Zpocalypse 2: Defends the Burbs

The cities have fallen. Nuclear ash hangs heavy in the air. Suburbia, once the pinnacle of the American dream, is now the bloody battleground of the apocalypse. But how long can the white picket fences hold back the horde? The undead are changing, mutating into horrific abominations. Will you rely on kitchen appliances and garden tools to fend off the monsters, or embrace a few mutations of your own?

Defend the ‘Burbs features a four-part campaign, with each chapter taking 90-120 minutes to complete. Throughout the story, your survivors will need to find a defensible home in the suburbs, and protect it from an undead onslaught every night. While the sun is up, those same survivors will need to be assigned to tasks: Search for supplies with choose-your-path scavenging missions, build fortifications using the crafting system, patrol for daytime stragglers, or even get some much needed rest. But beware – every choice you make during the day determines how many zombies will come a’ knockin’ when the sun goes down.

Zpocalypse 2: Wasteland (Expansion)

As the sun sets on another day of defending the Burbs, you can’t help but ask yourself, “Is this all there is? Are we truly doomed to live out our days in this suburban purgatory?”

-Enter the Wasteland-

Players brave enough to venture out beyond their white picket fences and take to the highway will find themselves greeted by mutants, bandits, mad scientists, and more. Featuring a four-part campaign adventure, new survivors, weapons,locations, craftables, and terrain, The Wasteland expansion* adds hours of blood curdling fun for the whole family**.

*  Not a standalone game. Requires Zpocalypse 2: Defend the Burbs

**Not for the feint of heat. Including but not limited to: Children, grandparents, pets, and adults.

Zpocalypse 2: Defends the Burbs

• 2-5 Players, 120 Minutes, Ages 14+.
• Each player controls a squad of survivors in the post-nuclear zombie apocalypse.
• Story driven exploration and tower defense gameplay.
• Co-op and versus scenarios across a four-part campaign.
• Tactical miniature combat with modular tiles.

Zpocalypse 2: Wasteland (Expansion)

• Explore the Wasteland highways across post-nuclear America
• All new four-part campaign filled with dark humor
• 24 new choose-your-path scavenging stories and locations
• New survivors, weapons and crafting cards
• Three highly detailed miniatures
• New game mode featuring truck travel exploration.

• Official Press Page
  Everything you need to write an article about our games. press.greenbriergames.com.

Components (mini’s, tiles, chits, most cards) are compatible, but game play has been altered by new concepts of play, centered around the ability to play beyond the predefined 4 days of survival.

• Combat: Tactical combat in Defend the ‘Burbs emphasizes strategy over luck. The new system still uses the Z-dice, but you now roll all your dice at the start of your turn, and spend them as needed, instead of relying on a good rule after you’ve made your choice.
• Skill cards: Replace daily goals as new ability acquisition.
• Scenarios: We have moved scenarios to the rulebook instead of cards to allow for more detailed information and easier release of additional scenarios in the future.
• Food and item cards: Now reduced in size to allow larger decks with more variety. Play with the new item and food decks in classic Zpocalypse by replacing the original decks.
• Reduced size squad boards: To facilitate a 5th player, we reduced the size of the squad board by dropping the double HP/defense wheel. Instead you track survivor HP individually. Defense is still cumulative. Smarts and movement still work on smartest and slowest, but we feel dedicating a wheel for them is a waste of table space.
• Survivor cards new skill icons: Original survivors will be forwards and backwards compatible for either game. Original survivors are more combat focused, whereas Zpocalypse 2 survivors are more skill focused. Both may acquire and use the new skill cards.
• Something’s Happening cards: Where the original Something’s Happening cards only determined the difficulty of the zombies and their movement speed based on the day, now when a Something’s Happening card is turned, the fate of the players is determined by the number of zombies on the tracker. If you were terrible scavengers, had no one on patrol, and made a lot of noise building, chances are zombies have reached a critical mass and will send a horde your way. Combat is not a foregone conclusion. However, other challenges can still be sent your way such as raiders in the night! .

