The Walking Dead: Call to Arms – how to build your gang

We’re getting very close to the pre-orders going live for Call to Arms! It's almost time to start getting excited...

Already this week we’ve had an overview from the main man
Ronnie, an interview with designer Mark Latham and today we’re going deeper
into how you’ll build your gang of Survivors.

One of the big things with Call to Arms is that we want All
Out War miniatures to be useable in Call to Arms – however, the way you go
about building your gang will be different. Of course, your gang will be
bigger, but you’ll also have more decisions to make about equipment and
potential combos of special abilities.

However, the first thing you’ll need to choose is what
Primary Faction you want to use. The initial factions are:

• Atlanta Camp
• Alexandria
• Greene Family
• Woodbury Army
• Hilltop
• The Kingdom
• The Saviors
• Marauders
• Prisoners
• Scavengers
• The Hunters
• Whisperers

You’ll notice in that list there are a few factions that we haven’t released for All Out War or Call to Arms yet. Well, the good news is that more releases are coming out later this year and into early 2020. These characters will be compatible with both games too! So, whether you enjoy the more narrative flow of All Out War or the ‘kick the crap out your mate’ action of Call to Arms, we’ve got you covered.

Each faction has their own symbol, which you’ll find on the
sexy new Call to Arms character cards and even some upgrade cards. What’s more,
each faction has their own alignment: Lawful (the good guys), Neutral (not
fussy about who they fight for) or Ruthless (nasty pieces of work). Some
Survivors have no faction at all – and these are called Followers. These are
characters that have spent time in the Walker-infested world, either alone or
as part of a small, insular group. You can recruit Followers to your gang, as
long as they have the same alignment as your Primary Faction, or a Neutral
alignment. If the Leader of your group has a Neutral alignment, then you can
recruit Lawful or Ruthless Followers (but never both).

For example: A group led by Rick Grimes has the Atlanta Camp Primary Faction. The player takes Carl and Glenn along – both have the Atlanta Camp Faction Icon. He then chooses Michonne (a Neutral Follower), and Jim (a Lawful Follower) – these both count as members of the Primary Faction. Finally, the player chooses Martinez and Hershel as Allies. Even though these models are from different Factions, Martinez’s Neutral alignment and Hershel’s Lawful alignment mean they can be included in Rick’s group but will not benefit from the Atlanta Camp Faction special Rule.

The good thing is for veteran All Out War players is that
alongside the rulebook we’ll be producing two faction decks: Lawful and
Ruthless. In the Lawful deck you’ll find the Atlanta Camp and Greene Family
factions, while the Ruthless deck includes Woodbury, Prisoners, Marauders, Scavengers
and The Hunters. Lawful Followers will be in the Lawful pack, while Ruthless Followers
are in the Ruthless set. We’ll have a full run down of who is in each pack
nearer launch.

Every Faction also has its own special rule(s) that apply to every friendly model from that Faction and any Followers included in the group. These are called ‘Group Special Rules’ and are provided on a Reference Card for each Faction.

You can also kit out each of your Survivors with new
equipment and weapons. A model may not purchase upgrades with a combined total
cost higher than its own base points, e.g. Carl Grimes costs 25 points, so you
can’t load him up with more than 25 points of upgrades. Just like The Walking
Dead: All Out War there will be an equipment deck available to make it easier
to see which character is carrying what piece of equipment.