Board games - Zombicide - Setting game difficulty

The Zombicide Season 1 board game from Guillotine Games & CoolMiniOrNot. is a great game with simple rules that can be easily modified to fit the taste of the players.

Difficulty can be set to a level agreed by the players. A normal game uses 0 Difficulty. An easier game gets into negative, while a hard game is high in number. I've assigned some ad hoc number that will need to be tailored for a balanced game.

	Scenario setup
Easy	Normal	Hard
	Use normal setup rules.	-3: The objective is hidden. Every room has a token, but only one is real. You can use the red objective counters, but it's only real when the other side reveals blue or green.
	Starting equipment
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: The players choose their equipment freely from the starting equipment. -3: Everyone starts with a pistol and a crowbar.	The equipment indicated by the rules.	+1: Less cards +3: No starting equipment
	Equipment
Easy	Normal	Hard
-5: Food can be exchanged to heal 1 wound.	Normal equipment rules.
	Weapons
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: An empty hand can be used as a Melee weapon, 0 range, 1 dice, 6+ test, 1 damage. -1: Food cards can be used as Ranged weapons, 0-1 range, 1 dice, 6+ test, 1 damage. Discard after use.	Normal weapon rules	+3: Ammo cards are used up after giving a reroll.
	Starting danger level
Easy	Normal	Hard
	Blue, 0 XP.	-3: Yellow, 7 XP. -5: Orange, 19 XP. -10: Red, 43 XP.
	Starting experience level
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: Yellow, 7 XP. -3: Orange, 19 XP. -5: Red, 43 XP.	Blue, 0 XP.
	Experience
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: You can exchange food cards for 1 XP.	1 XP for Walkers, Runners and Fatties. 5 XP for Abominations.	+5: 1 XP for Walker. 2 XP for Runners. 3 XP for Fatties. 6 XP for Abominations. Every character level decreases the XP you get. On level 0 (Blue), you get 1 XP for a Walker, but from Yellow level, you get 0 XP.

	Equipment reserve
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: 4 cards -3: 5 cards	3 cards	+1: 2 cards +3: 1 card +5: none
	Character hands
Easy	Normal	Hard
-5: Every items counts as if being in hand.	Every survivor has two hands that can be used normally.	+3: The character can only use the item held in his right hand.

	Survivor health
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: They don't lose the equipment slot, only the equipment, when they get a wound. -3: Survivors don't lose equipment when taking a wound. -5: They can take 2 wound cards, and die when they receive the 3rd wound.	They lose 1 equipment, and its slot when taking a wound. They die when they get 2 wounds.	+1: Spawn a Walker in the area a survivor dies. +3: They lose 1 action when they receive a wound card.

	Player order
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: The players can use their actions in any order. -5: The characters don't have to complete all of their actions before another character can act. You have to count how many action a character has used. The turn is over when every character used all actions.	There is a first player token. The first player uses his actions. Then the player to his left uses his actions, until every player completed their turns. Then the first player token is given to the player on the left. The players cannot switch places.

	Noise
Easy	Normal	Hard
-5: The zombies are deaf. You don't use noise tokens. If they can't see a survivor, they stay in place.	See the rules.	+3: Players can only talk to each other if their characters can see each other. It causes Noise.
	Leaving areas with zombies
Easy	Normal	Hard
-3: You can leave any area without spending any resources.	Use normal rules.	+1: Leaving an area with an Abomination costs twice as much. +5: You get 1 wound for every zombie in the area if you leave.
	Search
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: A survivor can only search an area once per turn. He has to move to another area to search again. -3: Survivors can search anywhere. -3: Survivors can search even when there are zombies present in the area.	Survivors can only search in buildings. A survivor can only search once per turn.	+1: An area can be only searched once per turn. If a survivor has a free Search action, it can search it in addition this one search. +5: An area can be searched once per game. Put tokens in every room, and when the room is searched, remove the token. +7: Only selected areas can be searched, once per game. I recommend one room for every building to have a special room that can be searched. +3: Searching lets you draw Search cards on a 4+ roll. +5: Searching lets you draw Search cards on a 6+ roll. +5: Do not reshuffle the Search deck if it runs out. After that there's no chance of finding anything.
	Search deck
Easy	Normal	Hard
-3: Remove all Aaargh! cards. -3: Unless they are needed by the scenario, remove all food cards.	Use all cards of the Search deck.	+3: Add twice as many Aaargh! cards.

	Opening / breaking doors
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: Succesful Melee attack can open a door. It causes Noise. -3: Any survivor can open a door with an action. It causes Noise. -5: Any survivor can open a door with an action, without Noise.	Only the indicated equipment can open the doors.
	Shooting
Easy	Normal	Hard
-3: Pistols and rifle do not hit survivors. Multi-dice weapons and shotguns hit survivors. -3: Multi-dice weapons and shotguns hit survivors only if you roll a miss. -5: You only hit survivors if you roll a miss. -7: You only hit survivors if you roll a miss with a roll of 1. -12: Pistols and rifle hit survivors if you roll a miss with a roll of 1. Multi-dice weapons and shotguns hit survivors if you roll a miss with a roll of 1-3.	Shooting uses the Target priority table in the rulebook. When you shoot into an area, you hit survivors first.

	Zombie spawning
Easy	Normal	Hard
-1: On Blue level count 2 zombie cards as 1 zombie cards. -5: When the Spawning deck runs out, do not reshuffle it.	Zombies spawn at the end of the turn in each spawning area.	+3: Count 0 zombie cards as spawning 1 walker. +3: Abomination spawning when it's already on the table gives extra activation for the Abomination.
	Zombi spawn deck
Easy	Normal	Hard
-7: Just #1-12 - No extra activation, no sewer, no abomination -5: Just #1-24 - No extra activation, no sewer, no abomination -1: Discard #31, #35 - No Runner on Blue level. -1: Discard #12, #24, #32 - No Fatty on Blue level. -2: Discard #41-42 - No Sewer zombies. -2: Discard #37-40 - No extra activation cards. -1: Discard #36 - No Abomination on Blue level.	Use every card of the Spawning deck. Spawn deck difficulty rules	-1: Just #1-12, 25-36, 41-42 -1: Just #1-12, 25-42 +3: Add twice as many Sewer zombie cards. +5: Add twice as many extra activation cards.
	Zombie splitting
Easy	Normal	Hard
-3: You do not add extra zombies when they split.	Zombies split normally.
	Damage by zombies
Easy	Normal	Hard
	Every kind of zombie deals 1 damage.	+3: Abominations deal 2 damage. +5: Fatties deal 2 damage.
	Breaking doors by zombies
Easy	Normal	Hard
	Zombies can't break doors.	For less difficulty, you can set a roll to give a chance for zombies to break the doors. For example Abominations may only break the doors on a 4+. +1: Abominations can break doors. +3: Fatties can break doors. +5: 5+ zombies trying to get through can break doors.
	Abominations
Easy	Normal	Hard
	Use the abomination rules from the rulebook.	+1: Abomination stops cars. +1: Abominations can break doors. +3: Abominations deal 2 damage. +3: Abomination spawning when it's already on the table gives extra activation for the Abomination. +1: Leaving an area with an Abomination costs twice as much.

	Cars
Easy	Normal	Hard
		+1: Abomination stops cars. +3: Count the number of zombies hit in one area, Fatties count as 2 zombies. Roll a dice, add the number. On 6+ the car breaks down.