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[Board Games] Discussions of Wil Wheaton's cardboard nerd-cred consolidated here.

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Posts

  • DiannaoChongDiannaoChong Registered User regular
    PMAvers wrote: »
    So I am getting tons of board games with minis... super dungeon explore, zombicide, etc. These games have precut inserts you can get... but there all super expensive, and with SDE I plan on getting expansions/limited heroes which the precuts dont account for(so wont fit a sleeved deck of cards), and the zombicide kickstarter came with an entire extra tray of zombie fodder and extra characters.

    Is there like a place where I could get bulk foam slabs to just cut my own custom ones cheap? Had the wing break off my SDE dragon already and I decided I need to find a foam solution even if it means making a new box for everything.

    Probably could get it from someplace like a Home Depot.

    BTW, it's not exactly cheap, but Battlefoam makes a SDE tray set that fits inside the box, in case you don't feel like actually cutting it yourself.

    Yeah I mentioned they have precut ones, but it apparently doesnt have a spot for candy and cola, and doesnt fit the deck of cards if its sleeved. For the price I feel like I could make multiple of my own easily....

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  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    PMAvers wrote: »
    So I am getting tons of board games with minis... super dungeon explore, zombicide, etc. These games have precut inserts you can get... but there all super expensive, and with SDE I plan on getting expansions/limited heroes which the precuts dont account for(so wont fit a sleeved deck of cards), and the zombicide kickstarter came with an entire extra tray of zombie fodder and extra characters.

    Is there like a place where I could get bulk foam slabs to just cut my own custom ones cheap? Had the wing break off my SDE dragon already and I decided I need to find a foam solution even if it means making a new box for everything.

    Probably could get it from someplace like a Home Depot.

    BTW, it's not exactly cheap, but Battlefoam makes a SDE tray set that fits inside the box, in case you don't feel like actually cutting it yourself.
    I don't remember where I read it, but the review I saw said that the SDE Battlefoam was really awful.

  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    Oh, hey, the Indie Board & Card Games (AKA The Resistance) guys have another kickstarter going. "Gauntlet of Fools", by Donald X. Vaccarino.

    PMAvers on
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  • Dr. FaceDr. Face King of Pants Registered User regular
    Game night last night! Got to play Descent 2.0 and it was a blast. I'd never played the original because of the daunting length but the starter scenario with 4 heroes was done in less than 2 hours, everyone but the overlord had never played either version of Descent and were learning as we went along. I liked it and can see wanting to get a group to try out some campaign stuff.

    Also played Castles of Burgundy which kind of overstayed its welcome for me. I just couldn't get over the amazingly bland and generic theme (which was also completely pasted on and detached from mechanics) along with the fiddliness of the whole thing. The only redeeming factors of the play were playing with friends who were enjoying it and a fair amount of alcohol. Then at the end played some little card games called Sobek, which I doubt I will play again, and Tschack which is fantastic quick fun.

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  • ArcSynArcSyn Registered User regular
    Got my fire meeples and figures today for Flash Point!

    Now I can use the generic meeples for Munchkin. Or whatever.

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  • TrynantTrynant Maniac Brawler Rank 20.100 and full WildRegistered User regular
    Dr. Face wrote: »
    Also played Castles of Burgundy which kind of overstayed its welcome for me. I just couldn't get over the amazingly bland and generic theme (which was also completely pasted on and detached from mechanics) along with the fiddliness of the whole thing.

    You know, despite its bland theme and fiddliness and being so damn euro-ey, I can't help but really like Castles of Burgundy. I guess I appreciate how it manages to make dice rolling have consistently fair outcomes no matter what you roll while at the same time not eliminating luck completely. So yeah, I recommend it to people who dig euros.

  • TayrunTayrun Registered User regular
    Anyone here willing to write a little review of Unexploded Cow?

    $15 for international shipping is a bitch on a game there are very few reviews and impressions of.

  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    Tayrun wrote: »
    Anyone here willing to write a little review of Unexploded Cow?

    $15 for international shipping is a bitch on a game there are very few reviews and impressions of.

    It's a cheapass game, so I pretty much guarantee you it'll be hilarious your first 3 playthroughs, then you'll be done.

    What is this I don't even.
  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    Tayrun wrote: »
    Anyone here willing to write a little review of Unexploded Cow?

