Objective of the Game

Welcome to the frozen, zombie-infested world of Dead of Winter: The Long Night! In this game, you're not just fighting zombies; you're fighting the cold, starvation, and each other. Your ultimate goal? To complete your own hidden Secret Objective. If you achieve it, you win! But beware, the game can end in a few ways: if the Morale track hits zero, if the Round track runs out, or if the Main Objective is completed. So, while you're all working together (mostly) to survive, remember that only those who fulfill their personal agenda will truly claim victory in this bleak landscape.

Preparation (Setup)

Setting up Dead of Winter: The Long Night is like preparing your bunker for the apocalypse. Here's how to get started:

1. Board Placement: Place the main Colony board in the center, surrounded by the six Location boards. Don't forget the Graveyard (LN), where fallen survivors will rest.
2. Variant Selection: Decide which variants you'll be using: Hardcore, Coop, Betrayer, Player Elimination. For The Long Night, choose your modules: Improvements, Bandits, and/or Raxxon.
3. Main Objective: Select a Main Objective card (or draw one randomly), place it face-up on the Colony board, and follow its specific setup instructions. If playing Hardcore, use the Hardcore side of the card.
4. Card Decks:
   • Shuffle the Crisis cards and place them face-down on the Colony board.
   • Shuffle the Survivor, Exiled Objective, and Crossroads cards, placing them face-down near the play area.
   • Shuffle each Location's search deck separately and place them on their respective Location boards.
5. Player Reference: Each player takes a reference sheet.
6. Secret Objectives:
   • Shuffle the non-betrayal cards, draw 2 face-down per player, and set them aside.
   • Shuffle the betrayal cards, draw 1 face-down, and add it to the set-aside pile.
   • Shuffle this combined pile and deal 1 face-down to each player. Players cannot reveal their secret objective to others!
   • For 2 players: Each player gets 7 starting items and keeps 3 survivors.
   • Coop Variant: No Secret Objectives. Use the Hardcore side of the Main Objective card. Cannot vote to Exile. Remove Non-Coop cards.
7. Starter Items: Shuffle the starter items and deal 5 face-down to each player.
8. Survivors: Deal 4 survivors to each player. Each player chooses 2 to keep, returning the others to the Survivor deck, which is then reshuffled.
9. Group Leader & First Player: Each player selects 1 survivor to be their group leader. The player whose group leader has the highest influence receives the First Player token. Place standees for selected survivors in the Colony occupant spaces.
10. Module Specific Setup (if chosen):
    • Improvements (LN): Add crisis, survivor, Crossroads, and objective cards marked with the Hammer Icon. Shuffle the Improvements deck, draw 4, and place them face-up near the colony.
    • Bandits (LN): Add crisis, survivor, Crossroads, and objective cards marked with the Bandit Icon. Add the Bandits' Hideout location (it has no search deck) and place Bandit standees nearby.
    • Raxxon (LN): Add crisis, survivor, Crossroads, and objective cards marked with the Skull & Crossbone Icon. Add the Raxxon location and set up its search deck. Shuffle the Raxxon experiments deck (Audio Logs face-up) and place the Raxxon side-effect deck nearby (no need to shuffle).

The Turn of Play

Each round in Dead of Winter is a two-act play: the Player Turns Phase and the Colony Phase.

Player Turns Phase

1. Reveal Crisis: Flip over the top Crisis card. If using the Bandit Module (LN), place bandits as instructed. If a base game crisis card has no bandit instructions, place 2 bandits at random locations.
2. Roll Action Dice: Each player takes 1 die plus 1 for each survivor they control. Roll all these dice and place them in the unused dice pool. Remember, these dice aren't tied to specific survivors; any survivor in your group can use them!
3. Player Turns: Starting with the first player, each player takes their turn, performing as many actions as they wish or are able. Once a player finishes, the turn passes to the next player. After all players have taken their turns, you move to the Colony Phase.
   • Crossroads Card: The player to the right of the active player draws a Crossroads Card. This card is only revealed and its effect applied if the active player meets its requirements at any point during their turn. If it doesn't trigger, return it to the bottom of the deck. If you can't meet the conditions of one option, you must choose the other.

