Spontaneous Zombicide with the boys! Zombie Link is Extraordinaire!

Hello all,
There are few things my two sons (9&6) wants more than to play Zombicide. And who am I to refuse them when there is time? Yesterday there was time and we had a blast! We didn't use any missions as I wanted to test the flexibility of the game - I choose six boards more or less randomly, placed some doors and three objects to be claimed. These objects were three of the small children I've painted from Hasselfree - more fun than the "x-marks-the-spot"-counters.
As only two players would participate (the youngest prefers to be the children to be rescued) we began with a single spawn zone and decided a few more would be added once the children were freed (children make a lot of noise, you know :-)).

The youngest shuffled the characters and we received Dave the Geek (an ok character, but nothing special) and my son got to play the serial murderer, Achille the Serial Killer (hmmm, not sure about that, but he was thrilled).

The game all set (took 15 minutes, not bad) we began - although I'm not sure why Achille would decide to rescue children, the possible answers are a bit scary :-).

First building was cleared quickly using the basic weapons.

For some reason Achille seemed to draw the children to him...

On to the next building, now Achille had found an Assault Rifle (one of the best weapons, in my opinion). He quickly killed the zombies (again) and one more child was rescued.

The boys felt we were doing great!

On to the next building - Dave had found a Concrete Saw and an Automatic Shotgun - armed to the teeth the zombies had little chance at this stage, but we were rapidly approaching Orange...

Achille had collected the last kid and then the first Abomination entered our part of the city.

Luckily, Dave's concrete saw was up tot he task and the big guy was chopped into little, crawly pieces.

The mission all done, we headed for the exit and quickly departed, bringing the three children to safety.

We learnt some new things: 

1) the game is really easy to improvise with. Out mission was a spur of the moment thing but worked really well. Once the basics have been learned there are endless possibilities for fun! 

2) Achlles' skill - Zombie Link - looks a bit week, but in this game it saved our lives and I would judge it to be one of the best skills. He gets a free turn whenever a "extra activation" card is drawn. These are actually what we fear the most - I'd rather have six dogs enter than an extra activation. These are the real killers of a well situated and prepared survivor group and having a player who gets a free turn to remove the dangers, before they can kill you, is amazing. Perhaps this was an exceptional game (three extra activations were played) but I'll never be disappointed seeing a character with this skill in the game!

All the best,
Kasper

AAR: Zombicide Missions The Break-In & The Blueprints: Success!

Hello all,

We enjoyed a nice evening/night playing Zombicide and as usual it was a blast - the game is so well designed that it simply amazes me. And it is dawning on me just how great the reply value is; the random combination of survivors, zombie draws and weapons available makes each mission very unique.

So the first mission was M00, Tutorial: Break-in from the Prison Outbreak rulebook. In short our heroes (Goth Amy, Troy the Traveller, and Ralph the Cowboy) had to secure a violet keyto the prison (why violet?!?). The prison - in true Walking Death-style - had been deemed a secure place.

So we went hunting for the key - unfortunately in the very first room Amy searched, she discovered an Abomination. Now, a bit panicked, but on the other we have gotten quite good at "managing" zombies, so the abomination was herded to and fro, posing little danger, but always a potential threat.

While Amy was busy, Ralph and Troy managed the rest of the zombies and before we knew it the mission was in the bag - an automatic shot gun made short work of the zombies inside the barbed wire squares of the prison while a police car kept running down zombies on the streets.

All in all the mission seemed quite easy (not that we would complain about that :-)) and we managed to stay in the yellow-zone, avoiding too many zombies. It turned out finding the abomination early and the key late was a blessing. The abomination meant that no such being would spawn inside the prison and thus break the barbed wire (we actually drew one the turn after Amy ahd found 'her' abomination) meaning half the zombies were herded into one square were they were easy to kill. Also, the choice of postponing searching for the key until we were in position meant the purple spawn zone didn't activate until we were geared up and ready.

All in all, a great game and a well thought out introduction-mission. Amy is (with her great skills) a brilliant starting character, Ralph and Troy seemed capable but were never really tested.

The second mission we played was M01: the Blueprints. Having secured the entrance to the prison, a new set of heroes were sent out to secure the area and attain some blueprints to make sure each entrance to the prison was nailed shut. This game had Amy (again), Chuck (Momma's Boy), and good ol' Though Nick in it and once the quite difficult rules for the mission had been read, and re-read, we began.