    $15 for international shipping is a bitch on a game there are very few reviews and impressions of.

    Honestly, it's going to be hard to say, since the Deluxe rules are going to be updated versions from the classic version and the free print & play version. I'd probably look at the latter. I've always personally enjoyed it.

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  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    I'd love to hear a detailed review of Zombicide. As someone who'd love a good zombie game, but was burned by Zombies!!! and strongly disliked Last Night on Earth, it'd be cool to hear how the mechanics are.

  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    MrBody wrote: »
    I'd love to hear a detailed review of Zombicide. As someone who'd love a good zombie game, but was burned by Zombies!!! and strongly disliked Last Night on Earth, it'd be cool to hear how the mechanics are.

    It's just like Last Night On Earth except the zombies move and attack automatically and it's completely focused on combat. If you didn't like LNoE (which boggles my mind) or Zombies!!! (which is the right thing to do) you won't like this which sits comfotably between the two.

  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    You might have to wait closer to a month for my copy to arrive, but I think you might care about my review, MrBody. I couldn't play Zombies! unless you paid me, and I absolutely hate LNoE. Outwardly, it *seemed* like Zombicide had more going on than that, hence my getting on board with it. I will definitely report back once I have some experience with it.

  • Magic PinkMagic Pink Tur-Boner-Fed Registered User regular
    Or just go to boardgamegeek and read one of the many detailed reviews there or just read the PDF rulebook.

    But no, there's much less going on in Zombicide then there is in LNoE. It's basically the board game version of Left 4 Dead.

  • Orange SodaOrange Soda Registered User regular
    I played a pretty fantastic game of Twilight Imperium tonight.

    Creuss, Arborec, Nekro Virus, Mentek
    Shattered Ascension ruleset (http://www.astralvault.net/games/SA/)
    Exodus preset map (http://www.astralvault.net/games/SA/maps.html)

    I played Arborec for the first time and I really feel like I misplayed them, despite winning. I didn't really figure them out until halfway through.

    One of the interesting changes we were playing with is the latest beta version of SA, which includes some interesting changes to some of the strategy cards... namely technology. The primary is changed to (free tech and use the 2ndary up to 3 times without paying the CC cost). The cost of 2ndary is reduced to 5 instead of 6. (now I know what you TI players are thinking... this seems really broken). The side effect was that, yes there was a turn that I took the Tech card and had 4 green planets and bought 4 techs in one turn for 3 resources... but I feel like it didn't really change the game that much. I had a gimped fleet as a result of doing that... because (as you know.... a lot of the green tech planets are fairly low production aside from lodor that I had... )... I really only had about 6 production each turn... i mean it was somewhere like 9, but I only had two 3 resource planets and even though I got all that tech from that... I had to spend a lot to annex the planet I needed (3 TG to pay the influence cost), and considering that my GF's cost 1 with the SA modified rule... i was really hurting for resources. So I don't think the new changes for the tech card are that broken, but further playtesting will show.

    Anyway... so besides the fact that I bought every green resource in the game besides x89 (would have been my next choice if i'd taken tech). We were also playing with the new beta Race Specific Secret Objectives, which I absolutely LOVED.

    Every race gets a choice of 3 objectives worth 1,2, or 3 points ranging in difficulty from easy to OMFG THATS SO HARD. I decided to try to go for arborec's 3 point objective and see how hard it would be.

    You must have:
    All the green technologys (I was 1 away, but still needed transit diodes as the pre-rec for x89)
    Control either malice or Mecatol rex (both were actually uncontrolled at the time of game ending, so this could have been possible)
    The hardest requirement ended up being the 15 ships at least 2 spaces away from your homeworld. I just didn't have enough resources to build a very substantial fleet. I'm talking like the entire game.... this was a direct result of spending so much on tech to try to get all the green techs. I like that trade off.
    I also think this would be impossible to achieve without the changes to tech allowing for multiple buys if you take the primary.

    So as I am perhaps 1 turn away from being able to do my 3 VP secret objective, I take a look at the board and realize that given the right combination of events, I could win that turn.

    See, I had qualified for my secret objective (2VP) on the second turn of the game. Due to the fact that you can only claim ONE secret objective of the one dealt + 3 race ones, I was holding off on claiming it. It was the "control 6 planets with tech specialty). I had been holding out for the 3 VP objective though.

