Timber Peak review

Timber Peak is the second big expansion/stand alone for Last Night on Earth. I’m not sure why anyone would buy this as a standalone, if they have never heard or played the original game. Still, Flying Frog is marketing it as both a single game and an expansion to the original.

As a huge fan of Last Night and Growing Hunger I was looking forward to Timber Peak. After sitting down and rocking through three games I can say it did not disappoint!

The game is set after Last Night on Earth. Three citizens of the town of Woodinvale have survived and escaped to the logging town of Timber Peak. The Sheriff, Jake Cartwright and Sally have survived and I guess all the other characters became tasty brain snacks for the zombies. As they get to Timer Peak for help they discover that everyone’s favorite undead are shambling amok there too. It seems the nightmare isn’t over yet and the survivors will have to keep fighting. However, they get some reinforcements with a waitress (Alice), a bush pilot (Nikki) and a Lumberjack ( Ed Baker).

This and the following  "AAARRGGGHHH!"  were said whenever the lumberjack  killed zombies

The game play is the same as the previous Last Night games which is awesome! There is a new mechanic for Timber Peak and that is gaining experience. Humans and zombies both gain experience for killing or wounding throughout the game. This experience is tracked via tokens. Humans gain experience per character and zombies gain it for the whole horde.  When three tokens are gained then the characters and zombies can gain buffs and abilities. These are chosen via cards. Humans can draw from one pile of three types of cards: ranged ,melee and special.  These cards all have bonuses to the first  two abilities or give them a new “special” ability. Zombies have one deck and drawing from it benefits the entire horde.  Each character can have certain bonuses or abilities based on personal play style, and the zombies gain a horde wide bonus. It is a descent mechanic and really adds to the game. It can also be skipped over to increase speed of play, hate keeping track of stuff, or just don’t like the concept. Personally, I liked the experience gaining. It made for a much more challenging game for both sides.

We ran through three of the four scenarios and they are similar to the previous games. I guess people might find that a bit repetitive. However, with new game mechanics, board pieces, rules and hero/zombie cards I didn’t find it the least bit repetitive. I am a uber zombie and Last Night fan so I am a bit biased. Also I’d like to mention the fact that the zombies won all three games (run by me thank you very much)! There were so many tasty spicy brains eaten that day.

If you like the previous Last Night games then Timber Peak should not disappoint. If you want a one-off zombie survival game, then you will dig this game too.  It is a much easier sell if you have played the previous, but it works well as a stand-alone as well.