Zombie Fort! (school project) Mechanics

Here's another new zombie card worth taking a look at. It's a card game, but they have some interesting mechanics for using supplies and weapons:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1360136763/relentless-the-zombie-gam...

O.K. So if I'm just wasting pencil lead and brain cells, tell me to quite raising my hand in class and to just sit down and shut up, or if my input has been of some help, let me stand up to the chalkboard for a moment or two and give you some more thoughts about the specifics of certain aspects that I have "fleshed out".
Building upon my concept described two posts previous (no need to quote it, it's right above) of the grid playing surface with floor plan of the farmhouse near one corner and separate barn near opposite corner serving as the draw pile, and the two remaining corners serve as starting points for the Zombie horde. The farmhouse should have 5-7 exterior rooms with at least 10 or more exterior doors and windows. It should also have an interior room or two with at least a few doors adjoining the rooms. The barn should have at least three entrances to access the supply cards.
With the idea of having two teams playing either the role of Zombies or Survivors (or a "Zombie Master" controlling the Zombies and all other players controlling the Survivors, ala D&D), here is a rough outline of game play options to chew on:

Components:
• Game grid with farmhouse and barn.
• Six sided dice (d6)
• 10 Zombie tokens or pawns
• 12 Survivor tokens or pawns
• Barricade markers to place on door or window which has been barricaded with Wood & Nails.
• Fire markers to place where a Hay & Kerosene fire burns.
* Lantern markers to place where a lantern burns.
Set-up:
• Zombies divide evenly into both "Zombie" corners.
• Survivors begin in farmhouse. If more than one player is on the team divide the amount of how many Survivors each player controls. Deal one card to each Survivor player. In addition to which ever card they are dealt, they also are armed with a primary weapon, either a crowbar or baseball bat. They carry this at all times and can play it an unlimited amount of times without losing it. The primary weapon is close range and can only be used to attack if they land on a space next to a Zombie.

Movement: (Using a standard d6 for all rolls.)
• Survivors can choose to:
A: Move 1-6 spaces depending on roll. Survivors are quick and agile, thus they can move in any direction; forward, backward, sideways and diagonally, similar to a Queen in chess.
B: Barricade a door or window (Must use and discard 1 Wood & Nails card).
C: Attack with weapon. Use primary weapon as above; or use secondary weapon per type (Must use and discard 1 Secondary Weapon card). Roll for miss or hit with each attack, once for each weapon used. 1-3=miss, 4-6=hit. A miss has no effect, a hit will kill.
D: Draw card from barn. Must land in front of one of three barn entrances to draw a supply card. Survivors can only carry one card each back to farmhouse in one trip. If they use a card along the way, they can choose to return to the barn and gain another card.

• Zombies can choose to:
A: Move 1-3 spaces depending on roll (1-2=1, 3-4=2, 5-6=3). Zombies are slow and stagger-shuffle, thus they can only move forward, backward, and sideways but not diagonally, similar to a Rook or a Knight in chess.
B: Attack with bite and claws. Bite and claws are close range and can only be used to attack if they land on a space next to a Survivor. Roll for miss or hit for each attack, once for bite, once for claws. 1-3=miss, 4-6=hit. A miss has no effect, a hit will infect and transform the Survivor into a Zombie and now that piece is added to the Zombie Team.

Card Types:
• Wood & Nails - Used to barricade doors and windows. Place a barricade marker on a window or door. Don't barricade them all unless as a last resort, or Survivors can't get in and out to access the barn.
• Axe, Shovel or Pitchfork - Can be played in the same turn combined with primary weapon. The Axe Shovel or Pitchfork are also close range like the primary weapon and can only be used to attack if they land on a space next to a Zombie.
• Pistol - Short range within a 3 space radius. 3 shots. Roll 3 times, can shoot at multiple targets.
• Shotgun - Short range within a 3 space radius. 2 shots. Roll 2 times, can shoot at multiple targets.
• Rifle - Long range within 6 space radius. 1 shot. Roll 1 time, no multiple targets.
• Hay & Kerosene - Survivors can start a Hay & Kerosene fire to keep Zombies away at a radius of 6 spaces, good for 3 turns until it burns out. Useful for placing near a door or window.
• Lantern - Setting out a Lantern will keep Zombies away at a radius of 3 spaces, good for 6 turns until it burns out.
• Holy Water - Holy Water can be used to turn a Zombie into a Survivor. Holy Water is close range and can only be used if they land on a space next to a Zombie. Roll for miss or hit. 1-3=miss, 4-6=hit. A miss has no effect, a hit will cure and transform the Zombie into a Survivor and now that piece is added to the Survivor Team.