    I was at 4 VP (1 public objective + 1 public objective with a political card that doubled its value + 1 artifact). I annexed an undefended artifact right after letting mentek let me destroy one of their ships (I'll get to this hilarious bit later) and justified taking the artifact from them and had them agree to it! Then I stalled for a bit and attacked a mentek fleet trying to use a wormhole to get to another unexpectedly abandoned artifact in empty space. My next action was to take control of that artifact. Mentek tried to local unrest one of my empty tech specialty planets, but I sabotage.

    Status: I claim SO and PO for 3 VP. That puts me at 9 VP and I had stolen shards of the throne from Mentek when I was allowed to destroy their ship. This was my largest defeat of TI ever!

    Final Score:
    9 VP, 3 VP, 2 VP, 1 VP. I won by 6 points.

    _____________________________________________________

    Most HILARIOUS turn of TI EVER:

    I used multiculturalism on Nekro Virus' destroy ship = steal technology ability. The way it works is if you destroy a ship in combat, you get a tech from them. Well guess what, if BOTH players have this ability in a battle then as long as both of you destroy at least one of the other ships than you BOTH get a tech. So fro 1 CC we were able to get a free tech for each of us! Holy shit?

    He had a bunch of 1 ships in empty systems, I would send 2 ships in and kill it... he would send 2 ships from elsewhere back into the system to kill my guy.... and we'd both get techs again. We did this several times (I was actually supposed to do it one final time, but used the CC to attack the artifact space for the win instead).

    THEN I convinced mentek to let me do it, break trade agreement with them, then immediately play trade, forge the alliance again, and pay them for the 2 lost TGS (one for destroyer and one from trade agreement being lost). This freed up their system to being annexed and giving me a yellow tech (which at the time I needed to claim an objective... another one flipped up that dealt with influence and your neighbors that I claimed instead). So with all this hilarious technology shit happening, it literally didn't make any difference in my winning or losing. I spend at least half of the game chasing tech and destroying ships to get more techs... all in an effort to try to get my 3 point VP secret objectives... and the win?

    I spend 4 trade goods, 3 influence, 3 resources
    I spend 10 influence (worth 2 VP due to a political card)
    3 Artifcats (3 VP total)
    SO for control 6 planets with tech specialty (2 VP)
    Political Card that lets me win with one less VP


    I love this game SO hard.

  • zanetheinsanezanetheinsane Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    MrBody wrote: »
    I'd love to hear a detailed review of Zombicide. As someone who'd love a good zombie game, but was burned by Zombies!!! and strongly disliked Last Night on Earth, it'd be cool to hear how the mechanics are.

    It's going to depend on what you didn't like about Last Night on Earth to be honest. I've got one friend who didn't like LNoE but it was because of the competitive aspect where it was the person playing the zombie directly against the heroes, and let's be honest, in all but like 1-3 scenarios the zombies usually have the advantage, especially against newer players.

    We're having a blast with Zombicide though because it's 100% cooperative. It is all combat but the game can be pretty difficult. There is definitely a more tactical element where you have to plan out strategies and turns.

    Compared to LNoE, Zombicide is very very simple in that your hero doesn't have too many actions to choose from (that is a good thing in this case) but you have enough actions that you always feel like you're accomplishing things. One of the major gripes about LNoE is where you're playing a single hero, roll that one, move one space and you're done. No rolling for movement in this one. You almost always get to take 3-5 (quick) actions so everyone really feels like they are participating.

    Another big positive is that the game is less random. Unlike LNoE, you aren't going to roll a 1 for movement and then have the zombie player play 2 shambles and instagib you. Here the worst random thing that happens is you can draw a card while searching that spawns a zombie on top of you, but if you choose when to search wisely you can deal with that situation. There aren't many of the random spawn cards. The zombies spawn randomly but move predictably, so you can direct the flow of the game. On the larger game boards you can look at a zone and tell that it will probably be X amount of turns until those zombies get to Y space, and you can always change their course of movement by making lots of noise.