Actions Requiring a Die

These actions require you to spend one of your rolled action dice:

• Attack: Spend a die equal to or greater than the attack value of the attacking survivor.
  • Zombie: Remove from the board. Roll for exposure.
  • Survivor: Roll the spent action die. If the result is less than or equal to the targeted survivor's attack value, they take a wound, and you take a random card from their controller. No exposure roll.
  • Bandits (LN): Roll the action die. If the result is less than or equal to 4, remove the bandit. No exposure roll.
  • Note: You can attack multiple times, but not survivors you control or helpless survivors.
• Search: Spend a die equal to or greater than the search value of the searching survivor at a non-Colony location. Draw 1 card.
  • You can either add that card to your hand (ending the search) OR Make Noise: Place a noise token, draw an additional card, and you can repeat this. Once finished, keep 1 card and return unselected cards to the bottom of the deck.
  • Raxxon (LN): Any time you search at Raxxon, roll for exposure.
• Barricade: Spend a die of any value to place a barricade on an empty entrance space at the survivor's location.
• Clean Waste: At the Colony, spend a die of any value to remove the top 3 cards from the Waste Pile (return to box).
• Attract: Spend a die of any value to move 2 zombies from any location to empty entrance spaces at the survivor's location.
• Survivor Ability: If a survivor ability has a number before its text, spend a die equal to or greater than that number to use it.
• Bandits Hideout (LN): If a non-exiled survivor is at the hideout, they can:
  • Attack a bandit/survivor/zombie (spend die as usual, normal rules apply).
  • Attack or Search the hideout: Spend an action die (as usual), then roll it to determine the effect.

Actions Not Requiring a Die

These actions can be performed without spending an action die:

• Play a Card:
  • Items: Place on the Waste Pile.
  • Events: Remove from the game (do not add to Waste Pile).
  • Equip: Attach to a survivor you control. Equipped cards cannot be unequipped unless handed off or added to a crisis. If a survivor dies with equipped cards, they return to your hand if at the Colony, or are shuffled into that location's deck if elsewhere.
• Play a Card – Pill Items (LN): Choose a survivor you control, roll a die, and follow the card's instructions. If instructed to equip a side effect card, search the deck and equip it; side-effect cards cannot be unequipped.
• Add Cards to Crisis: Add one or more cards from your hand (face-down) and/or equipped to your survivors (face-up) to the current Crisis. The number of cards matters, not their values.
• Move a Survivor: Each survivor you control can move once per round to a location with an empty survivor space. Roll for exposure each time a survivor moves.
• Spend Food Tokens: Spend 1 or more food tokens from the food supply area. For each token spent, you can increase the value on an unused action die by 1.
• Request: Request 1 or more item cards from other players. If given a card, it's played immediately and cannot be added to the crisis.
• Hand Off: A survivor you control with an equipped item can hand it off to another survivor at the same location. The item is immediately equipped to the receiving survivor. (Note: If it has a "once per round" ability and has been used, it can't be used again until next round).
• Vote to Exile: Once per turn, a player can choose another player and initiate a vote to exile them. All players simultaneously vote thumbs up/thumbs down. You cannot initiate a vote to exile yourself. Ties are broken by the first player.
• Flip Unruly Helpless Survivor (LN): The active player can flip an unruly helpless worker by placing a medicine card into the Waste Pile without using its effect.
• Containment Code (LN): If you have a survivor at Raxxon, you may place action dice from your unused pool onto the Raxxon location.

Rolling for Exposure

Whenever you're instructed to roll for exposure (e.g., after killing a zombie or moving a survivor), roll the exposure die and resolve the result:

• Blank: Nothing happens. Phew!
• Wound: The survivor receives 1 wound token. Three wounds mean death!
• Frostbite: The survivor receives 1 frostbite token, which counts as a wound. At the start of your turn, survivors with frostbite receive an additional wound. Brrr!
• Bitten: The survivor is immediately killed, and the bite effect spreads! It spreads to the survivor with the lowest influence at the same location (or the location the bitten survivor was moving to). The controlling player must choose:
  1. Kill the lowest influence survivor (bite stops spreading).
  2. Roll the exposure die. If blank, the survivor is not killed, and the bite stops. If not blank, the survivor is killed, and the bite spreads again to the next lowest influence survivor at that location. Repeat until the bite stops or no more survivors are at the location.

