Before we can talk about how best to use (or deal with) Barricades you first need to know how they work in Z. Year One.

• Survivors put Barricades into play using Tactics.*
  
• Barricades become Special Units** when put into play and take up one of your eight unit slots.
  
• A Barricade has SV (Survivability) and can be destroyed by ANY unit (Survivor or Fallen) by attacking it directly.
  
• When a Barricade is in play, Survivors cannot attack the Fallen and Fallen can only attack the Barricade(s).
  
• When a Barricade is in play, Survivors can search and interact with Events but Fallen CANNOT roam.

*Since Barricades originate from Tactics, Tacticians can lower their initial cost, further increasing their value at any point during the match.

**Special Unit in this case means it cannot attack or search, nor will it trigger non-Barricade-related Traps, etc. It’s essentially a lifeless meat shield, but made out of wood....

If you find yourself asking, “Why use barricades?” then this section’s for you!

With a standard 2-cost Barricade:

• You can play it after searching during your Action or End Phase, so it's not reliant on what you start your turn with (unlike units and equipment).
  
• You can protect your squishy units while trying to build up resources for tanks and Heroes or spells.
  
• You can make the Fallen waste 1-2 actions attacking (which can also trigger your traps or certain abilities).
  
• If the Fallen plays a bunch of units on the next turn, you prevent them from roaming which has immense value on its own.

Barricades can have massive value when played correctly, but they're not for every deck/strat.

Barricades can be played during any phase on your turn so wait until you’re sure you’re done attacking before throwing them up. If you wanted to attack you’ll either have to change plans or destroy your own barricade to do it.

...are when either a) it will end up saving a Survivor vital to your victory plans, or b) it will prevent a large number of Fallen from roaming. So if the Fallen are about to play a bunch of units but don’t have any in play now, throw out a Barricade and since most or all of the new Fallen won’t be able to attack right away you’ll prevent them all from roaming.

Most of the time the Fallen player will be expecting you to make them destroy any Barricades, and they’ll play accordingly. This may include putting out a high value target to help take down the Barricade. In this case, you might want to destroy your own Barricade enabling your units to attack the Fallen sooner than expected. And although there’s no in-game chat, you are expected to loudly proclaim, “Surprise, motherf***er!” whenever you do this.

If the Fallen are tearing down your Barricades faster than you can make use of them, you may want to try something else.

Tacticians reduce the cost of all Survivor Tactics and Traps by 1, and the Tactician ability stacks, meaning two Tacticians would make all basic Barricades free to play.

Barricades can be a huge nuisance if you’re not ready for them.

Try to have a unit with 2+ AP ready to take down any Barricades, otherwise you could end up losing several actions or even your whole turn.

You can still Sabotage a Barricaded location, which should slow down Survivors while you work on taking out any Barricades.

Cost: 2
Type: Tactic
Description: Puts a 2-SV Barricade into play.

Cost: 3
Type: Tactic
Description: Puts a 4-SV Barricade into play.

Cost: 1
Type: Tactic
Description: Gives a Barricade or Hideout +1 SV.

Cost: 3
Type: Unit
Description: Rooftop + Reduces the cost of Tactics by 1.
Notes: If you equip a Tactician with a Sniper Rifle it can attack Fallen even when a Barricade is up.

Cost: 3
Type: Unit
Description: Rooftop + Equip: Sniper Rifle
Notes: Snipers (and Tacticians with a Sniper Rifle) are the only units that can attack the Fallen while a Barricade is up.