Setup
1) Choose a mission from the mission sheet and read its briefing. The
After the Virus by Jacob Fryxelius
Calvin & Hobbes retheme by Wil Su
Background
Deranged mutant killer monster snow goons are attacking! You must
rescue as many survivors you can while holding off the ever-increasing
number of snowmen.
Overview
In this solitaire version of After the Virus, you choose one of the unique
characters, each with their own starting deck, to complete missions.
During the mission, you scout the area for items that can be retrieved and
prepared for use.
Many items are weapons and traps that can be used to defeat the
advancing snowmen. You will also try to save survivors by playing them
from your hand, preparing them, and playing Shelter to get them out of
harm’s way.
Each time you reshuffle your deck, you add more snowman cards to it, and
when you draw snowmen you must place them on the table to deal with, or
suffer wounds when they attack. If you get 3 wounds, you die and lose. You
win if, at the end of any turn, you fulfill the mission goal.
Components
Rules, mission sheet, 1 score tracker card, 7 character cards, 15 snowman
cards, 21 tool cards (blue), 2 vehicle cards (yellow), 9 weapon cards (red), 5
action cards (green), 10 wound markers, 1 wave marker, and 1 saved marker.
Game Play
The game is played in turns until at the end of a turn you have completed
missions are meant to be played in sequence as a story divided into five
chapters, but may also be played separately. Note that missions may
modify the setup described below.
2) Choose a character and take their card. Set any remaining Calvin cards
aside and add the other 3 Survivor cards to the player deck. Place the save
marker on 0 and the wave marker as instructed by the mission briefing.
3) Arrange 14 snowman cards with two 4-snowman cards on the bottom,
followed by three 3-snowmen, four 2-snowmen, and then five 1-snowman
cards on the top. During the game, the snowman pile should always be
sorted in this way.
4) Check the ‘in play’ card for your character, and place the indicated card
sideways (unprepared) in the play area, to the right of your character
card.
5) Construct your starting draw deck by taking the rest of the starting
cards indicated for your character. Note that snowman cards are always
taken from the top of the snowman pile. Shuffle your draw deck and place
it face down to the left of your character card.
6) The 30 remaining cards from the player deck are shuffled to form the
area deck.
the mission goal, or you have died or failed the mission.
The Turn:
1) Draw phase: Draw 5 cards to hand from the draw deck, and place any
snowman cards drawn onto the table as attacking snowmen. These
snowmen need to be dealt with during the action phase.
If there are less than 5 cards to draw in your deck, then you need to
reshuffle. First increase the wave number by one. Then add snowman cards
equal to the new wave number from your snowman pile to your discard pile.
Then reshuffle the discard pile and place it face down under the previously
remaining cards to replenish your draw deck. Now you can draw your 5
cards and proceed as normal.
If you don’t have enough snowman cards to add during reshuffle, then you
must add as many as you can, and then you must destroy any 2 non-
snowman cards from your discard pile before reshuffling.
2) Action phase: Actions can be taken multiple times and in any order (see
below for explanation of the actions). The cards in your hand can either be
played, or discarded without effect to pay for other actions.
This phase ends when there are no attacking snowmen, you have no cards
left in your hand, or you do not wish to do any more actions. If you haven’t
fulfilled the win condition then proceed to the next turn.
Take-backs are not allowed!
Actions (can be performed any number of times, and in any order):
A) Play an action card (green) from your hand: Get the effect and place
the event in your discard pile.
B) Play a non-action card (with a circular prepare-arrow on the bottom
left) from your hand: Place the card sideways in your play area. It cannot
be used until it has been prepared (action E).
C) Scout: discard 1 card from your hand to place the top card from your
area deck face up on the table as a scouted card. There can be any number
of scouted cards in play.
D) Retrieve: Retrieve one of your scouted cards to your play area
(sideways) by discarding a number of cards equal to its retrieve cost
(shown in the top left corner). Event cards are retrieved directly to your
discard pile without effect.
