Helipad Two |
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Helipad Two
by Nate Scheidler
About this variant
12 player zombies is a team game, and requires the base set. Use of either the military tiles (zombies 2) or Mall tiles (zombies 3) can be used for longer/harder games; specifics of these variants can be laid out on request, as they involve some deck construction changes.
Additional zombies past those available in the basic set are recommended. Additional player tokens will need to be used as well.
Background
Rushing to get out of the zombie nightmare, some bastard took the last helicopter out and left without you. But wait! There is another helipad... but its all the way on the other side of town! And zombie masses are still coming to get you! On the bright side, you have managed to secure a bunch of bullets. It won't be enough to kill all the zombies, but it might be enough to clear a path. Maybe one of you will be able to make it out alive...
Setup
See below for map setup.
Buildings and helipad receive zombies, bullet and life tokens as normal. Streets and intersections do not.
"We're so screwed" must be removed from the deck of cards.
Teams
Teams divided into 3 and each is comprised of 4 players. Each player starts with 3 life tokens, 4 bullets and 1 card.
Teams roll a die to determine who goes first.
The team going first receives two extra spaces of movement, per player, on their first turn.
The team going second starts with 2 extra bullet tokens for each player.
The team going third removes 2 zombies from the board at the start of their turn, and adds 2 zombies per team member during phase 4 (see turn order). The third team will do this for the rest of the game.
Teams all start in town square, and each player is added to the board as their turn begins.
During the game, a team can discuss move options with each other and display their cards to each other.
Two or more team members occupying the same space on the board may exchange cards or give bullets/weapons to each other freely. Team members may never exchange life tokens.
Turn order
If a player starts their turn on a space occupied by a zombie, they must either spend 2 bullets or a life token to kill it the zombie before taking any other actions.
Any time during a player's turn, they may play 1 card from their hand.
Phase 1: If you have no cards in your hand, draw 1 card either from the deck or from the discard pile.
Phase 2: take action
Each player on a team is alloted one action each turn. A player is allowed to do one of the following with their action
Move up to 4 spaces (this is treated as a "movement roll" for the purposes of card effects)
Move 3 zombies 1 space apiece, and move their player token 1 space. Government enhanced zombies may each be moved 2 spaces. Zombies may be moved into a player's space.
Players must move at least 1 space per turn.
Phase 3: Team members may discard cards as desired.
Phase 4: Add zombies to the board.
Players on the active team add one zombie per team member to an unoccupied space adjacent to an existing zombie. Only 2 zombies may be added to any one tile during this phase, and government enhanced zombies may not be added in this manner.
Zombie combat and bullets
Zombie combat is initiated when a player occupies a square that contains a zombie during the course of their turn.
Zombie combat is managed by spending bullets. 1 zombie costs a player 1 bullet to kill. The exception is government enchanced zombies, which require 2 bullets apiece.
When fighting zombies, a player loses 1 space of movement per zombie combat they engage in.
When a zombie is killed, the zombie is returned to the supply; players do not maintain zombie pools.
Defeat in combat
If a player cannot pay enough bullets to kill a zombie they are in combat with, they lose a life token. If they have movement remaining, they may move to an adjacent space.
Death
Once a player no longer has any life tokens, they are considered to be dead. They must discard all their cards and bullet tokens. From this point forward, they may only add or move zombies for their turn action.
Life Tokens
A player may sacrifice a life token for one of the following effects, once per turn
Move 2 additional spaces
Ignore zombie combat during movement
A player may not sacrifice their last life token.
Miscellaneous rule adjustments
Cards: A player has the option of either drawing a card from the deck or taking a card from the discard pile when they draw a card. Players may not take cards from the discard pile that were played by a team member this turn.
Bullet tokens in buildings: When a bullet token is picked up in a building, that player adds an additional bullet token to their bullet pool.
Town Square: Zombies may never be placed in the town square tile. If a player starts or ends their turn in town square, they may add bullet tokens until they have reached a total of 4. If they already had 4 or more bullets, they do not add further bullets to their bullet pool.
Victory
A team wins when their last surviving member of a team reaches the center of a helipad. Each helicopter may accomodate up to four players.
If a player has reached the center of the helipad while other team members are alive but elsewhere in town, that team member may not be moved from the center of the helipad. No zombies may be added or moved onto the helipad tile while there is a player in the middle of the helipad. If no other players survive to reach the helipad, the team with the most team members at the helipad wins. Ties are decided by which team has the highest remaining total of hearts and bullets.
Card Errata (in caps)
All The Marbles: Play this card in front of you when you are in the toy store. Discard this card to prevent all zombies from being moved OR ADDED until after YOUR TEAM'S next turn.
Claustrophobia: Target player may not enter any building during their next turn. If in a building, TARGET PLAYER MUST MOVE, and use all movement to exit.
I don't think they're dead: Target opponent must win two additional zombie combats ON THEIR CURRENT SPACE AND TILE. IF THE PLAYER DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH BULLETS, THEY ARE RETURNED TO TOWN SQUARE AND LOSE A LIFE TOKEN.
Lots of running and screaming: Play this card when an opponent rolls their movement. Immediately use their movement to move your own pawn. After movement, play continues as normal. YOU MUST PLAY THIS CARD DURING ANOTHER TEAM'S TURN TO MOVE YOUR PAWN. DURING YOUR NEXT TURN, YOU MUST DRAW A CARD FROM THE TOP OF THE DECK BEFORE TAKING YOUR ACTION.
Lots of Ammo:Play this card in front of you when you are in the sporting goods store. Discard this card to ROLL A DIE THREE TIMES. ADD THE RESULTS TOGETHER AND DIVIDE IN HALF, ROUNDING DOWN. ADD THAT MANY BULLETS TO YOUR BULLET COUNT.
Design notes
The game design for 12 players is based on the following principles
- Rolling dice is bad in large games. Players will take time to roll the dice, the dice fall off the table and/or knock over pieces, and the random element of dice reduces the potential for strategy.
- Placing tiles at random is time consuming and will tend to be imbalanced in favor of whichever player picked up the tile.
- Moving zombies is time consuming when players need to make decisions about which zombies to move. By putting that decision in the scope of a player's normal turn, it reduces the actual time cost. Adding and moving zombies is also HIGHLY DESIRABLE as a turn choice, as reaching intersections is a quick way to increase the challenge for your opponents. As the game progresses, zombie movement and additions will increase as players die or seek to block other teams from advancing.
- Playing as an individual against 11 other people is nearly impossible and largely frustrating. Teamplay resolves this and also helps mitigate the vicious competition that games like this can inspire.
- Making cards unavailable to other players should be a strategic choice. Playing a card puts it back into circulation, and even increases the risk that it can be used against your team.
- The difficulty of zombie combat should be a direct reflection of the masses of zombies present. It will take a lot of resources on the team's part to make it to the end.
- Death should have a stiff penalty, but not be without its merits. A team member making a sacrifice to help other players reach the goal can be a well-played strategic decision.
- Waiting for turns in the context of a team is less frustrating than waiting for turns as an individual.
- Turn order is one of the most unbalancing aspects in any game. Compensating players who take their turns late is the best way of dealing with this.
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