One curious aspect of the mission was the central security gate - not sure if we played it entirely correct (although I think so) but it was possible (through some clever manoeuvring) to capture the starting abomination and several 'innocent' zombies within the room. This meant we could take the long way around. We did have a few close calls due to massive amounts of runners but a combination of Amy's speed, Nicks incredible toughness (coupled with a Police Riot Shield), and Ralph's low profile meant we had the game under control. Well almost, each hero was wounded, but that was only due to a couple of unfortunate extra activation-cards. 

We also, to my surprise, managed the game with quite poor equipment - Amy (the winner on points, who passed red) only had dual pistols and Nick had dual shot guns. both were augmented with re-rolls and similar, but still interesting.

A great mission, interesting possibilities of the security gate and plenty of fun with the sniper towers, cars etc. 

Amy was great as always (that extra speed is a blessing), Ralph's "low Profile" was a game winner, as was the old dependable though Nick.

Two brilliant games, plenty of beer and good laughs - Zombicide rocks!

All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide: AAR - missions Y-Zone and Small Town

Hello all,
So another game of Zombicide and another great experience. This really is a great game and always produces loads of fun. This time we began with the mission "Y-zone", which is one of the best missions, in order to introduce a new player to the concept.

 The players were Amy, Doug and Shannon. Amy is always great news and Shannon turned out to be amazing, whereas Doug is not the strongest of characters. BTW, we always randomly pick which character to play.

The game was a success for most of us. In the final turns, when everything was under control, Amy suddenly decided to charge in the opposite direction for unknown reasons. This meant that Doug and Shannon could only wait in horror to hear Amy's screams as the horde dragged her down and tore her apart. She did kill a ton of Zombies but not enough, and the survivors had to leave her behind, fearing the day when they would encounter her zombified body.

Amy's final seconds before the horde swamps her

 The second game was "Small Town" a mission we have yet to beat. And tonight was not the occasion where the survivors would become succesful. The characters this time were Eagle Chaz (always great, especially in the higher levels), Elza (ok - Break-in is not that crappy) and Adriana (rather weak - Loud is not a great skill...).
The mission is just so small that the amount of zombies quickly becomes too much to handle. It didn't help that we found little of use in the first ten turns or so and that we didn't get enough doors open before someone (not me, honest gov!) accidentally entered orange...

So the game quickly turned from the above somewhat controlled state to the below chaotic and ultimately deadly scenario.

Despite each character becoming Zombivores we couldn't beat the mission - it all came down to whether Elsa could sneak into the last building and get a favourable draw in the Red zone. The four Fatties who appeared instead just tore her apart.

Great game and nothing like playing it to make sure I get some more minis painted. I've decided to get cracking on the ton of survivors still left to paint.

All the best,
Kasper

Toxic Mall game play - 78 zombies killed in one flamethrower blast!

Hello all,
We managed a "quick" game of Zombicide the other evening. We wanted to try the new rules from Toxic Mall, the zombie dogz expansion and a few other new rules.
The mission we chose was the first one in Toxic Mall (The Big Rubble) and unfortunately this is the first mission we have played that did not feel right. There is only one way to go in the beginning and this is blocked by four toxic zombies. Perhaps we feared these too much but the result was that once we had left the starting zone there was a plethora of zombies waiting outside the door:

This seemed like bad odds until we discovered a flamethrower, and after some additional searching, some fuel for it. This meant that one lucky bastard (Uffe, I'm looking at you!) got to incinerate this mob of zombies - all told 78 brainless beings were burnt immediately. That is a new record for our gaming group and one I think will be difficult to beat.

The rest of the game was dominated by slowly progressing along the map, running over hordes of zombies with cars and shooting the rest. Uffe managed to kill enough zombies to reach the red level three times, maxing out his skills while the rest reached it one or two times.
Although the mission seemed too confined, we still had a great time and the game is much improved by the new toxic zombies (which were not as scary as we had imagined) and the dogz (which are more scary than we imagined!).



All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide - gaming with the kids

Hello all,

Had a fun little game of Zombicide with my sons - the mission was to get to the red skill level. Simple and we had to bodyguard the tiny miniature made by Hasslefree which represented my youngest son. He found it very fun :-).

Our characters (Dave (who got to molotov an Abomination), Ned, Doug, and El Cholo) put up a brave fight but in the end we were done in by "extra activation"-cards happening at the wrong time. SO sad. But enjoy the look on their face as they drew a "chainsaw":

And this is how they looked when all was lost:

A few shots from the game:

An Abomination arrives and sneaks in on the survivors...

