to search every square on the board… Each character can only search each search square ONCE, but multiple characters can search the same square in the course of the game. All that matters for a human victory is that each square has been searched by someone. With regard to items, you can only hold 1 weapon at a time, but you can hold any number of non-weapon items until needed. If you've got the pistol and you draw the shotgun, you've gotta make a decision as to which one to keep (not much of a decision, admittedly.) Incidentally, when you discard a weapon, no one else gets it. If you're using a weapon, it has to be one that you've drawn from the deck yourself.
Items and Stuff
There are a bunch of happy little things that can be drawn from the Search pile. Some are not-so-happy. That's the risk you take. A lot of times you'll want to get every human to search every search square…that's how you get better weapons and items. But you also get surprise attacks, smashed barricades, and more zombies. Sometimes you just gotta take a chance. Weapons and items you hang onto. Other cards take effect immediately when drawn, and are then discarded. If by some twist of fate you run through the whole deck in the course of some mammoth game, too bad. No more goodies for you!
Weapon and Item Cards
Here's the breakdown:
Kitchen Knife: Kills zombies on a 6 (Head Shot)
Baseball Bat: Kills zombies on a 5 or 6 (Body or Head Shot)
Hockey Stick: Kills zombies on a 5 or 6 (Body or Head Shot)
Chainsaw: Kills zombies on a 3, 4, 5 or 6. If you roll an OOPS while attacking with the Chainsaw, you take a wound instead. Roll a die; on another OOPS, the zombies have got ya! Make peace with your god, and replace the human figure with a zombie figure.
Pistol: Fires up to 5 squares. On an OOPS, out of ammo. Pistol is then useless.
Rifle: Fires up to 10 squares. On an OOPS, out of ammo. Treat as baseball bat (kill on 5 or 6).
Shotgun: Fires up to 5 squares, and 3 squares wide (also hits the row on either side.) Anything within those 15 squares is in range… roll a separate attack for each. Humans can get hit too, if they're too close to the target, so look out. On an OOPS, out of ammo. Treat as baseball bat.
Double Barrel Shotgun: Same as Shotgun, but ignore the 1st OOPS rolled.
Ammo: Reloads a weapon (or nullifies an OOPS result when firing a gun.) May be held until needed.
Med-Pak: Heals a wound (or nullifies a wound as it occurs…no need to roll for zombification/injury). May be held until needed.
Power Drink: Gives user 8 AP's for one turn. Use it at the start of your turn. May be held until needed.
Car Keys: Get these and get to the car, and VOILA! You've escaped! Of course, your human buddies may not be fast enough to make it out… but hey, that's what you get for being slow! Spend 4 consecutive AP's next to the car door without becoming zombie munchies, and you're in.
SURPRISE!!: A Zombie appears next to the search square (or as close as it can given which squares are already occupied). This zombie does NOT count toward the maximum # of zombies in play. If this zombie is killed, draw another card.
Stench of Fear: All zombies get double AP's on their next turn only, as the aroma of terrified food wafts across the board.
Dead Resident: Place a bonus zombie anywhere in the house, in an unoccupied room. This zombie does NOT count towards the maximum # of zombies in play.
Smash!: Zombie player may destroy a single chosen barricade (1 square) immediately. Remove the barricade from play.
Lucky Coincidence: Erect a barricade for free immediately. This barricade can be located anywhere that you could normally barricade (i.e. you can't use it on the garage door.)
Eureka!!: Draw 2 more cards.
Optional Rules
We've done everything we can to make this a fairly balanced, simple game. Given that the designers both come from wargaming backgrounds, we may not have made it as simple as we would have liked. Oops. The point is, once you download or print these files, it's YOUR game, too. Please feel free to modify or ignore any and all rules that appear here. Make up your own. Don't like the map? Make a different one! Use some other map with a grid! Play on a map with hexes if you like! Think we were remiss at not including the all-powerful Cheese Grater in with the weapons? Make a card for it, and put it in your games. The point is to have fun with it.
That having been said, here are some simple rules options that we cooked up, but didn't think were vital to the core of the game. Use at your discretion.
"Roadkill" – Fortress makes a lil' zombie dog miniature, affectionately known as "Roadkill". The figure takes up 2 squares instead of one. We have no allowance for this in the game, so here's our fix: The figure only takes up one actual square on the board. If there's a question as to which of the two it is, go with whichever one's best for our favorite zombie dog. If someone's shooting at him, and the front square is in range and the back square isn't, then count that as he's NOT in range. Capisce?
"How boring!" variant – If during any turn no attacks are made, searches conducted, or barricades either erected or destroyed, then place a bonus Zombie anywhere in the house in an unoccupied room. This Zombie does not count towards the normal max # of zombies. But when this one's killed, you don't replace it either. We like this one; it makes mincemeat out of slow-thinking human players. 3 turns without anything happening? So that's 11 zombies versus 2 humans, and at least 3 of those Zombies are already in the house. Good luck to you.
"Car Keys go jingle-jangle-jingle" – We debated about what to do with the car keys item. Here are some further options for you: You can only get out with the keys if all the human players can make it to the car (the goody-two-shoes version) OR roll a die when at the car, on anything other than a 6 it won't start (the horror-movie standard option). With the 2nd option there, you can try to roll again every turn to get the car started… but if 4 zombies line up anywhere against the car, you're toast.