Dayton's Invasion Outbreak Boardgame

📣 About the Project

Dayton’s Invasion is a cinematic, survival‑horror board game where every decision matters and every turn tightens the tension. Set in a small Midwestern city overrun by an unknown outbreak, players must scavenge, fight, and outsmart evolving threats while managing Health, Morale, and Action Points. The city changes as you play — zones collapse, resources vanish, and enemies adapt.

This campaign exists to take the game from a polished prototype to a fully produced, high‑quality tabletop experience with professional artwork, durable components, and expanded gameplay content.

About the Creator Hi, I’m Martinez Wilson — Director and CEO of M&K Entertainment, Games where we craft immersive tabletop experiences with bold storytelling and cinematic design. Our latest project, Dayton’s Invasion, is a survival-horror board game set in a quarantined Midwestern city overrun by an unknown outbreak. I lead every stage of development, from concept and mechanics to visual direction and production planning. With a deep love for genre fiction and tactile gameplay, I’m committed to delivering a suspenseful, high-quality experience that players will return to again and again.

• What I want to create

I’m creating Dayton’s Invasion, a cinematic, story‑driven survival board game set during a catastrophic outbreak. It blends tactical decision‑making, atmospheric storytelling, and high‑tension encounters with evolving enemy threats. The goal is to deliver an immersive tabletop experience with strong narrative hooks, replayable scenarios, and premium components.

• How we plan on creating it

The game is being developed through a structured production pipeline:

Design & Writing: Finalizing mechanics, scenario scripts, and event card systems through iterative playtesting.

Art & Visual Identity: Collaborating with artists to produce character art, environment illustrations, and thematic typography that match the game’s gritty, apocalyptic tone.

Prototyping & Refinement: Creating physical prototypes, gathering feedback, and adjusting balance, pacing, and component clarity.

Manufacturing: Partnering with a trusted board‑game manufacturer to produce high‑quality components, including cards, tokens, boards, and special edition stretch‑goal items.

• What are our plans for distributing it

The game will be distributed through a combination of:

Kickstarter fulfillment, shipping directly to backers worldwide.

Retail partnerships, offering the game to hobby stores and online retailers after the campaign.

Convention presence, showcasing the game at tabletop events to expand visibility and community engagement.

Direct sales through the MK Entertainment website for ongoing availability.

🧠 Where This Project Came From

Dayton’s Invasion began as a late-night sketch on a drawn-out city map, a quarantine zone, and a question: What would you do if everything collapsed overnight?

As a Creative Director and Lead Designer at MK Entertainment, I’ve always been drawn to survival horror and tactile storytelling. I wanted to create a board game that didn’t just simulate danger — it made you feel it. Every mechanic, every card, every piece of art had to serve the tension.

Over the past year, I’ve built this project from the ground up:

✅ Designed core mechanics and modular scenario system

✅ Directed visual identity, typography, and character design

✅ Written flavor text, intros, and world lore

✅ Coordinated playtests, artist briefs, and production planning

✅ Shaped the campaign voice and stretch goal roadmap

This isn’t just a game — it’s a cinematic survival experience. And now, with your help, we’re ready to bring it to life

✅ Shipping Materials & Logistics — 10%

Estimated: $500

Covers:

Packaging

Labels

Freight from manufacturer to fulfillment partner

Buffer for weight changes

Excluding Kickstarter fees.

(Backers typically pay their own shipping, but you still need materials and freight.

🗓️ Production Plan & Schedule

Week 1-2  Feb 15 -March 2nd 2026

✅ Foundation & Final Lock

Finalize all core mechanics and scenario structures

Approve final art direction, typography, and component layout

Confirm manufacturer specs and production requirements

Prepare prototype files for print

 March 4th-15 2026— Manufacturing Begins

Production of game boards, cards, tokens, and boxes

Quality checks and proof approvals

Backers receive a mid‑production update with photos

March 15th-28th

— Fulfillment Begins

Games arrive at regional hubs

Orders packed and shipped to backers

Tracking numbers sent out in waves

❤️ Why I Care

I’m making Dayton’s Invasion because I love creating worlds that pull people in — worlds where tension, strategy, and story collide. I’ve spent years directing, writing narratives, and shaping visual identities, but this project hits differently. It’s the first time I’ve taken everything I know about atmosphere, suspense, and tactile gameplay and poured it into a single experience.

I care because this game represents the kind of storytelling I believe in:

Choices that matter

Moments that make you hold your breath

A world that feels alive, dangerous, and worth surviving

I’ve invested countless hours into the mechanics, the art direction, the writing, and the production planning because I want this game to feel real — not just another box on a shelf, but a world you step into.