Doug executes a Fatty

Doug and El Cholo go down, leaving just Ned to stave of the zombies...

... which doesn't last long. But luckily the kid manages to get away to hide and wait for more skilled survivors to come along :-).

Good fun was had and neither kid had any trauma nor nightmares and were begging for another game nest evening :-).

Anyways, thanks for reading - if you found the post interesting then any comments, questions, or tips (commercial clicks :-)) are greatly appreciated!

Until the next time; stay safe and prepare to slaughter Zombies!

All the best,

Kasper

Zombicide: Game play - "Pull the Switch"

Hello all,
So we had another go at our favorite board game, Zombicide! (ofc), and carnage ensued.
The scenario was "Pull the Switch" from the extra campaign pack Switch City (which can be found here), and we played with four (randomly dealt) Survivors; Josh, Ned, Phil, and Nick.
 
This was a few weeks ago, so I can't remember all the details but the pictures should convey the fun and carnage that was had by all :-).

During the early turns we split up and managed to keep the Zombie threat down by a concentrated amount of gunfire - here Phil is making a ton of noise

Nick and Josh took it in turns to mow down the zombies, and quickly got into the orange zone...

Tough decisions had to be made

More and more zombies are attracted by the noise of the survivors

The thing about ZOmbicide is that just when you think you are able to handle things - zombies start to appear in horrific numbers.

Here we had severe tactical problems as to how to get the car driving without hitting survivors - and we needed the cars moving and decimating the zombie hordes..

Problem solved, mostly. Dead Zombies galore!

Yet our brave survivors were swamped, and as the zombies started pulling down Ned and Phil the screams split the air

Only Josh and Nick made it out of the zombie crunch alive, but only a few of the objectives had been met. Would they be able to succeed?

While Nick began searching, Josh led the zombies away, frantically attempting to get to the last objectives in time

Unfortunately, while Nick thought he was safe, Zombies suddenly appeared right beneath his feet. Josh felt a tear appear as he heard his brave friend scream while being torn apart..

The reaction of Josh's player as he once again finds no tool to open the doors with. As the zombies start to pile into the building, Josh realises that even his superior Slippery skills wont be enough to survive this ordeal

The last thing Josh saw in his short, brutal life.

Goodbye Josh, and with him we lost (another) mission... but good fun was had anyways :-)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures - we had a blast even though we lost big time.
All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Third Game: Car-crunching the Zombie Horde

Hello all,

Following the last, very unsuccessful, foray into the Zombie infested world our survivors regrouped and set out for a new mission. This time it would be the mission 06 The Escape. We chose this particular mission primarily becuase we wished to test out the rules for destroying zombies with cars. And we sure did chrunch the Zombie horde beneath our mighty wheels.

Zombicide! Car Chrunching Zombies

The game went well in the beginning; the mission revolves around searching for basic nesecities, stockpiling them inside one of the two cars and then getting the hell out of Dodge. We decided to head straight for the large building and start searching. On the way, we ramsacked the police car for weapons.

Although this provided most of the party with excellent weaponry, it also meant that all the cans of gasoline went into the used cards pile. This was rather unfortunate as it meant we would have little chance to produce the much needed Molotov Cocktails. As one of the survivor characters was Dave whose special rule (2 Cocktails are better than 1) means that he can produce two of these wonderful improvised grenades, there was much complaining and grinding of teeth.

An abomination decides to visit our Survivors

This did not improve when an Abomination did decide to turn up during one of the first turns, again!

So we decided to get sneaky.

One of the things we have learnt is that the Zombicide! rules allow for a somewhat controllable 'micro-management' of the Abomination. In the above situation, Dave (lower left corner) could entice the Abomination to come towards him for a couple of turns, before firing up the car and driving back around to the rest of the party. This meant that although we couldn't kill the beast, we could keep him under control for the majority of the game. So even though Dave's special ability was unusable, he effectively did remove the threat posed by the Abomination. 

Zombicide! Survivors seraching cars franticly

After a few turns, Dave made his escape and plowed through a horde of Zombies on his way back to regroup. This meant that he killed enough Walkers in a simple drive-by to gain enough experience toe nter the Orange zone, while most other survivors were still in the blue zone. This could get nasty....

During the following turns, we couldn't find the needed supplies, and the zombie horde kept getting closer. Amy had to go inside the building to keep the Abomination occupied. Brave girl, that Goth psycopath...