Colony Phase (Resolve in order)

This is where the colony's fate hangs in the balance!

1. Raxxon (LN) Containment Code: If using the Raxxon module, resolve the Containment Code as per the Raxxon rules.
2. Pay Food: Remove 1 food token for every 2 survivors (including helpless survivors, and unruly helpless survivors (LN) count as 2) at the Colony, rounded up.
   • If there isn't enough food, no food tokens are removed. Instead, add a starvation token to the food supply, and then decrease morale by 1 for every starvation token currently in the food supply.
3. Check Waste: For every 10 cards (rounded down) in the Waste Pile, decrease morale by 1.
4. Resolve Crisis: Shuffle the cards added to the crisis, then reveal them one at a time.
   • Calculate points: +1 for each card symbol matching the crisis, -1 for each card symbol that doesn't match.
   • If points are less than the number of non-exiled players, resolve the crisis's negative instructions.
   • If points are equal to or greater than the number of non-exiled players, the crisis is prevented! If you exceed the number of non-exiled players by 2 or more, the colony gains 1 morale.
5. Add Zombies:
   • Colony: Add 1 zombie for every 2 survivors (including helpless and unruly helpless (LN)) at the Colony. Place them one at a time at entrances #1-6, cycling back to #1.
   • Non-Colony Locations: Add 1 zombie for every 1 survivor (including Bandits (LN)) at each non-Colony location.
     • Noise Tokens: For each noise token at a location, roll an action die. On a result of 1-3, add a zombie. On 4-6, no effect. (LN Alternate: Remove each noise token and flip it like a coin; if it lands on '!!!', add a zombie).
   • Barricades: If there are no empty spaces but a barricade token, destroy the barricade and remove the zombie that would have been placed.
   • Explosive Traps (LN): If no empty spaces but an explosive trap token, destroy the trap and remove the zombie that would have been placed, along with all other zombies at that entrance.
   • Overrun: If there are no empty spaces, no barricades or explosive traps, and a zombie needs to be added, that entrance is overrun. Remove the zombie that would have been placed and kill the lowest influence survivor at that location. If only helpless survivors, kill one. If no survivors, no effect. (If using Bandits (LN) and no survivors, remove all bandits from the location).
6. Bandits Scavenge (LN): If using the Bandit module, each active bandit draws 1 search deck card at their location, adding it face-up to the bandits' hideout.
7. Check Main Objective: If the Main Objective has been completed, the game ends immediately.
8. Move Round Tracker: Move the Round tracker 1 space. If it moves to 0, the game ends immediately.
9. Pass First Player Token: Pass the First Player token to the next player on the right. (LN: At the end of each round, any player may initiate a vote to prevent the first player marker from passing. If the vote passes, the current player retains the token).

End of Game and Scoring

The game can end in a few dramatic ways:

• Immediately if the Morale track reaches zero.
• Immediately if the Round track reaches zero.
• Immediately when the Main Objective is completed (during step 7 of the Colony Phase).

Winning and Losing: This is where your personal journey comes into play. If you successfully complete your Secret Objective, you win! If not, you lose. It's that simple, and that brutal.

Tips for Winning

Surviving the winter is tough, but here are a few pointers to help you navigate the frozen wastes:

1. Manage Morale Ruthlessly: Morale is a communal health bar. Keep an eye on the Morale track. Losing survivors, having too much waste, or starving the colony will quickly drop morale to zero, ending the game for everyone (and potentially preventing you from completing your Secret Objective!). Prioritize actions that prevent morale loss, like cleaning waste or ensuring enough food.
2. Strategize Your Crisis Contributions: The Crisis cards can be devastating if not handled. While you want to contribute cards with matching symbols, be wary of players who might be trying to sabotage the crisis to fulfill a betrayal objective. Remember, the number of cards matters, not their values! Sometimes, a well-placed non-matching card can swing the crisis in a betrayer's favor.
3. Utilize Your Action Dice Wisely: You only get so many action dice each round. Prioritize actions that are critical to your Secret Objective or the Main Objective, but don't forget the immediate threats. Sometimes, spending a die to barricade an entrance or clean waste can prevent a morale drop that saves the game for another round. Remember you can spend food tokens