    One of the big negatives are scenarios where each person has 1-2 heroes and all of your heroes die. That's player elimination and the player just gets to watch everyone else finish out the game. Sort of a nasty aspect but usually in that case if all of your heroes die then you are close to the end of the game anyway.

    zanetheinsane on
  • VyolynceVyolynce Registered User regular
    Netrunner sold out at GenCon in ~10 minutes. O_O

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  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    MrBody wrote: »
    I'd love to hear a detailed review of Zombicide. As someone who'd love a good zombie game, but was burned by Zombies!!! and strongly disliked Last Night on Earth, it'd be cool to hear how the mechanics are.

    It's going to depend on what you didn't like about Last Night on Earth to be honest. I've got one friend who didn't like LNoE but it was because of the competitive aspect where it was the person playing the zombie directly against the heroes, and let's be honest, in all but like 1-3 scenarios the zombies usually have the advantage, especially against newer players.

    We're having a blast with Zombicide though because it's 100% cooperative. It is all combat but the game can be pretty difficult. There is definitely a more tactical element where you have to plan out strategies and turns.

    Compared to LNoE, Zombicide is very very simple in that your hero doesn't have too many actions to choose from (that is a good thing in this case) but you have enough actions that you always feel like you're accomplishing things. One of the major gripes about LNoE is where you're playing a single hero, roll that one, move one space and you're done. No rolling for movement in this one. You almost always get to take 3-5 (quick) actions so everyone really feels like they are participating.

    Another big positive is that the game is less random. Unlike LNoE, you aren't going to roll a 1 for movement and then have the zombie player play 2 shambles and instagib you. Here the worst random thing that happens is you can draw a card while searching that spawns a zombie on top of you, but if you choose when to search wisely you can deal with that situation. There aren't many of the random spawn cards. The zombies spawn randomly but move predictably, so you can direct the flow of the game. On the larger game boards you can look at a zone and tell that it will probably be X amount of turns until those zombies get to Y space, and you can always change their course of movement by making lots of noise.

    One of the big negatives are scenarios where each person has 1-2 heroes and all of your heroes die. That's player elimination and the player just gets to watch everyone else finish out the game. Sort of a nasty aspect but usually in that case if all of your heroes die then you are close to the end of the game anyway.

    Cool. All the changes you mentioned are EXACTLY the reasons I hated LNoE. Winning the game was half scenario, half pure luck on die rolls and cards. The zombie cards and rolling low movement were way too brutal.

  • ObiFettObiFett Use the Force As You WishRegistered User regular
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    Netrunner sold out at GenCon in ~10 minutes. O_O

    oh wow

  • InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    I hate all of you who can kickstart games, btw. I want special stuff, but my wife is much more likely to let me buy a game already in existence.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    Netrunner sold out at GenCon in ~10 minutes. O_O

    What they didn't tell you:

    They only brought 10 copies.
    </truefacts>
    ;P

    ArcticLancer on
  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    InkSplat wrote: »
    I hate all of you who can kickstart games, btw. I want special stuff, but my wife is much more likely to let me buy a game already in existence.

    I'm content to just buy them when they're out. Buying all these games 6 months to a year before I can get them doesn't make sense.

    What is this I don't even.
  • InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    InkSplat wrote: »
    I hate all of you who can kickstart games, btw. I want special stuff, but my wife is much more likely to let me buy a game already in existence.

    I'm content to just buy them when they're out. Buying all these games 6 months to a year before I can get them doesn't make sense.

    Zombicide seemed like a pretty quick turn around though.

    Partially, I'm worried about more Space Hulk situations. I was never able to get my hands on a copy of 3rd edition, and I really don't want to drop $300 to change that.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    You'd hope the Zombicide people are a little more likely to keep printing while there's clear demand unlike the arcane and incomprehensible business practices of Games Workshop.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • The MantizThe Mantiz BONK! DenmarkRegistered User regular
    First Descent expansion "announced"

    A0a-PDTCIAAJmb9.jpg:large

    Jesus, I haven't even gotten the game yet (Stupid danish shipment stuck in China or something), and now I need to spend more money already :P
    I was hoping it would be a while before we saw the fist expansion, but I guess it was inevitable.

    3DS - 2878-9572-9277
  • InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    You'd hope the Zombicide people are a little more likely to keep printing while there's clear demand unlike the arcane and incomprehensible business practices of Games Workshop.

    Oh, I didn't mean Zombicide specifically, just some other Kickstarter games that look really interesting.