And honestly, I care because people have connected with it. Play testers leaned in. Artists brought the world to life. Every iteration made the game sharper, more intense, more human. That momentum is what drives me to finish it and share it with a wider audience.

This isn’t just a project for me — it’s a commitment to delivering something atmospheric, polished, and unforgettable.

Why We’re Raising Funds

Your support directly fuels the production of Dayton’s Invasion. Funds will go toward:

Popularity. 

Stretch goals new modes, characters, and advanced enemy types if we surpass our base goal.

Every dollar helps transform this project from a passion‑driven prototype into a complete, immersive board game.

What Makes the Game Unique

Cinematic survival tension — every turn feels like a scene from a thriller.

Minimal, punchy flavor text — sharp writing that sets the mood without slowing the game.

Dynamic zones — areas evolve, collapse, or become overrun based on player actions.

Strategic resource management — Health, Morale, and Action Points shape every choice.

Replayable scenarios — no two invasions unfold the same way.

📦 What’s in the Box

Item Deck (Weapons, Tools, Consumables, Utilities) Dice

*Some but not all cards are final Edits and are just Drafts

🧟‍♂️ Last Man Standing: Rules of Survival
🎯 Objective
Survive the zombie apocalypse and be the last living player. Use strategy, scavenging, alliances, and betrayal to outlast the undead—and each other.

🧩 Game Setup
Players: 2–3

Starting Zone: Each player begins in a separate zone with 1 weapon, 2 item, and 8 Health, each player Draw an event Card

Heads or tails for the first roll.

Decks:

Action Deck: Combat, movement, sabotage, survival.

Event Deck: Environmental hazards, zombie surges, morale shifts.

Item Deck: Weapons, gear, food, medicine.

Tokens: Health, Ammo, Weapons, Food

🔄 Turn Structure
Each player’s turn includes:

Draw Phase: Draw 1 Event Action card.  shuffle in deck after use.

Action Phase: Choose up to 2 actions: shuffle in deck after use.

Roll Dice, the number of your hit tells you how many spaces to move on the board.  

Resolve zombie attacks. with the number of tokens, you carry! if you carry more than 12 Weapons, ammo Etc., you can go through the herd. you don't have to roll the lucky die.

⚔️ Combat Rules

Critical Hit: Rolling a 6 with any weapon grants a bonus action.

Infection: If a player takes damage from a zombie, roll lucky die anything but 2. gain the amount of health tokens you rolled.

If you roll a lucky die on 2 you Die, Eliminated.

*Item cards are yours to keep, until you use, card gets reshuffled in the deck.

Keep Repeating these steps.

*Note anytime you roll a lucky die, you have 2 choices. Live or die!

*Note Any of the safe Item cards gives you the choice to survive any of the hordes.
or rolling Death on the lucky die.

🧍‍♂️ Death & Elimination
When a player reaches 0 Health, they die and become a zombie. Eliminated

Their character remains on the board as a special zombie with enhanced stats.

Last surviving human wins the game.

🏆 Victory Conditions
Be the last surviving human.

Poster art when you back for $48

                T-shirt when you back for $78

🧟 Stretch Goals (Locked for Now)

New enemy types

Alternate art cards

Advanced scenario booklet

Special edition “Outbreak” components

Holographic title card for collectors

As the invasion grows, so does the game. Every unlocked stretch goal expands the world of Dayton’s Invasion with new enemies, scenarios, art, and components that deepen replay ability and tension. These goals are carefully planned so they enhance the experience without delaying production.

Backing Dayton’s Invasion means you’re not just buying a game — you’re helping shape it. Early supporters influence final balancing, unlock stretch goals, and receive exclusive content that won’t be available later.

This is your chance to help bring a gritty, atmospheric survival experience to life.

🙏 Join the Invasion

If you love survival horror, strategic tension, and cinematic storytelling, this project is built for you. Your support — whether a pledge, a share, or a shout‑out — helps us push Dayton’s Invasion into full production.

Risks and challenges

Risks & Challenges Creating a high‑quality board game like Dayton’s Invasion involves several moving parts, and we want to be fully transparent about the challenges ahead. While we’ve planned carefully and built a strong production roadmap, here are the key risks we’re actively managing:

🚚 Shipping & Fulfillment Global shipping can be unpredictable — costs, customs, and transit times may fluctuate. How we’re mitigating it: We’re partnering with reliable fulfillment centers and will keep backers updated on timelines and any changes. 
 

📦 Stretch Goal Scope Unlocking stretch goals is exciting, but each one adds complexity to production. How we’re mitigating it: Stretch goals are planned with realistic timelines and won’t compromise the core game’s delivery.

💬 Communication Commitment No matter what challenges arise, we promise clear, consistent updates. Backers will always know where the project stands, what’s happening behind the scenes, and how we’re addressing any obstacles.