Hope this gives you something to gnaw on...
I'm stepping away from the podium for now as I've got to get back to work on my new game, which has nothing whatsoever to do with Zombies!

1- The grid size would depend on what size tokens or pawns you are using, allowing enough space for the farmhouse, barn and movement between and around. Your proposed dimension should work fine for play testing.
2- The Hay & Kerosene would be one card that is stored and drawn from the barn. This is your "loot deck", as you call it.
The Hay & Kerosene card is used to make a fire which burns for 3 turns. The Holy Water would be another card in the draw (loot) pile, as would the secondary weapons and Hammer & Nails. ALL item to be used by Survivors can be found in the barn. Reread my post concerning how the supply cards are used and played. I think you may have misunderstood how they work.
3- Searching through furniture in the farmhouse seems problematic, unless you come up with a good mechanic for it. I would eliminate the furniture altogether (it is an abandoned house). Having to search through and move furniture around means that you now have to have furniture icons or markers that are just going to clutter up the farmhouse, and you are already at a premium for space.
4- Unless you want to set the whole game up and then just get it over with, I would not include "a hidden door that activates an awesome zombie defense system for instant win". Why play at all if you have that type of possibility. You could play Rock, Paper, Scissors with the same outcome. Play the game all the way through from start to finish. The game should have a rough timeframe to play (rounds, minutes, egg timer, etc.) Thus my suggestion of the "Dusk to Dawn" scenario, where the game lasts a certain amount of rounds representing a full night from sundown to sunrise.
Reread my post, as I think that there are a few things that might have been glossed over.

If the grid you have is the right size for the board your using and for what your looking for than a 1 level farm house is fine. I only suggested the attic and basement idea if players needed to get away to get other resources or even better having ways to get down to get to the second floor to the shed outback. Keep up the great work.

You can have a resource draw pool to put up the new piece of furniture. Other things. What about breaking the table legs. Table can be used as door or window blockade. The table legs can be used as torches for protection or throw at the zombies. Or have players run outside to make bonfires lit to keep zombies at bay for two turns of game play.

You have just one deck of cards. It is the "loot" pile. It contains all of the items I mentioned earlier. When you deal one card to each player to start with, it is from this same deck. They may get a weapon to start out with or a lantern or hammer & nails, etc. Basically everyone starts the game with something. The Holy Water would be good for one use only. You have a vial of the stuff, not a seltzer bottle. Like all secondary weapons, use it, then lose it. Otherwise you need to keep track of how many times you have fired a shot or thrown the water. When you use a secondary weapon, you use it fully in the same turn and then it is discarded. For instance, the shotgun has two shells in it. Shoot once, then shoot again during the same turn. The shotgun is now useless and goes into the discard pile. It could get overly complicated if you start rationalizing, "Why can't I use the shotgun as a club," or "the hammer could be used as a weapon as well." Use the cards as simply as they are intended to be. The Hammer & Nails barricades one door or one window. Then it is spent. The shotgun fires two shells. Then it is spent. If you need to rationalize to players about alternate uses, be the creative Zombie Master and inform them that "You broke the handle on the hammer" or
"The firing pin on the old rusty shotgun stuck".

If you make the farmhouse one level, with exterior and interior rooms, you don't need an attic or basement. The interior rooms could serve the same purpose. If you have a good mechanic for searching, moving and busting up furniture, then try it out and see how it works. I don't know how to make it simple and elegant. I would just make it an empty house. Maybe the family that lived there didn't just up and leave. Maybe they moved and took their furniture with them or homeless people took it. I don't know of many fully furnished abandoned old farmhouses, but I guess there probably wouldn't be shotguns and lanterns and kerosene either, so it's your game, your call.

The reason I picked 10 zombies, is that amount of tokens/figures needed for the game would work for a play test session. You can always modify the numbers once the game has been run through a few times. If you want to make it a marathon session with enough miniatures to resemble a Warhammer field, then by all means, the more the merrier. It just seems like a lot to take control and keep track of if each zombie or survivor is moving independently doing their own thing.