    Speaking of GW, are there any other games like Blood Bowl? Fantasy/Sci-fi sports miniature games?

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    You'd hope the Zombicide people are a little more likely to keep printing while there's clear demand unlike the arcane and incomprehensible business practices of Games Workshop.

    While it might sometimes seem weird looking in from outside, ask yourself this: "How many game companies are still around that were here three decades ago?"

    They're doing something right.

    What is this I don't even.
  • InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    You'd hope the Zombicide people are a little more likely to keep printing while there's clear demand unlike the arcane and incomprehensible business practices of Games Workshop.

    While it might sometimes seem weird looking in from outside, ask yourself this: "How many game companies are still around that were here three decades ago?"

    They're doing something right.

    Except I really can't think of any reason they didn't just have Fantasy Flight handle it, just like all their other franchises. It just makes no sense to have Horus Heresy, Chaos in the Old World, Death Angel, that one pirate game, all put out by FF, but just go "Space Hulk? Nah. We'll just let that one rot."

    I mean.. having FF do it can't cost GW anything, can it? Its just free money for them.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
  • Zombie NirvanaZombie Nirvana Registered User regular
    Branding.

  • InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    Branding.

    How does that work when Space Hulk: Death Angel is produced by FF? And WH40k, the over-arching brand, is done by all the other FF/GW games.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
  • ObiFettObiFett Use the Force As You WishRegistered User regular
    Any GenConers have info/impressions on X-Wing? Release Date?

  • DiannaoChongDiannaoChong Registered User regular
    I haven't gotten to play, but I tore out the rulebook and read through it. It seems solid enough. Hoping to play this weekend, if noone pops up I'll post about it.

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  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    Netrunner sold out at GenCon in ~10 minutes. O_O

    What they didn't tell you:

    They only brought 10 copies.
    </truefacts>
    ;P

    And one asshole bought eight.

    No, I'm not bitter or anything. Especially since I'm playing in the tournament Saturday...

    PMAvers on
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  • R0land1188R0land1188 Registered User regular
    Anyone going to Strategicon in the LA area Labor Day weekend?

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  • ArcticLancerArcticLancer Best served chilled. Registered User regular
    PMAvers wrote: »
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    Netrunner sold out at GenCon in ~10 minutes. O_O

    What they didn't tell you:

    They only brought 10 copies.
    </truefacts>
    ;P

    And one asshole bought eight.

    No, I'm not bitter or anything. Especially since I'm playing in the tournament Saturday...

    Okay, while I sympathize, you got a pretty big smile out of me all the same.

  • SageinaRageSageinaRage Registered User regular
    InkSplat wrote: »
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    You'd hope the Zombicide people are a little more likely to keep printing while there's clear demand unlike the arcane and incomprehensible business practices of Games Workshop.

    While it might sometimes seem weird looking in from outside, ask yourself this: "How many game companies are still around that were here three decades ago?"

    They're doing something right.

    Except I really can't think of any reason they didn't just have Fantasy Flight handle it, just like all their other franchises. It just makes no sense to have Horus Heresy, Chaos in the Old World, Death Angel, that one pirate game, all put out by FF, but just go "Space Hulk? Nah. We'll just let that one rot."

    I mean.. having FF do it can't cost GW anything, can it? Its just free money for them.

    Actually, GW also did the pirate game (Dreadfleet), it's just that demand was much lower. But it was still a very limited run, and I'm pretty sure they've already bought back all the unsold copies.

    sig.gif
  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    PMAvers wrote: »
    Vyolynce wrote: »
    Netrunner sold out at GenCon in ~10 minutes. O_O

    What they didn't tell you:

    They only brought 10 copies.
    </truefacts>
    ;P

    And one asshole bought eight.

    No, I'm not bitter or anything. Especially since I'm playing in the tournament Saturday...

    Okay, while I sympathize, you got a pretty big smile out of me all the same.

    Thankfully FFG realized that it's a bit of a mess for the tournament, and are working on overnighting in as many loaner decks as possible so people can actually *play*.

    PMAvers on
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  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    InkSplat wrote: »
    Darkewolfe wrote: »
    You'd hope the Zombicide people are a little more likely to keep printing while there's clear demand unlike the arcane and incomprehensible business practices of Games Workshop.

