Zombicide and All Things Zombies (Board Games)

Starting this month we’ll be expanding our games coverage with regular board game reviews. As part of Zombie Week, board game aficionado Charlie Hall looks at two recent zombie-themed board games.

The recent rise of the undead has given me, an avid board gamer, the opportunity to introduce the hobby to friends and family who may have never been interested before. People are hungry for the apocalypse, and I am happy to sate that hunger with delicious zombie-themed board games. Two titles in particular have come across my desk and I wanted to use them to kick-off this semi-regular column in shambling style.

Zombicide

The result of a wildly successful Kickstarter effort in May, Zombicide is published by CoolMiniOrNot and designed by Guillotine Games. It was one of those crazy Kickstarter campaigns that just takes off like a rocket, before long pulling in people left and right from clear across the internet. The way they did it was by offering a veritable treasure trove of beautiful miniatures.

Along the top you’ve got teenager Josh, Wanda the drive-in waitress, Doug the office worker, Phil the sheriff, Amy the goth girl, and Ned the crazed survivalist. Below are your undead. The minis are stunning, with deeply cut details. They are just begging to be painted.

When you break out the box the roles players can inhabit are immediately clear. After a long day at work you are already half-way into Doug’s shoes, in all his rage-filled glory from Falling Down. You can’t wait to occupy the pasty purple shell that is Amy, whose goth-inspired shitkicker boots require references to NCIS and smart ass comments to be properly enjoyed. Each character has their own skill set as well, with sheriff Phil being the only one to start with a firearm and homeless Ned being great at scavenging useful kit from even the dingiest of corners.

Each player’s turn is divided into actions, and the number of actions you can take increases with the more zombies you kill. A counter keeps track of your tally at the top of your character card. Actions can include searching buildings for weapons, starting and driving an abandoned car, or attacking the undead with an exotic mixture of melee and ranged weapons. Good times were had during several of my play sessions when a chainsaw was let loose indoors. Each weapons card tells you how many dice to roll, and the number you have to beat to hit. The fun comes in mixing and matching survivors and their inventory items at the time to create streak-like runs across the map, or fight your way out of a deadly corner.

Eight zombie sculpts give the teaming hordes some character as well. Zombies include business men, waitresses, and even a guy in a wifebeater that looks vaguely like Michelangelo’s David. Runners, fast zombies that move at twice the rate of others, are yuppie joggers doomed to spend the afterlife in those stupid shorts and hoodies, their iDevices still on their withered hip. The giant boss figure is really just a hapless tourist, whose hulking undead frame has grown around his camera strap. Unable to fit through doorways in search of food, the terrifying creature has walked through plate glass windows and still has razor sharp hunks of glass protruding from its back.

But before you have time to make sense of the destruction on every inch of the three foot square board the zombies are on top of you. This cooperative game is fast, and things will go pear shaped quickly when massive waves of the undead come cascading down the street. Often the best solution is to steal a car and drive directly into their midst.

Phil was amazed how well Wanda could drive with the roller skates on. But not nearly as amazed with how much blood was on the windshield.

This cooperative game can make old friends out of new acquaintances in just the few hours it takes to play. Set up is quick, and the rules are easy to explain. You actually gain powers the more zombies you kill. What’s not to like?