It’s all about that Base, bout that base, No zombies

I MAY have lied earlier when I said I was done with zombie games for a bit. A week or two is a long time and not really scientifcally measureable, so chances are I actually told the truth and I’m not over my sabbatical, but seriously this is my last zombie game for a while. no takey backys

I got to play a game I’ve had my eye on for a while now and is as hard as something very hard indeed to get your hands on. (air as an e.g.) Dead of Winter.

Dead of winter is the first in a series of games by Plaid Hat, the first one is set in a colony that’s holding out against the zombies in, you guessed it a zombie apocolypse in (bonus points if you guessed it) the Dead of Winter.

It’s a semi co-operative game which with the gamers I play with means not co-operative at all. At all. Each player starts with a secret (they might be a loner, a traitor, a something else I haven’t seen, I only played one game) and to win they need to complete their objective which may not be in conflict with the overall health of the group.

When I played I was secretly the loner so I had to complete the overall objective which everyone else had to, but when it was complete I had to be the only one alive in my group (no followers). I didn’t win btw we were swamped by Zees mid game

Each player starts with their own little group, a leader and one follower and this may grow as time rolls on. Each of the players have their own party trick, a skill at fighting and scavenging and a number which indicates how tasty they are to zombies. if you wind up in a room with zombies and you have a higher number than your companions they get eaten first. So were dealing with zombies with a descerning palate. (if indeed they have a palate left)

Each turn your group of survivors muck in and try to help the colony survive, this could be by scavenging food, fuel, weapons, building barricades, taking out the trash (it’s true), killing zombies or contributing to a group problem (well the solution to it one hopes)

The game plays a little like Battlestar Galactica insofar as there are bad things that happen every turn and sometimes as a group you have to deal with them, keeping in mind you don’t really know what everyone’s secret agenda is, so there’s a fine level of paranoia throughout.

Also like Battlestar you have a number of resouces (weaknesses) that you have to keep an eye on. Morale being the big one. It this runs to zero it’s game over man and it’s very easy for this to happen. Losing survivors and various dilemas affect it and it’s hard and costly in resources to get it back up.

All in all it’s a BIT like BS with you and your ‘team’ juggling limited resources and rearranging the deckchairs whilst keeping a storm eye for traitors in your midst. It’s brillant.

it captures the feel (I imagine) of a desperate struggle. It starts off easily enough but within a very short time you’re making hard choices and both the time I played it and the game I observed it was rock hard. it was also hugely fun.

I can see why this game sold out so quickly. If you can lay you hands on it before xMas you’re doing well and the manufactures have a lead time of a number of months before a reprint. It’s going to sell again like hotcakes. I find a lot of zombie games, slow and repetitive, not this, this is the business. The model they have for the game is going to be reused. I understand the next themed game is going to be set in space and I can see it working perfectly.

If you can get this game, get it. If you don’t like it I’ll buy it off you

It’s a winner. Now excuse me while I some followers I need to arrange accidents for (evil chuckle)

Huzzah!

Vic

November 3, 2014 0

The Wheels on the Zombie go round and round

The zombies on the bus go round and round, round and round

Now it’s in your head isn’t ? The wheels on the bus. Going round and round. My seven year only once said “Daddy! Think of a horse…, are you thinking of it? ” “yes” “HA! Mind control!”

That’s got nothing to do with the second expansion for zombie dice but it did spring into my head so tough luck

Zombie Dice 3. The school bus is a one dice expansion did ZD but it’s a big dice. It’s a ten sided one and it represents a yellow school bus that’s gotten mixed up in the zombie dice apocalypse.

It’s the NRA dream as the kids are packing heat so it’s no McBrains on wheels.

There are a number of new dice faces besides the normal blast and brain. Actually there’s a nice mix up with these two in the shape of a face with three brains and a shotgun blast and brain together (playing hard to get)

The big old school bus dice can be substituted for the third dice after the first standard round. Did that make sense ? Doesn’t matter I’ll confuse you by saying the wheels on the bus go ……

The new faces are

Yield : all shotguns become brains
Stop : (possibly hammer time) that’s it, the ride is over and so is your turn
Tyre thread : get run over and lose a brain and you can’t use the bus again that turn
Dead end : all runners are trapped and become brains

It’s nice. I like the extra possibilities. You can at any stage jump off the bus and use the normal three dice if you like. It’s possible to score highly with the bus if you’re lucky. It’s possible to lose badly. I couldn’t tell you what the odds are if you do go bus or not. It’s fun. It adds to an already fun game

I’m not a big fan of Steve Jackson games (the games not the company) but this series is good. It’s simple. It’s fun and it’s great for a warm up

Again it’s expensive but it’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it

I’ll have it at Knavecon. Try it see what you think and remember the wheels on the bus ….

Huzzah!