    While it might sometimes seem weird looking in from outside, ask yourself this: "How many game companies are still around that were here three decades ago?"

    They're doing something right.

    Except I really can't think of any reason they didn't just have Fantasy Flight handle it, just like all their other franchises. It just makes no sense to have Horus Heresy, Chaos in the Old World, Death Angel, that one pirate game, all put out by FF, but just go "Space Hulk? Nah. We'll just let that one rot."

    I mean.. having FF do it can't cost GW anything, can it? Its just free money for them.

    Actually, GW also did the pirate game (Dreadfleet), it's just that demand was much lower. But it was still a very limited run, and I'm pretty sure they've already bought back all the unsold copies.

    They specifically did it because having certain things, like the Holy Grail that is Space Hulk, be rare and sought after adds allure to their brand. And then when they unload a ton of something else, people will be afraid not to buy.

    Darkewolfe on
    What is this I don't even.
  • InkSplatInkSplat 100%ed Bad Rats. Registered User regular
    Except.. wouldn't they make more money by consistently selling the things and letting FF roll out expansions? I could understand if it was a special collector's edition that was rare, but to not even sell a set of Space Hulk with normal FF-quality pieces just seems like a dick move.

    But either way, for me, I'm just far less likely to even pay attention to anything they put out. That, or just building a set.

    Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
  • MrBodyMrBody Registered User regular
    Magic Pink wrote: »
    Or just go to boardgamegeek and read one of the many detailed reviews there or just read the PDF rulebook.

    But no, there's much less going on in Zombicide then there is in LNoE. It's basically the board game version of Left 4 Dead.

    Eh, BGG is mostly fanboys with 95% raving positive reviews, and that's counting the actual reviews (not the elaborate unboxing scrawls masquerading as reviews).

  • zanetheinsanezanetheinsane Registered User regular
    edited August 2012
    MrBody wrote: »
    Cool. All the changes you mentioned are EXACTLY the reasons I hated LNoE. Winning the game was half scenario, half pure luck on die rolls and cards. The zombie cards and rolling low movement were way too brutal.

    You roll lots of dice for attacks in this one, but you can give you characters skill choices when they level up that are usually choices like "+1 to die rolls or +1 die" so you can make that choice (although +1 die is almost always statistically better except for a couple cases). A lot of characters and items also let you reroll your entire attack in case you roll all misses or just want to take a gamble on getting more hits (you have to take the entire new result, you can't reroll specific dice).

    The only random "fuck you" in the game are the "X zombies take an extra turn" cards. There are only like 5-6 of them in the deck, and it's only 1 type of zombie depending on the card (so all walkers or runners or fatties, abominations cannot activate twice yet). The way you deal with these cards are to try not to put yourself in a position where you know drawing that card can kill you. So if you are surrounded by zombies you don't want to open a huge building (which makes you draw a spawn card per room in that building, upping your chances of getting that reactivation).

    So the game is very logically oriented. Maximizing your action economy in the most efficient manner is how you win. So if you excel at logic problems you can look at your heroes and the zombies around them and then try to come up with the most logical move/attack/trade order to maximize your efficiency.

    For example, one trick you can use is to have a character trade with another character and just swap items back and forth (effecting nothing) but this lets the receiving character rearrange his inventory, so he can equip weapons he needs on his turn to maximize his damage without having to spend his action to re-equip. (Some people call this cheap but fuck zombies. They are cheap. No mercy.)

    Shooting zombies raises your level which spawns more zombies (it's a vicious cycle). Since zombies spawn based on the highest level character (even if all the others have 0 kills), it's important to split up kills when possible. You also want to try to open as many doors as possible at the lower levels, because the indoor spawns are based on this same threat level.

    The game has a good mechanic in that there is a "soft enrage" timer. If all the zombie miniatures of a certain type are on the board (say Walkers), and you draw a card that spawns Walkers and cannot place any more, all Walkers on the board just immediately take an extra turn (brutal). So the final threat level becomes a race to actually clear as many zombies off the board before spawn time so that you have enough minis to spawn them.

    All in all, it's been a good game so far. Hopefully it stands up pretty well to repeated playings. When you lose a scenario you don't get upset. Since each scenario is set up the same every time you look at it a little like you would a strategy game and you think about your strategy for the next time.

    zanetheinsane on
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