Zombies at Your Heels
Zombies at Your Heels Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
4 sets of 13 Survivor cards, 1 Bunker and 1 Zombie Horde.
Each survivor card has the following information:
- Name (for example, Clem Jefferson)
- Role (for example, Pathfinding Hunter)
- Speed (7, marked with a running man)
- Points value (1, marked with a diamond)
- 'Armed' indicator (a pistol, or lack thereof)
- Ability text (for example, Move the Survivor in last place two spaces forwards)
As well as colour, the sets of survivors can be told apart by the letter in the top right corner.
Game Objective
The aim of the game is to score more points than any other player, generally by helping your survivor cards escape to the safety of the Bunker, and encouraging your opponents' survivors into the rotting maws of the Zombie Horde.
Game Setup
Place the Bunker card at one side of the table and the Zombie Horde card at the other. The space between these cards is where survivors will be played in a single file line, fleeing in terror from mindless revenants. First place is next to the Bunker.
Sort the survivor cards into stacks by colour and give each player a stack. Each player shuffles their stack and places it face down in front of them.
Each player deals a number of survivors face-down into the middle of the table.
- For two players, deal three survivors each.
- For three players, deal two survivors each.
- For four players, deal one survivor each.
Take the survivor cards from the middle of the table and shuffle them together. One at a time, place them face-up in the area between the Zombie Horde and the Bunker, using the 'Core Rule' to determine position.
- Note: At this point, ignore any ability text on the survivors.
Each player draws a hand of three cards from their survivor stack, keeping the remainder of the stack face down on the table.
Starting with the player whose survivor is in last place, players take turns in clockwise order.
Core Rule: Placing a New Survivor Card
Starting from last place (next to the Zombie Horde), compare the speed value of the new survivor with those of the survivors in play, and place the new card directly behind the first survivor you find that is the same speed or higher. If all survivors in play are slower, the new card takes first place.
Speed values are only checked when placing a new survivor. Once in play, even high speed survivors will be subject to manipulation by their peers, and will often find themselves pushed towards the back.
Gameplay: The Four Phases of a Turn
1. Newcomer Phase
The player MUST place a new survivor from hand. (Refer to 'Core Rule' to determine placement.)
2. Activate Phase
The player MAY choose to activate the newcomer. When a survivor is activated, follow all the ability text written on the card. Many abilities move survivors forwards or backwards in the line.
The player MAY also activate a veteran, one of their other survivors already in play.
If both the newcomer and a veteran are activated, they may be activated in whichever order the player chooses.
Special Rule: Sole Survivor
If you only have one survivor in play during your Activation phase, you may use the Sole Survivor ability: move that survivor three spaces forwards. This does not count as activating the survivor, and can only be used once per turn.
3. Exit Phase
(Does not take place on each player's first turn.)
- If the survivor in first place belongs to the current player, that survivor ESCAPES. (Place the card beneath the Bunker card.)
- OTHERWISE, the survivor in last place is EATEN! (Place the card beneath the Zombie Horde card.)
Note that some survivor's abilities cause the Exit phase to be skipped.
IMPORTANT
There is no Exit phase on each player's first turn. Furthermore, any abilities that cause a survivor to escape or be eaten cannot be used on the first turn.
4. Draw Phase
Lastly, the player draws the top card of their survivor deck into hand (if there are any cards left), so that they have three cards, and the next player's turn begins.
Ending the Game
If a player cannot draw a card during the Draw phase (i.e. their deck is exhausted and they have two cards in hand), they are out of the game. When all players are out of the game, the game ends and points are tallied.
Reveal all of the cards beneath the Bunker, and add up the points values of each player's escaped survivors. Then reveal the survivors that were eaten by zombies, and add on any bonus points scored by Tragic Teens.
The winner is the player with the highest points total. If there's a tie and any player has 'claimed' the Bunker with a Self-Styled 'General' card, that player wins, even if he or she is not one of the tied players. Otherwise the tied player with the highest value escaped survivor wins. If there's still a tie, compare the second highest value survivors, and so on. If there's still a tie, the escapees fall to bickering that escalates to violence, and what could have been a haven becomes a tomb.
Additional Notes
Armed Survivors
Some survivors have pistol icons printed on the card. These survivors are armed. Being armed does not carry any built-in effects, but some cards differentiate between armed and unarmed survivors.
Automatic Abilities
Automatic abilities are triggered under certain circumstances. Unless it includes the word 'may', an automatic ability is mandatory.
Charlie Harris, Paramilitary Fanatic
When Charlie is played, all the armed survivors are moved to the front of the pack, but the order of survivors should otherwise remain the same. An easy way to do this is to take the armed survivor closest to the bunker and move them to first place. Then find the next closest armed survivor and move them to second place. Keep doing this until all armed survivors are in front of the unarmed survivors.
Karen Malone, Tenacious Detective
On the turn Karen is played, she allows you to activate two veterans instead of just one (in addition to activating her).
Advanced Play: Neutral Survivors
Neutral survivors are stragglers that have joined your group unbidden, and are marked with a white background. Desperate to be accepted, they will take instructions from any player.
If you choose to play with them, shuffle them together after the initial survivors have been laid out (game setup) and put one of them into play. The remaining neutral survivors should be placed in a face-up pile next to the Zombie Horde.
When playing with neutral survivors, players have an additional option during the Activate phase. Instead of activating a 'veteran' survivor, a player can activate a neutral survivor, either one that is already in play, or the top card in the neutral survivor pile (in which case the survivor first enters play normally, then their ability is activated).
If a neutral survivor is in first place in the Exit phase, he or she escapes. However, instead of placing the survivor beneath the Bunker, place him or her face-up in front of the current player to form a 'bonus pile'. When points are tallied at the end of the game, each player should include the points values of the cards in his or her bonus pile.
Note that some neutral survivors can also be moved into a bonus pile as a result of their abilities.
Advanced Play: Seven Days Scenario
In this scenario for experienced players, the lockdown date for the Bunker is brought forward: survivors only have a week to make it to safety!
- Setup: After laying out the initial survivors, each player chooses a hand of seven survivors from their stack. Unchosen cards are removed from the game. (Optionally, players may also choose the initial survivors.)
- Play continues as normal, but players are not out of the game until they have used all seven of their cards.