Zombicide: How to Play + Tutorial Mission

Today we're going to learn how to play Zombicide, a Zombie Horde survival game for 1-6 survivors. We go through the rules in detail, then play through the tutorial mission to put the rules in practice.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:54 Mission Setup
8:45 Actions Overview
9:09 Actions: Movement
10:23 Actions: Searching
11:13 Actions: Opening Doors
12:58 Spawning in Dark Zones
14:34 Actions: Exchange/Organize Items
15:12 Actions: Combat
18:49 Target Priority & Friendly Fire
21:07 Line of Sight
22:44 Actions: Claim an Objective
23:11 Actions: Make Noise & Do Nothing
24:07 Zombie Actions
25:00 How Zombies choose targets
26:50 Zombie Group Splitting
28:46 Zombie Spawning
31:18 End Phase
31:42 Tutorial Game
1:15:25 Wrap-Up & Outro

[@jeffdexheimer27]

i realize this is 8 months old but great tutorial i just bought the game so it helps thank you

[@travelinwithTODD]

thank you for this.

[@directActionGaming-4u]

I don't even use first player or noise tokens anymore. Unless the mission specifically calls for noise in a certain location. Survivors themselves ARE noise tokens so it's usually easier just to guesstimate the noisiest zone. Regarding the first player token it really only helps determine which survivors haven't been activated yet in my opinion. A more engaging way to play is to just determine which survivor SHOULD go first given the current situation rather than being locked in place by the first player token. In a cooperative game particularly I find it better to encourage players to strategize at the beginning of each turn, and come up with a game plan of sorts. That's way better than just going clockwise by who has the token if you ask me. Extra tokens could be used to indicate a survivor has been activated for that turn and as such there is no need for the first player token at all.

[@Wheel_of_Games]

Choosing turn order is a house rule I've seen in a lot of games, so I'll definitely consider it. I worry about game balance, but the alternative to choosing an order is having your game experience heavily influenced by chance. Having an inconvenient turn order shouldn't be something that ruins your game, in essence forcing you to replay just because of bad luck. Rule of Fun trumps Rules as Written, I think I agree with your recommendation and will probably do that for new episodes for this and similar games.

[@directActionGaming-4u]

@@Wheel_of_Games Give it whirl! Best part about Zombicide if you ask me is that folks can play it however they like! If turn order works better for you then go for it! Abandoning turn order certainly poses it's own challenges to be sure, but again I like the idea of making the game even more cooperative in nature. Everybody wins and loses the game together after all. It shouldn't matter who got the most kills or the flashiest weapons cuz the game only ends if the players can achieve the objectives together! And I love that.

[@travelinwithTODD]

i have a question for you. i was playing the first mission, not the tutorial, but the first mission and i ran out of walkers when i was spawning in zombies. so since i didn't have enough zombies to spawn in all of those zombies of that type get a free activation. after doing that the walkers ended up in a zone with one of my survivors. then i had to spawn again and didn't have enough zombies again. so i had to free activation again. then the zombies killed my survivor. is that the right thing to do? if you dont have enough to spawn, you free advance that type of zombie? make sense?

[@Wheel_of_Games]

Yes, I believe that if you have multiple spawn card draws that specify a type you are out of, it is intended that the zombies can get multiple free activations. It's supposed to be an end game-type mechanic to force you to kill zombies. I checked out this thread on BoardGameGeek to check my understanding: boardgamegeek.com/thread/852495/extra-activation-when-running-out-zombies I think it's also entirely acceptable for you to play as though you have unlimited zombie figures, and use whatever placeholder you want (say D20 dice) to indicate multiple zombies. After all, somebody with multiple expansions may have more miniatures than somebody with just the base game.

[@travelinwithTODD]

@@Wheel_of_Games i still have it set up. i may continue with placeholders. it is right at the end of the game. all my survivors have the objectives, the required amount of food. 2 of my survivors are at the exit and after this zombie move phase i will be able to get the other 4 survivors out. i have no problem losing the game as i like to follow the rules. thank you for the reply.

[@crackerackadingdong]

It further encourages you to actually kill zombies