Outside the Box: Zpocalypse 2 – Wasteland YouTube

Outside the Box: ‘Zpocalypse 2 – Defend the Burbs’ YouTube

Zpocalypse 2 Card Lists

Zpocalypse 2 Q&A

Question	Answer
In my playthrough, the zombies on the second floor destroyed both barricades on turn one, and therefore killed both survivors turn 2. Where do zombies "path" to after this has happened?	Assuming that there are no players in line of sight, those zombies have no target after they feast on the upstairs humans. Normally, zombies default move to the public stash token and start destroying your stuff, but that doesn't exist in the intro. Unless the players move up into their view, the upstairs zombies will stand still, stupefied now that their hunger is sated. You could leave them upstairs until they flee from sunlight. This would prevent you from potentially getting hurt fighting them, however all zombies that flee increase the Doom Track, so you're next Day will be even harder.
Does zombie A see the survivors?	Zombie A does not see those survivors, its sight is blocked by the wall. It will run up to the second floor if the public stash (or upstairs humans in the intro) is around; if not, it won’t move.
When zombie B or C moves towards the survivors, will they be able to attack them?	The intent is that zombies will normally get at survivors even when blocked by other zombies (zombies don’t block line of sight for other zombies). In this case though, the wall forms a choke point. Zombie C will be placed to the north or south of the group of two zombies directly in front of it and be unable to attack due to have walls in its way.
Based on the rules, it seems players (and zombies) can move from A to B directly given the shape of the window. Is this the intent?	Yes. It also means zombies on space B could attack squads on space A. The arduous terrain penalty applies on going through the window, irrespective of the path followed. The definition of Arduous Terrain on page 24 should be changed to read: “If the arduous symbol appears on the line or corner between spaces, it only refers to moving directly over the symbol, except for crossing through windows. Any crossing through a window, straight or diagonal, is be arduous terrain.”
Do mutates from the doom tracker crossed during the prologue carry over to the first chapter?	They absolutely do! If your prologue play moved the doom tracker past two mutate markers, then you will start the first night of chapter 1 with two mutates.
Is there a token to use to track which mutates have already triggered for cases when the doom tracker goes backwards?	Unfortunately no token. Though I prefer players to see all the different mutates in a chapter, it is not thematically or mechanically required. The book states “ Milestones only trigger a single mutate; once spawned, that milestone is considered a regular space on the Doom Track.” That line is intended to avoid a scenario in which 6 mutates would be spawned at once. Currently players are expected to keep track of that on their own. I would add a piece to the errata stating that this resets each chapter. Likewise, If you pass a milestone during a chapter, but then manage to reduce the Doom Track to less than that milestone - when you pass it again, this time it does not trigger a mutate. You’ll fight a maximum of five mutates per chapter. Alas, no token specifically designated for keeping track of this.
When collecting resources, particularly during scavenging, does the carrying limit apply?	The carrying limit only applies during the Night phase. Thematically, during the day survivors can focus all their energy on working together to haul back items. Survivors that are scavenging only have the resources they are carrying with them to solve challenges encountered while scavenging, but may bring any number back with them.
Can a newly recruited survivor after a scavenge run be given a task? If not, are they considered “idle”, automatically incurring a Doom Tracker penalty?	New Survivors have missed the window to be allocated to a task. The intention was that they weren’t doing any tasks, not even idle rest, so they would not incur the doom track penalty.
Does the prerequisite for the Machete (3 melee) apply to both Strafe and Cleave?	Prerequisites only apply to the trait directly above them. In this case, Cleave requires melee of 3, while there is no skill restriction to use Strafe.
When a weapon has a trait, can both it and the basic attack be used on the same turn if the survivor has enough skill with that weapon to allocate sufficient dice? For example could Abigail Sharpe (melee 2) place a “5” and a “3” on the Machete to perform a basic attack (without a cleave) as well as the Strafe trait attack?	Yes, you can strafe and make a basic attack in the same turn, provided you have a high enough melee skill (or high rolls) to allocate enough dice. Note that strafe cannot be used twice in the same turn: “Limitation: Each special trait can only be used once per turn. Some traits will indicate that they can be used less frequently - for example, some traits can only be used once per day. Put the corresponding survivor token on a once per day ability to show that it has been used.” (pg.23)