E) Prepare: Prepare one of your unprepared cards (turning a sideways card
upright) by discarding the number of cards indicated by the number inside
the circular prepare-arrow. A few cards require you to discard a specific
card from your hand instead (like Shelter or Survivor). From this point, the
prepared card can be used (action F). There is no way to un-prepare a
prepared card.
F) Use: Use your prepared card’s effect by following the text on the card. If
a card is not discarded or destroyed by using it, or limited to once/turn,
then you can use the card several times during the turn (as long as you
can pay any additional cost stated on the card). When using a card, it
does not become unprepared.
Also note the difference between ‘Discard to’ (meaning that the card itself
is discarded to pay for the effect) and ‘Discard 1 to’ (meaning that you
discard any card from hand to pay for the effect).
G) Snowman attack: Sooner or later you may have to engage any remaining
snowmen in close combat. When you take this action, one of your attacking
snowmen attacks you, causing a wound. The attacking snowman dies in the
fight. Even if a snowman card has several remaining snowmen, they still
only attack one at a time. See more under Killing and discarding snowmen.
Some cards may also react to actions during the game. For example:
Fireplace allows you to heal one wound whenever you play Shelter. This is
not an action but a reaction to something, as noted on the card.
Example: You retrieve Fireplace (action D) by discarding 2 cards from hand,
and prepare it (action E) by discarding a Survivor from hand. Then you let
a snowman attack you (action G), taking a wound in the leg. After that,
you play Shelter (action A) and save your previously prepared Survivor,
triggering the Fireplace (reaction) so that you heal your wound.
General rules
• All numbers in card effects should be understood as ”up to” this number,
but...
• Cards may not be used for no effect. For example, you may not use a
weapon if there are no attacking snowmen to target.
Killing and discarding snowmen
A snowman card can have up to 4 snowmen that are treated separately.
What happens to the snowman card depends on what happens to the
snowmen on it:
• If all snowmen on the card are killed, or if the snowman card itself is
killed, then the card is placed back in the snowman pile.
• If all snowmen on the card are discarded, or if the snowman card itself is
discarded, then the card is discarded to the discard pile.
• If at least 1 of the snowmen on the card is discarded and the rest are
killed, then the snowman card is discarded to the discard pile.
A snowman card stays in play until all snowmen on it has either been killed
or discarded. Remember, there may be no attacking snowmen left at the
end of the turn – if you can’t deal with them in other ways, they will
eventually attack you (action G).
You can keep track of killed snowmen on a card by using wound markers.
‘Removing’ a snowman works exactly like killing it, but is different
thematically and does not count as killing a snowman. This difference may
be important for some missions, such as 4D: Cleanup.
Wounds
When you get wounded, place a wound marker on one of the free wound
spots on your character card. If you place a wound on the head, then
you’re immediately dead and the mission is lost.
If your arm is wounded, you can only have 1 prepared weapon in play,
instead of 2 (see Limited weapons and vehicles).
If your leg is wounded, you can’t play the action card ‘Run!’ (You may still
discard it as payment though).
Ammo
Some weapons use ammo (other cards tucked beneath that weapon). The
weapon itself specifies when ammo is added and how it is used. When
adding ammo to the weapon, simply place any cards from your hand
beneath that weapon as ammo. When an ammo card leaves its weapon, it
stops being ammo. If a weapon with ammo is discarded or destroyed, place
its ammo cards in your discard pile.
If ammo is part of the prepare cost of a weapon, it means you need to add
ammo from hand to prepare it, and it is usually the only time you may add
ammo. A prepare cost of X means that you add any number of cards (even
0) from your hand to prepare the weapon.
Some weapons (like Catapult) may become useless once their ammo is
spent, but note that the card Ammo may be added as ammo to a prepared
weapon via its own effect, regardless of what the weapon says.
Limited weapons and vehicles
At most you can have 2 prepared weapons in play (or 1 if your arm is
wounded). If you ever have more than allowed (by preparing an additional
weapon, or getting your arm wounded when you already have 2 prepared
weapons), you must immediately destroy one of your weapons to get down
to the limit (removing it from the game). Similarly, you can never have more
than 1 prepared vehicle in play.
You may have any number of unprepared (sideways) weapons and vehicles
in play.