Meanwhile Doug and Dave were busy sniping the walkers and macheting the Fatties that came too close to our designated search party.

 

Zombicide! Car Chrunching Zombies!

And then, finally, we managed to locate the last bottles of water and blasted through the Zombie hordes in our two cars. Needless to say, very few zombies survived the experience and we made our escape succesfully. And we did so with no casualties. Not bad. And as always, much fun was had by all.

Regarding the Car rules of Zombicide! we are not completely sold. They are very powerful (at least against Walkers) and very quick. The entire problem of getting out of the mission was easy, as it only took a single turn of driving to exit the area (six tiles) and as such was almost too easy. And the cars did work very well in thinning the Zombie horde and killed most walkers on the way.

We'll give the cars a few more tries, and on larger maps and see if they work as intended.

If you happen to agree, disagree or be madly in love with me, please leave a comment or a tip :-). It really motivates all bloggers to keep blogging!


All the best,
Kasper

Zombicide! Second Game - Abomination Problems

Hello all,
So we managed to get another game of the superb boardgame Zombicide! arranged. And once again, it was a blast even though things didn't go that well for our four survivors (Amy, Josh, Nick, and Phil).
The game mission was "05 Big W" and it looked pretty straight forward.
We decided our game plan would be to bust down a few doors and get a head start on the zombies.
Step one was quickly accomplished and everything looked sweet - a few walkers? Hah, we eat walkers for breakfast (or, wait, that would make us zombies, wouldn't it?). Anyways all looked good.

Zombicide! First turn and everything looks easy!

Well then it went bad. Really bad.
The first spawn of zombies, and what did we manage to draw? Well nothing less than a bleeding, terrifying Abomination. Thats right, first turn and there is a lumbering Abomination on the board.

Zombicide! First turn and an Abomination turns up....

 I must admit that I was arguing for a re-draw at this stage but my gaming compadres are more adventourous than me and we formulated a cunning plan - we would stall the beast for as long as possible while we searched as madmen for the ingredients of a Molotov Cocktail - the only thing that can bring the beast down.

Zombicide! And the Abomination brought friends...

 As if a first turn Abomination wasn't bad, he brought friends. A couple of fatties also turned up during the next few turns. And we couldn't find any of the needed ingredients. Things were looking bleak. Very bleak.

Zombicide! The Zombies start piling up while the heroes search for a Molotov Cocktail

 The next turns consisted in frantic searches while the Abomination and his friends came closer and closer.
When there was no further obtions, Amy volunteered to stay in the building and lure the Abomination even further in, while the other heroes would make a break for it and attempt to find the needed ingredients elsewhere... Brave Amy.

Zombicide! The brave survivors attempt to escape, while Amy faces the Abomination

 Led by Nick, who slaughtered multiple zombies with his machetes, the survivors made a succesful break out of the cursed building.
Unfortunately, Nick quickly went down when the zombies somehow got even hungrier (the walkers gained an extra turn, which meant Nick, even though he was tough, was Zombie-snack).

Zombicide! Nick is down, and the survivors are an endangered species...

 After several turns we finally managed to find and combine the ingredients and blew the abomination apart with a Molotov Cocktail.

Zombicide! The Abomination is finally killed with a Molotov Cocktail thrown by Amy

 But by this stage, the board was full of zombies, the three survivors were seperated, and what mustn't happen, happened: Another, equally, scary Abomination arrives.

Zombicide! Another Abomination lumbers onto the board

Our brave survivors now face insurmountable odds and each face cinematic ends of their own:

Amy manages to fight her way through hordes of zombies but in the end she is surrounded and eaten while screaming for help.

Zombicide! Amy is surrounded

But the only survivor, Josh, is face to face with an Abomination and although he destroys countless zombies, it is only a question of seconds before the horde arrives and pulls him apart...

Zombicide! Josh, the last survivor, seconds before he is eaten by the horde of zombies

 So, second game and everything went poorly - we must have had the worst possible draws during the first couple of rounds. The Abomination meant that we had to devote all available forces to searching for the Molotov ingredients, and thus we didn'øt even come close to finding all the objectives, or even begin to think about getting out.

And how did we judge the game experience based on this utter defeat? Well, to be honest, we loved it! Everyone had a blast and the cinematic moments were multiple.

This game rocks, even when you're losing. Thats a pretty good recommendation!.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading about our game (if you did feel free to say so in comment or leave a tip for the blogowner :-)), as we played another immediately there'll be another report up soonish...

All the best,

Kasper