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How do Survivors emerge?

Where do heroes come from? The six Survivors were born with Zombicide and grew with it.

It won’t end the way you expect

Like many aspects of Zombicide, we got our inspiration from action and zombie films’ stereotypes. The driving idea was to give it a special taste, something offbeat and fresh.
So we gathered to get a typical characters’ list. At start, these Survivors didn’t have names, only archetypes: the goth chick, the waitress, the cop, the hoodie, the salesguy (who became the office guy) and the geek (who became the “crazy guy”). All these characters had already left their marks, one way or another, in the pulp culture of action movies.

Choose your hero!

Here was the governing principle: sorting out as average people, each Survivor had to become a hero along the game and face growing zombie odds.
So was designed, for each Survivor, a first Skills list acquired along the zombicide. Game effects reflected the different “career” we considered for each archetype… and we wanted to give you the final word!
Successive tests revealed the choice was not only driven by player’s taste (“what if I made a sniper of him, or a pack leader?”) but by circumstances (“considering option, the best bet is an additional Combat Action…”) and Mission objectives (finding food in reduced times is sometimes better). Tests allowed to perfect the Skill trees, until each of us was satisfied to play any Survivor, with any Skill combination. We happened to play the same mission four times in a row without growing weary nor having a déjà-vu feeling. The choices given by the Skill trees extend Zombicide’s lifetime!

Starting Skill

Beside the progress choices offered to him, each Survivor has his own personality. This is a fundamental criteria for immersion. Of course, this personality is defined by the cool artworks but also from each Survivor’s starting Skill. Ned gets a free Search Action because he’s madly looking for his bunker lost key! He’s feeling trapped outside and gets crazy about it.
The starting Skill defines the role of the Survivor in the group and, from this point on, introduces real interaction between players.

Here’s the list!

  • Amy: +1 free Move Action
  • Doug: Matching set!
  • Josh: Slippery
  • Ned: +1 free Search Action
  • Phil: Starts with a pistol
  • Wanda: 2 Zones per Move Action

Counting heroes

The Survivors dropped from 8 to 6 since Zombicide’s beginnings. You may soon find the last two of them, the cheerleader and the football team captain!
In your opinion, what starting Skills have we given to them?

A Survivor’s tale

Playing heroes

Each Survivor is unique and customizable.

  • The six Survivors are inspired by everyday people and progress to near-demigod status as they gain Danger levels.
  • Each Survivor begins with a special skill and progresses through an arborescence of new skills as he/she gains Danger levels. Two players could play the same survivor and choose different paths, different gameplays.

sic-doug

Actions! Each survivor begins with three actions per turn, to spend among some of the following action choices.

  • Moving from one zone to the next.
  • Opening a door (door-breaking equipment is required)
  • Fighting zombies in hand-to-hand or ranged combat (may produce noise)
  • Searching for Equipment (draw a random Equipment card)
  • Make some noise
  • Getting in or out of a car.

Every survivor may gain more actions with Danger levels, to spend among specific actions choices.

Equipment! Survivors may loot very cool stuff while searching secluded spaces or wrecked cars.

  • Weapons, hand-to-hand or ranged, including revolver, shotgun, rifle, SMG, axe, machete, katana, chainsaw, etc.
  • Some weapons may be used in “dual“: both are activated in the same action. We KNOW you”ll love to play a dual-SMG or dual-machete wielding survivor.
  • Extra stuff like goalie mask (ignore one wound), scope (+rifle = sniper rifle), extra ammo (rerolls), bottles and gasoline (Molotov cocktail), etc.
  • Food equipment may be a mission objective.
  • Some Equipment cards are trapped and give way to a minor zombie spawn. Digging in the dirt may be such a thrill!

Surviving! A survivor takes a wound and loses one chosen Equipment card for each zombie in the same zone as his at the beginning of the zombie turn. Two wounds and the survivor’s a goner.

Players soon learn that a collaborative team is an efficient but somewhat fragile killing machine.

Dead anthem

Zombies gameplay

There are 4 zombie types: Walkers, Runners, Fatties and the Abomination.

– Walkers are the rank-and-file zombies, numerous, stupid and slow. Your average zombie.

mini-Walkers

– Runners are really fast and really smart. As they play twice per zombie’s turn, they’re your worst nightmare in close quarters.

mini-Runners

– Fatties are hard to kill and come with an escort of two “walkers”.

mini_Fatty

– The Abomination looks like an inexorable and overwhelming fattie. There’s only one way to kill it and you need to combine Equipment cards to build the required weapon: a Molotov cocktail!

mini_Abomination

Zombies are played by the game itself.

  • They move according to the survivors they see and hear. Vision and noise are crucial to confront, avoid or possibly control the zombie horde.
  • Zombies enter the board through “zombies spawn zones” defined by the scenario and manholes sketched over the game tiles. Opening the first door of a building also triggers a zombie spawn in each zone of the building.
  • The way they spawn is defined by Zombie cards randomly picked from the Zombie deck. Pick one card per Zombie spawn zone. Each zombie card figures four combinations of zombies to put in play, one for each danger level. Pick a card, read the according line, put the zombie minis in play, it’s as simple as that.
  • Survivors don’t freely choose their targets among zombies. The wounding priorities in any targeted zone are: Walkers first, then Fatties (including the Abomination) and, finally, Runners. Yes, runners indirectly benefit from the Fatties “meat shield” effect and consequently are the last to be eliminated. We told you they were smart. You were warned.

Moreover, survivors are priority targets for ranged combat. Never shoot in a zone including a fellow survivor AND zombies, you would kill your friend first. Going in hand-to-hand combat is the only way to help him/her. Will you take the risk?

Survival through extreme prejudice

 

Each game turn begins with the “player’s turn” then the “zombies’ turn”. The first player changes at the beginning of each turn. Zombicide is not just for violence, it’s also for strategy and planning.

 

grindhousezombie-police

 

The game is scenario-oriented and victory is achieved through completion of various objectives from finding food to rescuing fellow survivors, including cleaning an infested area and running a car-race through the city. A 20mn tutorial is enough to learn the mechanics and give way to ten scenarios of growing difficulty and intensity. The modular material easily allows players to create their own scenarios.

 

 

Danger Level

always on the edge

The “Danger level” defines the game rhythm. A survivor gains experience for each zombie he eliminates and gains new skills as he reaches “Danger levels” defined by colors: blue, yellow, orange and, finally, red. The most experienced survivor sets the “Danger level” for zombie spawns. The more experienced he is, the more zombies will spawn.

zombie-spawn-card

sic-ned