Combat Zone: Gang Creation Rules

Combat Zone allows you to build your own, unique team to eek out your place in the Zone and today we are going to talk about how you go about doing that!

The first step in building your team is to choose your faction. Your faction represents which gang you draw your team members from. The core box comes with the cunning Tyger Claws and the brutal Maelstrom but, with expansions, you can choose from a vast array of factions, such as the up-and-coming Gen Red or even the Night City Police Department, each of which offers its own signature play style and amazing models. Next, choose your leader, every team must have one (and only one) leader from their faction.

Once your faction is chosen, agree with your opponent on a game size (100 EB games are common). This represents the amount of EBs (Eurobucks, the currency of the Combat Zone) that you have to hire your team. Every model, gear, and program card has a cost in EBs and your total must be equal to or less than the agreed-upon amount. This ensures that the game is fair! Each model, gear, and program which you take must come from your chosen faction, unless it is a model with the Merc keyword. Your team may include up to two “Mercs” – ruthless mercenaries who will throw their strength in with anyone for the right pay.
If you are playing a one-off game, that’s all there is to it! However, Combat Zone has an excellent campaign system which you will likely want to use. When you are playing a campaign, your characters will gain experience and you will unlock devastating new weapons and programs. In a campaign, you will have a “supply” and an “HQ.” Each is a stack of cards. Your HQ represents the cards you have access to when building your team. Your supply represents cards you may be able to gain access to as the campaign goes on. Every time you win a campaign game of Combat Zone you will have the ability to upgrade one of your characters to a veteran. Simply take the veteran version of the character from your supply and add it to your HQ so you may use it in future games! The veteran version will have better stats or abilities. You will recognize the veteran version because it will have a street cred star in the upper right corner.

Also, as your team grows stronger, you will unlock new gear and programs. Most gear and programs have a minimum street cred requirement before they become available (although there are plenty with no requirement for teams just starting out). After each game, your street cred may change. To determine your street cred, simply count all the street cred stars on your veteran characters and accomplished objectives (more on objectives in another update).

If your street cred has increased, take all the new gear and programs available from your supply and place them in your HQ so you may use them in future games!

For example, if your team’s street cred just raised from 3 to 4, go through your supply and take all the gear and programs with a street cred requirement of 4 and add them to your HQ.

Hopefully, now you’re armed with the knowledge of how to gather your team, arm yourselves, and survive the Zone!