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Being bored and hungover, I started experimenting today with a simple Solitaire version of this game.

Or rather, a more specific term would be One-player scenario.

It's based on a classic "Invasion" theme, combined with a touch of Defend the Manor House. There is no time limit, except for one specified later in the rules. The zombies come in waves of increasing size. Once one wave is wiped out, new zombies spawn the next turn. The zombies spawn at their spawning pits, as usual, but no more than 1 zombie per space. Additinal zombies in the space to the left of the original zombies direction (facing the manor house).

Essentially,

- Take out all PLAY IMMEDIATELY cards from the zombie deck, shuffle them and this is now the only zombie cards that will enter play.

- Set up the board as usual, with the manor house in the middle.

- First wave consists of 8 zombies. Take and distribute these throughout the spawning pits, but no more than one zombie per space.

- ZOMBIE MOVEMENT: Zombies move one space per turn, and always toward the manor house. Except if Zombie Hunger plays in, which works as normal. If the Zombie reaches the manor house and enters it, the zombies will spread out and fill each empty space in the manor house.

- If any one zombie STARTS their turn in the manor house, place the Sun Track Marker on Turn 7. Each zombie turn, track down. If there are still zombies in the manor house after the tracker has reached zero, the heroes loose.

- The player may draw TWO heroes (and only two) for this scenario. These heroes both start with one weapon each. Draw one random hand weapon and ranged weapon and distribute between these two heroes as you wish.

- Once all 8 zombies are dead, 10 new zombies start next turn. The heroes retain all their items and cards and simply pick up where they left off. All wounds are healed.

- If the Hero Deck runs out, simply take the Discard Pile, shuffle it and keep playing.

and

With each new Wave, the player also draws one zombie card from the deck. Play this card as usual.
There are however a number of cards that will not work in this scenario. Use your best judgement when picking up a card. And if the card doesn't fit in, the effect this card will have is instead that all zombies move one extra space on their first turn.
For instance, the Hero Deck may not run out of cards, as the game could potentially go on forever. So if the card you draw affects the Hero Deck, ignore the effect and instead have the zombies move one extra space.

I've not yet decided on the optimal wave-sizes as they grow in number, but what I've been playtesting so far (and my suggestion) is:

1st Wave: 8 zombies
2nd Wave: 10 zombies
3rd Wave: 12 zombies
4th Wave: 14 zombies
5th Wave: 14 zombies + 1 Grave Dead
6th Wave: 14 zombies + 2 Grave Dead
7th Wave: 14 zombies + 3 Grave Dead
8th Wave: 14 zombies + 4 Grave Dead

Let's see if people make it that far before we add any extra zombies...

Oh! And one last thing.

If a Hero is killed at any time during the scenario, you may draw a new Hero and place him/her in a random building, with +1 starting card. The Dead Hero is not turned into a zombie hero, but is rather turned into a regular zombie.

Additional rules...

- No zombie cards may be cancelled, except with Father Joseph's ability.

- Any one hero may search in the Manor House but only if there are no zombies in the manor house and only ONCE per wave. This means that each hero may perform one search there, per wave.

- The game also ends if 8 heroes die.

I've been playing this most of the sunday, and it's actually pretty fun...

I guess it's interesting. What's from stopping a player from killing all but one and just searching for optimal gear and just eating face. I'd say almost a kill counter ala Die Zombies Die. Each time you kill 1 you get a counter and spawn a new zombie. After 8 counters, it upgrades to the 10 and you spawn the extras, etc.

One zombie still counts toward the Manor House countdown. And the zombies enter the house pretty quickly. Some zombies may enter as quickly as on the third turn, depending if a new spawning pit appears close to the house.

And once a zombie is in the house, it's a pretty full on slaughter. I suppose there are situations where one might be able to keep one zombie alive and just search and then kill it when there's one turn left. But even so, it's risky. What if, on your way to kill the zombie, you roll a 1 on your movement dice 2 turns in a roll? Then you're screwed. So yeah. It's possible... But risky.

very nice idea,

I like the wave attacks better than playing both sides myself

the difficulty for those that don't have the grave dead can rise by drawing more zombie cards per wave

Still looking to adjust it somehow, not sure how yet.

I've played three games, and the first time around I got to the fourth wave and almost made it through. The other two times, I never made it past Wave 2, even though I've had kicker weapons. Last time I played, Johnny started with the hedge trimmer, giving him at LEAST 3 fight dice. Still... Once the time ran out, the other the heroes got munched.