Overview

Chainsaw Warrior is a solitaire game by Games Workshop in which you play a battle-hardened special forces veteran sent into a New York tenement building to stop a rift in space and time that has unleashed hordes of zombies, mutants, and other nightmarish creatures. At the heart of the building lurks Darkness itself, which will destroy the city if not stopped within 60 minutes. You must fight through two decks of cards representing the building’s rooms and encounters, racing against the clock to find and destroy Darkness before time runs out.

Components

• 4-piece jigsaw-cut playing board (tracking attributes, time, equipment)
• 108 cards (House Deck and Darkness Deck representing rooms, encounters, equipment, and weapons)
• 90 small counters (for marking attributes, equipment uses, wounds)
• Comic strip introduction
• Rulebook
• 2 dice
• Game box

Setup

1. Assemble the 4-piece board.
2. Create your warrior by rolling for attributes:
   • Endurance: Roll 4 dice, add results. Place marker on Endurance track. This is your health.
   • Wounds: Roll 2 dice, add 8. This is your Wound allowance before death.
   • Reflexes: Roll 1 die, add 6. This determines your ability to react to threats.
   • Hand-to-Hand (H-t-H): Roll a die and consult the table to set your melee combat skill.
3. Skills: Roll 1 die for each skill. A roll of 6 means you have that skill:
   • Strength: +1 to H-t-H rating.
   • Climbing: Bypass the Chasm card (add 30 seconds instead of normal effects).
   • Hiding: Hide from creatures; roll 6 to avoid encounter entirely.
4. Score Markers: Place Time marker at ‘0’, Radiation marker at ‘0’, and Venom marker at ‘0’.
5. Equipment Kitting Out: Roll 3 dice and add. This is your Equipment Allowance (number of equipment points). Choose equipment from the available list up to your allowance. You must take the Laser-lance (it’s the only thing that can destroy Darkness) at no cost. Maximum: 1 heavy weapon, 1 gun, and any number of light weapons/items. No more than 13 pieces total.
6. Prepare cards: Separate into House Deck and Wandering Zombie Deck. Remove the Darkness card from the House Deck. Shuffle both separately. Split House Deck into two equal halves; place face-down as Deck One (upper board) and Deck Two (lower board). Add the Darkness card to Deck Two and reshuffle. Shuffle Equipment Deck and place face down alongside.

Turn Structure

Each turn follows this sequence:

1. Time Phase: Move the Time marker one box along the Time Track. Each box = 30 seconds. After 30 minutes (halfway), it becomes dark and you lose 1 from your Reflex rating. At 60 minutes, time runs out and you lose.
2. Exploration Phase: Turn over the top face-down card from the current deck (Deck One first, then Deck Two). Place it on the appropriate discard pile and respond to the encounter. Each card has a brief explanation; see the Reference Sheet for details.
3. Resolution: When the encounter is resolved (or the turn exhausted), return to the Time Phase.

Actions

Fighting Creatures

When you encounter a creature (Zombie, Mutant, or Darkness itself):

1. Check for Zombie Venom: If it’s a Zombie and you’re already venom-infected, roll one die. On a score of 5+, move Venom marker 1 box along the Endurance track.
2. Choose: Shoot or Fight Hand-to-Hand?
   • Shooting: Test Reflexes first (roll 2 dice vs. Reflexes score). If you pass, you may shoot. Roll to hit based on weapon’s Marksmanship modifier. If hit, roll damage dice and compare to creature’s Hit points.
   • Hand-to-Hand Combat: Both sides roll 2 dice and add their H-t-H scores. Compare totals. Higher score wounds the loser. Ties = mutual miss. Continue until one side is eliminated or you escape.
3. Escape: After 30 seconds of H-t-H combat, you may attempt escape by adding 30 seconds to the time and moving to the next card.

Wandering Zombies

After resolving certain cards, a Wandering Zombie may appear. Shuffle the Wandering Zombie Deck and draw one card. Fight it as normal.

Equipment Use

• Equipment with limited uses has a counter tracking remaining uses.
• Equipment marked “One Use Only” cannot be recharged.
• Equipment Breakage: Certain results cause equipment to break; remove it from play permanently.
• Equipment can be traded at Spare Clip counters found during exploration.

Special Encounters

• Rooms: May be empty, contain creatures, traps, or special features.
• The Chasm: A hazardous gap that must be crossed (Climbing skill bypasses it).
• No Escape cards: Must be fought; cannot flee.
• Ambush cards: Creatures attack with surprise.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Victory: Find and destroy Darkness. Darkness can only be killed by the Laser-lance. You must reach the Darkness card in Deck Two and successfully hit it with the Laser-lance before time expires.

Defeat occurs when:

• Darkness is hit by the Laser-lance shot (but you miss, and run out of time)
• You die from wounds (Wound track reaches 0)
• You die from radiation sickness (Radiation marker reaches your Endurance)
• You become a Zombie (Venom marker reaches your Endurance)
• Time runs out (60 minutes / 120 time boxes elapsed) before destroying Darkness
• You fail to find Darkness in both decks

Draw: Killing both Darkness and yourself simultaneously (using the Implosion Warhead as a desperate measure) is considered an honorable draw.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Radiation Marker: Moves along Endurance track. If it reaches your Endurance, you die of radiation poisoning.
• Venom Marker: Also tracks along Endurance. Each Zombie bite advances it. If it reaches Endurance, you become a Zombie and the game ends.
• Darkness (30 min): After 30 minutes, subtract 1 from Reflexes permanently (it’s now dark in the building).
• Escaping the Building: After clearing Deck One, cross to Deck Two. You may gain further equipment and heal before entering the deeper part of the building.
• Testing Locks: Some cards require you to roll dice to pick locks.
• Multiple Opponents: Some Ambush cards force you to fight multiple creatures one after another, each H-t-H round.
• No Escape symbol: These creatures cannot be avoided; you must fight.
• Card Precedence: House cards override rules; Equipment cards override House cards. Apply common sense.

Player Reference

Time limit: 60 minutes (120 half-minute boxes)

Combat flow: Encounter > Reflex test (if shooting) > Shoot or H-t-H > Resolve damage > Check wounds

Key attributes:

• Endurance: Overall health pool
• Wounds: Damage capacity before death
• Reflexes: Reaction speed (shoot first)
• Hand-to-Hand: Melee combat skill

Essential equipment: Laser-lance (only weapon that kills Darkness)

Lose if: Time runs out, wounds depleted, radiation/venom reaches Endurance, or Darkness not destroyed.