2013 the Summer of Zombies

The boy is here for a few weeks and it has been a time to reflect, learn share, grow and kill a ton of those filthy leg draggers!

We have had various games of Last Night on Earth and those are always fun, especially with more than two people. There is nothing like watching two people run the human characters and seeing their plans come to fruition, and then my zombies chew through them.

We have also busted out Zombicide. I grabbed this at Gencon last year and it was not played for some reason....until now!

 

This game is the usual humans vs. zombie flair, but it is cooperative humans vs. zombies. It is made for 1-6 players, so even angry loners, shut-ins, basket cases and the occasional spaz can play it without needing other human interaction. The rules are fairly simple (except for one stupid rule which I'll hit later) and there is even a quick tutorial game to get you started.

The 6 humans are either based on pop culture or quasi-stereotypes. This game comes with early version of Walking Dead Rick Grimes and       the Michael Douglas character from falling down. Then you get a comic book guy/shut-in/interweb nerd, an Asian goth-ish girl, a roller skating waitress and a hoodie/rapper (think 8 Mile meets Hot Fuzz).These characters all come with their own little abilities and models. There were also a lot of Kickstarter exclusive characters that I wish were available: Sheldon Cooper, Chuck Norris, John McLain, Machete and Ash from Evil Dead II. You also use all 6 characters in every game. This is how a single player can enjoy this game. A

The zombies come in the walking, running, fat and a single huge abomination variety. They have their own rules, and shenanigans as well.

Things are looking bad for Phil and Ned!

The game board is built from several detailed tiles and changes from game to game. There are a lot of markers the range from doors to objectives to cars. Yeah, you can drive cars around the board while killing zombies. The rulebook gives various scenarios to try and there are more online to download and try.

The game is pretty standard, you play scenarios to survive, escape, kill or capture. The zombies have a set pattern of attack, move, and spawn. You draw cards that tell how many zombies, what types to use and where they arrive. They all move toward characters in line of sight, or toward noise (this is where I'll hit the dumb rule later). The characters all have three action points to use each turn. These can be used to move various spaces, search, fight, open doors, etc. The characters also gain experience as they slaughter the hapless brain munchers. The more experience they gain the more abilities they unlock. This can give them extra actions, moves, searches or various combat abilities. That is all well and good, but t he more experienced gained, the harder the game gets. See the zombie cards have various levels like the characters do. As the characters level so does the quality and quantity of the zombies. This makes for a real risk reward style of play. It also forces some great strategy and movie moments.

Doug and Phil are going down too!

The only problem I have is the noise rule conundrum. See if you make noise: shooting, breaking, driving, etc, the zombies will come toward it. The melee weapons in the game make no noise (chainsaws being the exception). Now....zombies move toward noise, and the rules say even breathing makes noise. What? Why have noiseless weapons only to have zombies move toward you anyway? This is very frustrating and dumb. We have house ruled it as out of sight-out of mind. If the undead cannibals can't see or hear you, then they won't come near you. This has yet to have an adverse effect on the game and just makes sense. If you are quiet, you are safe. If you are chainsawing and gunning down zombies, then they will probably hear you.

This is a great game (well unless you dislike zombies and people)! The models are good quality for being mass produced. The rules are simple, or moderate for the uninitiated, but run the tutorial for new players and they will pick them up quickly. The co-op play is new and fun, especially with all the screw your neighbor games we like to play. The play gets frantic fast as the zombies really never stop coming, and it just gets worse as your guys get better. The game comes with 10 missions and has many more online to try. There is also amble opportunity to make your own. Hell, they even give you the ability to make your own characters with provided blank cards. It may be a bit expensive for a board game, but it is fast paced, fun and has no shortage of zombie mayhem. Zombiecide, catch it!

Molotov cocktails are awesome!

Trapped by zombies and an approaching abomination Doug sacrifices himself, whether he wants to or not.