Resident Evil: Deck Building Game has you take on the role of a chosen character sent to investigate reports of people being gruesomely attacked by cannibals. As more evidence of these attacks are discovered, you’re investigation leads you to an isolated mansion just outside of the city limits.
Upon approaching the mansion, however, you come under attack. Your aggressors seem unfazed by your attacks, and you are forced to retreat into the mansion. Unable to go back the way you came, it’s up to you to forge ahead, find a way out and, most of all, escape with your life. Welcome to the Survival Horror….
Let’s preface this post with a little production background about Resident Evil: Deck Building Game. Resident Evil is a popular video game franchise developed and published by Capcom and originally co-created by Shinji Mikami & Tokuro Fujiwara. The first video game was released in 1996 and the franchise continues to thrive to this day.
In 2010, Capcom partnered with Bandai to publish a board game based on the video game franchise. Thus, Resident Evil: Deck Building Game was released. After the release of what is known as the “Premier” set, Bandai/Capcom followed up with four sequels. Two of which were stand-alone sets (“Alliance” and “Mercenaries”) and the other two were expansions (“Outbreak” and “Nightmare”) that required at least one of the three stand-alone sets to play. All five sets hit store shelves within a two year period. Chronologically, they were made available in the following order:
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Premier (December 2010)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Alliance (April 2011)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Outbreak (September 2011)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Nightmare (December 2011)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Mercenaries (November 2012)
The purpose of this post is to provide you reference to every card found in the aforementioned sets, excluding any promo cards that were produced. I have split the list in four major categories: Character, Resource, Mansion, and Extra Mode Cards. Within each of those categories, the cards are divided in sub-sections and then listed by set.
Before we begin, the following are the card lists as they appeared on the back of each respective Game Manual (click thumbnails for full resolution):
In total, there are 315 unique playing cards that make up a grand total of 1075 playing cards which are divided as follows:
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Premier (250 Cards)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Alliance (250 Cards)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Outbreak (150 Cards)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Nightmare (150 Cards)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Mercenaries (275 Cards)
Again, this blog post is for reference only. I will not be going into detail about actual gameplay and rules. It is merely a listing of cards with a general overview of their purpose. All thumbnails can be clicked to access the full resolution of each card scan image (490 pixels by 695 pixels).
…and without further ado, I give you Resident Evil: Deck Building Game!
First and foremost, you must begin the game by choosing your character. The following is a list of all the characters available (excluding any and all Promo Character Cards). Each Character has one or two special abilities that are unlocked by accumulating a required amount of “Decorations”. Decorations can be obtained by defeating Infected Enemies found when exploring The Mansion Deck.
CHARACTER CARDS
Premier Set:
Alliance Set:
Outbreak Expansion:
Nightmare Expansion:
Mercenaries Set:
Next up, we will list all of the cards that can be found in the Resource Area. This area is the centerpiece of the table layout for this game. Players will have the opportunity to “buy” cards on their turn that will subsequently make their way into the purchaser’s respective Inventory Deck which will give them access to various Actions, Ammunitions, Items and Weapons for the goal of building a powerful arsenal against all threats that they will potential face when exploring The Mansion Deck.
A typical Story Mode scenario will require a Resource Area to be made up of 18 different card piles (also known as “Resource Piles”). They are usually placed face up for every player to see. Within those 18 Resource Piles, there are certain cards that are essential to every scenario. These 6 Resource Piles are commonly referred to as “Basic Resources” and are comprised of the following cards:
- Ammo x10
- Ammo x20
- Ammo x30
- Green Herb or First Aid Spray
- Standard Sidearm (with accompanying Burst-Fire Handgun) or Custom Standard Sidearm
- Combat Knife (with accompanying Survival Knife) or Reliable Blade
RESOURCE AREA – ACTION CARDS
Premier Set:
Alliance Set:
Outbreak Expansion:
Nightmare Expansion:
Mercenaries Set:
RESOURCE AREA – AMMUNITION AND ITEM CARDS
Premier Set:
Alliance Set:
Mercenaries Set:
RESOURCE AREA – WEAPON CARDS
Premier Set:
Alliance Set:
Outbreak Expansion:
Nightmare Expansion:
Mercenaries Set:
Now that we’ve properly equipped our character(s) with everything they need to survive, let’s take a look at what we will be pitting them up against.
The Mansion Deck is made up of a variety of Infected Enemies. The ultimate goal is to find and defeat a main villain, or a big baddy if you will. The big baddy can lurk behind any mansion door that you decide to open and explore, so you must prepare yourself to face it as early as your first turn. Once the big baddy is found and defeated, you have then successfully survived the mansion and can now make your escape.
Each set offered at least one main villain, which can be determined by the Infected Enemy with the highest HP (Health Points) value.
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Premier (Uroboros Aheri – 90 HP)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Alliance (Albert Wesker – 90 HP)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Outbreak (Tyrant T-002 – 90HP)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Nightmare (Osmond Saddler – 90 HP)
- Resident Evil: Deck Building Game – Mercenaries (Red Executioner – 80 HP)
THE MANSION DECK – INFECTED CARDS
Premier Set:
Alliance Set:
Outbreak Expansion:
Nightmare Expansion:
Mercenaries Set:
Your character can also sometimes come across things that aren’t Infected Enemies, like Bonus (these cards are used only in the variant “Mercenary” game mode), Event, Item and Token Cards. In most cases, when these get drawn, the player will breathe a sigh of relief. Although that is not always the case.
THE MANSION DECK – BONUS, EVENT, ITEM, AND TOKEN CARDS
Premier Set:
Alliance Set:
Outbreak Expansion:
Nightmare Expansion:
Aside from the three main game modes that can be found in all game manuals (Story Mode, Mercenary Mode, and Versus Mode), two of the available Resident Evil: Deck Building Game sets came with “Add-On” modes that you could chose to integrate into almost any Story Mode play session.
EXTRA MODE CARDS
The first one was found in the Outbreak Expansion and is appropriately called “Outbreak Mode”. In Outbreak Mode, players can gain “Infection Levels” through various means, but mainly by choosing to not explore the mansion on their turn. The purpose is to force the more cautious players to take bigger risks if they want to avoid being turned into an infected character themselves. Once the Infection Level reaches 10, the player’s character dies and becomes a Zombie that must now attack the other player characters. The following Infection Cards become the Infected Character’s inventory to be used against the other player characters that are still in the game.
Outbreak Expansion – Outbreak Mode:
The second Add-On mode introduces a Skill System for the characters. This allowed greater customization of the available characters and also helped prevent certain players from sticking to a specific character choice play after play. The Skills are drafted after players have chosen their respective character. Each player drafts three character skills that they can subsequently unlock after gaining the required amounts of XP (Experience Points). XP is obtained by exploring The Mansion Deck.
Mercenaries Set – Skill System Mode:
And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this little blog post I put together. All of the images used above were scanned, cropped and uploaded by me.
If you have any questions about Resident Evil: Deck Building Game, please use the comment section and I will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge and ability.
Cheers,
Dan “SpidermanGeek” Briand.
SpidermanGeek 