Please confirm that “Fluid Actions” means you cannot allocate a 5 die to movement, move 2 spaces, attack, and then move the die’s “remaining” 3 AP.	Correct. There are no AP leftovers. The limitation on page 23 (Fluid Actions) applies to each individual action, even during a single hour of the night phase. Dice never leave AP floating for future use.
The description of fortification tokens states that “you can effectively control the direction of the zombie horde…” Can they be used to force zombies to a different side of the house? Examples: A: If the west side of the house has junk walls placed over both entrances, and there are no squads in line of sight to the zombie spawn point, where will zombies go? B: Similarly, is there any combination of walls, gates, or towers, that would guide the zombies to move to a different, more defended side of the house, without player squads acting as bait?	A: If there are no squads in LOS zombies will always try to find a way inside the house and up to the 2nd floor to start ransacking the public stash token. Thematically, zombies smell humans inside, and have trace memories of human life, including the desire for human food. The line about barricading the house is a strategy suggestion, letting players know they could block off an entire side of the house. If a zombie sees a squad or is trying to get to the public stash token, they’ll take the shortest open path. So if you blocked off an entire side of the house, they would go around to another side, attempting to find an unblocked way upstairs. If the zombies only have one path and that path is barricaded (like you fortified a choke point, or like the upstairs challenge in the prologue) the zombies will stay put trying to break down the wall until they’re either successful or the sun rises. If the fortification blocking their path is in the zombie’s LOS before they start moving, they’ll take a different path, if available. If the fortification blocking their path is not in their LOS before they start moving, they’ll move as normal up to the fortification and then try to take it down. B: See above, and the super fortified example on pg.31. If there were zombies south of that fortified section on pg.31, and they had no paths into the house in LOS and no squads in LOS, they would move around the house in either direction, depending on which way was the shortest amount of spaces to get them to the stairs up.
When spending resources, can players make "change" when they have a card with multiple resources on it?	Yes. Players can make change on resource cards, using the resource deck if required, and shuffling afterwards.
The tracker board states that the player meeples, zombie meeple, and the day tracker begin on the circled “x” space. Is this at the start of every chapter, or only on the prologue?	The values are intended to carry over throughout a campaign. Though often the end or beginning of a chapter will affect the position of those meeples. The Day tracker stays constant throughout the campaign, while typically the other meeples reset (as instructed). And when jumping ahead chapters, or starting anywhere but from the prologue, it tells you where to set the day tracker.
When using the Golf Club, which has a range of 2, what is considered an “adjacent target” for the knockdown? Is this adjacent to the player, or the target hit? Does the “adjacent target” need to be within range 2?	The “adjacent target” for the Golf Club refers to any zombie in the same space or adjacent to the initial target of the basic attack, regardless of if that zombie is also in range two. Thematically, you hit the initial target so hard that is fell backwards, knocking down its cohort.
Do friendly squads break line of sight for ranged attacks? In other words, can you swing a golf club through a friendly part to hit a zombie behind, or shoot through a friendly squad?	Squads do not break line of sight. Friendly humans are more than happy to duck out of the way for bullets and golf clubs. The only elements that break LOS are red walls and impassable spaces.
The zombie pathing rules refer to moving towards the public stash token (page 26) with the implication that they will attack the stash. Where is this covered in the rules?	As written, they don’t destroy anything in the stash. They just pool up there, clawing at the boxes, haunted by memories of being human, until the sun rises. You could leave them up there, but they’ll all raise the doom track and you’ll likely be in big trouble. The original intention was that they’d attack the stash, and destroy one item for each point of damage done. I took this out after a test where players ended up losing all their progress in chapter 1, and people got frustrated. I do like the rule however, as it adds a bit more tension. In the v.2 pdf of the rules, I will be fleshing out (heh) the zombies’ behaviors in much greater detail, and will potentially add this back in. This is something I would love community input on!
There is no place on the Campaign sheet to record if a survivor has achieved their personal objective. Do these reset each chapter?	They do not reset each chapter. The survivor’s objective is once per campaign. It should be on the campaign sheet, but for now it is only recorded with the survivor’s corresponding numbered token (the star or non-star sides).