Saving survivors
To save a Survivor, you need to play it and then prepare it by discarding
another card from your hand. When you have prepared Survivors, you can
play the Shelter event to save 1 or more of your Survivors; the Survivors
are discarded (along with the Shelter event) and you can now choose for
each saved Survivor to EITHER
A) count it as saved by moving the saved marker up 1 step OR
B) retrieve 1 card for free from the top of the area deck; place it face up
sideways in your play area.
Because of this option, saving Survivors may be a good strategy even in
missions that don’t require you to save any Survivors. It can be a good
option even if you do need to save some people, by getting the gear you
need to survive the entire mission.
Adjusting difficulty
The first three missions (1A – 1C) are a little easier than the rest of the
missions. If you want to modify difficulty for any mission, you may
decrease the starting wave by one to make the mission easier. To make it
harder, you can add an extra snowman card to the starting draw deck.

Mission 1: Invasion
Mission 1A: Premonition (short)
Nobody seems to have noticed the sudden increase in snowmen cropping
up around your neighbourhood. You are the only one who sees them for
what they truly are: deranged mutant killer snow goons! It’s time to
prepare for the coming invasion that only you can see.
Goal: End the turn with 5 prepared cards in play.
Setup: Start at wave 1.
Mission 1B: A Crowd of Snow Goons (short)
You have stayed hiding indoors for days as more and more snow goons
gather on your lawn. You must now break out, rescuing your family before
it is too late!
Goal: End the turn with 4 Survivors saved.
Setup: Start at wave 1. Start with four 1-snowman cards in your deck.
Mission 1C: Get to Safety (medium)
Getting a grip on the situation, you realize you need to organize a
resistance of some sort. You need to gather some people and prepare a
secret undercover base.
Goal: End the turn with 6 saved Survivors and a prepared facility.
Setup: Start at wave 1.
Mission 2: The Base Mission 3: School Work
Mission 2A: Train Resistance Warriors (long) Mission 3A: Back To School (short)
You cannot hope to save humanity from these hordes of snowmen all by Lucky you skipped school today, because Miss Wormwood, Principal Spittle
yourself. You must find weapons for the other survivors and train them up, and your entire class are trapped there, surrounded by roaming snowman
quickly! hordes. You must get through to them as you are clearly their only hope!
Goal: End the turn with 4 saved Survivors. Goal: End the turn on wave 8 or higher.
Setup: Start at wave 1. Setup: Start at wave 5.
Special rule: To save a Survivor you must also destroy a prepared weapon.
Only one Survivor can be saved each time you play Shelter. Clones may not Mission 3B: Save The Class (long)
be used and the retrieve option may not be used when saving a Survivor.
You’ve reached your elementary school but now you have to gather what
supplies there are in the building and prepare your terrified classmates for
Mission 2B: Set Up Secret Base (long) the trip out. Many may not survive, but that doesn’t worry you too much.
Your secret undercover base needs to be fortified and stocked with Goal: End the turn with 5 persons (including yourself), 3 equipment, and a
Weapons of Snowy Destruction (WSD) if it is to withstand the growing Runaway Sled, all in play and prepared.
threat of the snow goon invasion.
Setup: Start at wave 2 with a scouted Runaway Sled.
Goal: End the turn with 5 saved Survivors. You must also have 8 prepared
traps, equipment, and facilities in any combination.
Setup: Start at wave 1 with up to 3 facilities scouted (Mom still starts
with Fireplace in play). Shuffle three 2-snowman cards into the area deck.
Special rule: When scouting (or retrieving by saving Survivors) a snowman
card from the area deck, place it in play and scout (or retrieve) the next
card instead.
Mission 2C: Assault (short)
Somehow, the nearby snow goons have stumbled on your new base and are
approaching in full force. You must quickly prepare yourself for the
assault!
Goal: End the turn on wave 6 or higher.
Setup: Start at wave 1.
Special rule: When you reach wave 5, add all snowman cards from the
snowman pile to the discard pile before shuffling it.
Mission 4: War
Mission 4A: Scouting (long)
It’s been quiet for a few days. This is a good time to explore the ruins of
your neighbourhood to see who and what remains.
