Project Z: Creating a Survivor Team

It’s not about being faster than the hungering-for-flesh undead; it’s not even about being faster than the slowest member of your group; survival is in teamwork. In this article, we’ll show you how to go about selecting a team with which to fight back the hordes of undead, unfriendly gangs, and overzealous military types in Project Z.

Survivors

Survivors are the salt of the earth. Civilians that once shared neighbourhoods, schools and town hall meetings are now faced with the prospect of the unrelenting dead. No matter their training (or distinct lack thereof) they must take up arms to defend themselves, inflict brutal beheadings or decapitations upon their undead assailants undreamt of in their worst nightmares, and face the deadly possibility that each new day will be the one when they eventually succumb and swell the ranks of flesh-hungry zombies.

Narratively speaking, survivors are required to scout for supplies to stave off the additional threats of starvation and cold. Armed with whatever they can muster, most scenarios will thus reflect a group of survivors striking out into the infested streets to gather whatever they can, before withdrawing to their larger community.

Building the Team

Players will initially select a number of character cards to form their team before equipping them. Unless a scenario specifies otherwise, a sensible number is between two and four cards; this ensures a fast-paced free-flowing game. Character cards have three key elements that describe the chosen characters:

• The number of miniatures contributed
• The number of Grit tokens that will be generated by the pool
• The miniatures’ profile and any special traits (find out more here)

You’ll then need to select the armaments you wish to use. The best rule of thumb is that the miniatures accurately reflect what they are armed with in the game. Lucky then that you’ll find plenty of options on the two sprues:

View In Store

View In Store

Miniatures can be armed with two one-handed weapons or a single two-handed weapon. One-handed weapons include pistols, Uzis, knives, clubs, bats or even makeshift weapons like frying pans. Two-handed weapons include assault rifles rocket or grenade launchers or heavy melee weapons like fire axes, chainsaws, or particularly egregious clubs.

Players should be mindful of the scenario’s objectives when arming their team. It might sound like a laugh to have four assault-rifle toting badasses, but they might struggle when the hordes close in.

Character Types

There are two types of character card, common and archetypes. Common cards deal with the ordinary, no-name soon-to-be-victim of a gruesome death, but nevertheless useful characters of no significant reputation. The more valuable archetypes represent those characters well-versed in zombie survival – the true survivors.

Fight the dead, fight the Living; at all costs, survive.

The Project Z starter game contains everything you need to play the fast-paced skirmish wargame of survival during the zombie apocalypse. Take control of a group of desperate Survivors or ruthless Bike Gangers and scavenge the dangerous city for vital supplies, fighting against both the undead and the living. Do you have what it takes, can you make it out alive? The box contains a hefty number of survivors, bike gangers and zombies, the full rules and all the cards and dice you need to get playing.