The reference card “The Horde” states “...the zombies will move towards the upstairs stash tokens.” Does this mean the horde will attack players’ private stashes? If so, will they attack private stashes when in locations other than the upstairs?	The intention here is that they’re going after the public stash, just as a central homing beacon to make sure they’ve always got an objective. At one point we had wanted them to attack all the stashes (and break things in them), which is where that current token“s” typo came from. This is definitely a central part of zombie behaviors that needs attention in the v.2 rules.
If players reach milestone 30 during a chapter, they continue to track VP (as per “MVP page 34). Do players continue to earn a perk every five days, or are no more perks earned until the next chapter (when the player meeple is reset)?	They keep tracking VP, but they do not continue to earn extra perks. The intention is to limit the amount of perks players could gain in a chapter, to A) prevent an overwhelming number of perks in your player space, and B) prevent farming zombies to become excessively powerful.
Is VP from cards added to player VP (which would affect perks) at the end of the prologue?	No. This should be stated in the prologue section. VP is intended to reset after every chapter, and the Prologue is intended to be considered a chapter in every way except you don’t bother calculating an MVP.
VP is added to each player’s total after each chapter (MVP rules, page 34). For the purposes of zombie pathing (page 26), does a zombie choose between equidistant squads using the highest VP on the tracking board, or the running total from the campaign sheet?	Zombies only look at the current positions on the board for that chapter (to avoid asking some players to continually be adding their current score to their persistent score). The primary reason for tracking VP across the campaign is due to the number of competitive groups we’ve had who want a winner no matter what, even in a cooperative game. Ultimately the “MVP” is about bragging rights.
Spawning Zombies in the full rules (page 26) does not specify quantity and type of zombies to spawn.	Also on page 26, but currently under the header “The Doom Track” : “Each Night phase begins by spawning fresh zombies equal to the current position on the Doom Track. For each milestone passed the previous Day, replace a fresh zombie with a mutate. See “Mutates” on page 28.” .. It should be moved or repeated under spawning zombies.
A zombie moves two spaces, then through arduous terrain, and so is knocked down. Does a knocked-down zombie still attack if adjacent to a squad?	Zombies that get knocked down stand up instead of moving. However, if after standing up they are adjacent to a squad, that zombie will still get to attack it. Additionally, if a squad is adjacent to a zombie that is currently knocked down when it is time for zombies to attack, that zombie will still get a chance to attack. Ankle biters are a real problem in the Zpocalypse.
Carl Mohr’s card states he can move one space each turn. Is this meant to be once space, irrespective of terrain, or one AP’s worth of movement?	It is intended to be 1 APs worth of movement, thus treating terrain as normal. This is a good one for an individual cards clarification in the back of the v2 rulebook revision.
The position of the zombies in the prologue example (Page 14 Example 01 and Page 16 Example 02) don’t match the position of the setup instructions (Page 10 Setup 04). Which is correct?	The setup on page 10 is the intended introductory arrangement.
Page 13 , “The Horde Card” states “When the turn clock reaches five, combat is immediately over.” Is this an error?	Yes. Zombies and players each get 5 turns. It is at the end of the fifth turn that the sun rises and combat ends.
Page 32 has the text of the limitation cut off. What is the remainder of the text?	WOW, that’s a huge bummer. I suspect that in a final graphic positioning tweak, that text got pushed out of its frame. The rest is a reminder of what it already states on some of the crafting cards, like the 2nd lookout tower, or the 2nd infirmary bed. They can only be used if the player count is high enough. Otherwise, two players with either of those doubled up would have way too much control over the Doom Track.
The rules make multiple references to calculating range. (Page 12, Basic Attacking; Page 25, How Windows Work). How is range calculated?	Range is determined by counting the shortest number of straight and diagonal lines from the attacker to the target, not counting the attacker’s square. Vertical displacement, from towers, stairs, or windows, does not affect range.
Reloading weapons, page 19 states: “...must discard an ammo card from your private stash to reload a weapon.” So even during combat, you don’t have to carry ammunition with the squad?	During the night, ammo must be carried to reload, unless the players is beside their private stash, or the public stash.
In the day phase example on page 35, are the scavenged resources not shown in the figure?	The graphic is missing the resources the heroes received from completing that challenge.
The Wasteland Punchboards say 1 of 3 and 2 of 3 on them. Whee is the third punchboard?	This is a typo, there are only 2 punchboards for the Wasteland box set. the X of 3 should say x of 2.