Goal: End the turn with the entire area deck scouted.
Setup: Shuffle three 1-snowman cards and two 2-snowman cards into the
area deck. Start at wave 1.
Special rule: When scouting (or retrieving by saving Survivors) a snowman
card from the area deck, place it in play and scout (or retrieve) the next
card instead.
Mission 4B: The Ronald Rescue (long)
Ronald, that annoying kid from your class, staggers in from the street.
Before he collapses, he tells you there are many people still alive on his
block, holed up in fortified houses with snowmen gathering outside. It won’t
be long until they are overrun - you must get them out of there!
Goal: End the turn with 10 saved Survivors.
Setup: Start at wave 2. Choose and scout any 2 cards from your area
deck.
Mission 4C: A Silent Movie (short)
An urgent phone call from your babysitter Rosalyn reveals that she and
her boyfriend Charlie are trapped in a darkened movie theatre swarming
with snow goons. To extract the trapped moviegoers you’ll need to sneak
through the darkness, keeping very quiet...
Goal: End the turn with 5 saved Survivors.
Setup: Start at wave 1. Add one extra 1-snowman card to your starting
deck.
Special rule: You may not use cards that might make loud noises (Wagon,
Runaway Sled, Dart Gun, Snowball, Chainsaw, Water Balloon, Tobog-Gun,
Catapult, and Bombs Away). They can still be used as payment though.
Mission 4D: The Candace Clean Up (long) Mission 5C: Weapon Testing (medium)
Your classmate Candace calls for help with the increasing snowman Hobbes has had a breakthrough! It seems that snow goons can be
threat. Her neighbourhood has not yet been overrun, so if you can clear it transmogrified into chocolate frosted sugar bombs! But now you need to
of snow goons this could be a haven for survivors. test this revolutionary new technology on more snowmen.
Goal: End the turn having killed at least 100 snowmen (keep track with the Goal: End the turn after having saved 6 Transmogrified snowmen (keep
saved marker, and a wound marker for laps of 20 kills). track with the saved marker).
Setup: Start at wave 2 with any weapon from the area deck in play Setup: Start at wave 2 with Secret Base and Transmogrifier in play and
unprepared. Add two extra 1-snowman cards to the player deck, and prepared. Add two extra 1-snowman cards to your draw deck.
shuffle three 2-snowman cards into the area deck.
Special rule: When scouting (or retrieving by saving Survivors) a snowman Mission 5D: The Last Stand (short)
card from the area deck, place it in play and scout (or retrieve) the next
While Hobbes is fine-tuning his new Transmogrification Blaster the
card instead.
snowman have found out about it. They make one last desperate assault
on your secret undercover base. Can you hold out long enough?
Goal: End the turn on wave 6 or higher.
Mission 5: The Secret Weapon Setup: Start at wave 1 with one 1-snowman card in the deck.
Special rule: Treat the Survivor cards as 1-snowman cards, starting in your
Mission 5A: Find a Lab (long) deck (going to the snowman pile when killed).
To defeat the snow goons you will need a secret weapon. As the smartest
person around (according to him), Hobbes volunteers to work it. But first
he needs a secure base and some Calvin clones to experiment on.
Aftermath
The new secret weapon blasts the mutant snowman hordes to
Goal: End the turn with a prepared Secret Base and having saved Clones
smithereens, leaving just a mountain of chocolate frosted sugar bombs!
(gaining no cards for it).
Cheering crowds instantly elect you Lifelong President of Everywhere. In the
Setup: Start at wave 2 with Secret Base as card 17 and Clones as card 18
days ahead you will humbly lead humanity back from the ruins, building a
in the area deck (insert face down after shuffle).
new and better world based on deliciously fudgy breakfast foods.
You win!
Mission 5B: Research… (short)
Hobbes is desperately trying to find the right configuration of
technologies to squash the snow goons, but time is running out!
Goal: End the turn on wave 6 or lower having used Tech cards six times
(keep track with the saved marker).
Setup: Start at wave 1 with Secret Base scouted.