Victor

November 1, 2014 2

Die Another Day

Zombie Dice 2 is a three dice expansion for the base game. It’s called “double feature” as in a Matinee Movie and Stars three new dice.

the Hunk (let’s assume his name is Brad) : Lots of shotguns, including a deadly double shotgun, but also a double brain, so this dice is a real gamble when it turns up. In addition if he shoots you and you happen to have the Hottie or Santa Claus in your brain pile he rescues them and you lose their brains. Boo hiss! he’s behind you etc.

The Hottie : a Pink Dice (of course) has a lot more run aways. The pink dice is a real pain the snag and as slippery as a greased up deaf guy

And the piece of resistance

Santa Claus : This is the most interesting of the dice, as well as featuring the normal brain and blasts, you can make out like a bandit with this dice as he features presents of and energy drink which allows you to catch up and change run aways to brains (red bull does indeed give you wings) and a Helmet that allows you to take four shotgun blasts rather than the normal three that lesser less helmeted zombies succumb to

As expansions go, it’s a bit expensive for what you get. It’s a tenner or so for three dice and two of them are pretty boring. That said, if you’re willing to fork out it does fit in well with the base game and just like an object of beauty it’ll be a joy forever.

I’ve had the expansion for a long time and it does improve the game. Shop around and see what you can get it for

Huzzah!

Vic

October 31, 2014 0

Die zombie die !

Zombie dice is a very simple push your luck game which you can teach in under a minute. THREE… TWO… ONE… GO!

Taught!

The game consists of a dozen or so dice of three types. Red, Yellow and you guessed it blue. No Red Yellow and Green.

Each of the dice contain one of three possible faces

Brains : worth one point (whom doesn’t like tasty brains)

Footsteps : reroll

Blast : shot by a shotgun

The green one has mostly brains (easy pickings), The red more blasts and the yellow in between

Each turn you draw three dice at random from the container and decide to roll or stick.

A stack of greens and you’re laughing. A whole passel of reds and it’s a more daunting prospect.

Every brain stays in front of you after a roll, as do the blasts. Rinse and repeat. Wimp out and your opponents (unless also wimpy) may get ahead (and a brain), go for it and you may wind up rolling three Shotgun blasts and end that round and lose all your brains from that round. sad zombie, zombie sad.

It’s pure push your luck and yes it’s luck based, but then again it’s a calculated risk.

The game ends when someone makes it to 13 or above brains

That’s it.

Its simple fun. Kids love it. So does my gaming group (I’m just saying). There’s a lovely noisy feel to rolling the dice. The zombie theme fits well (although you could just as easily be rolling for unicorns or bedpans). It’s a little expensive for what it is. 12 dice. But it’s fun and it’s a fine filler for ending an evening or when you’re waiting for a crowd to assemble.

It’s also very scaleable, so it’s possible to have as many players as you like (I don’t recommend above ten, unless of course you run two sets of dice around the table like the Magic Grand Melees of old)(it would still not work but it shows I’m at least thinking)

Worth getting. Have a look around for value

There’s two expansions. Both of each I have and I’ll review in quick succession. For now

Huzzah!

Vic

October 30, 2014 0

Damn Fine Coffee

Nigel : “You’re all about coffee aren’t you?”

Vic : “OH YES!”

Nigel : “There’s a place in Dublin that does the best coffee in Ireland, it’s near enough to Gaelcon, fancy a coffee break during the con?”

Vic : “Game On!”

So it was that Nigel and Matt from NWG and my good self set off for 3fe (Third Floor Espresso) to have afternoon coffee last Sunday. WOW! They make good coffee.

Nigel is a bit of a coffee buff and Matt is French so he has a robust, march in the street opinion on most things and I just like coffee.

They were right, it was good, in fact it was very good. The place itself was full of people when we arrived, but they knew their business and served us up our coffees pretty quick. For what you got it was good value compared to a lot of coffee houses. The place reminded me of Starbucks a little but with a much more raw feel to it. They do food too, but it’s not about that it’s about the coffee experience. They don’t (which was a surprised) have sugar or milk, oh no no this is about the coffee and the stuff was good, I went back for seconds.

As far as atmosphere went it was pure hipster, I was probably hip for a good ten minutes because I was so out of touch and then we went back to not being hip at all. Everyone who didn’t have a book had an apple mac and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see USB ports on every table (there weren’t). I liked the coffee a lot, I liked their setup, I’d like some of their coffee now. If you’re up that way I recommend a visit, just for the experience. Wear any old thing you’ll more than likely be hip

Huzzah!

Vic

as a PS here’s where they are

https://www.google.com/maps?q=32+Lower+Grand+Canal+Street+Dublin+2+Ireland

October 28, 2014 0

Fame won’t change me (I’ll be just as insufferable)

I got to speak to Dave Fanning on Saturday (or if you prefer, Dave Fanning got to speak to me) on his Radio Programme. Monopoly is eighty years old and for some reason still popular.

Here’s what we had to say

http://www.rte.ie/2fm/dave-fanning/programmes-saturday/2014/1025/654795-dave-fanning-saturday-25-october-2014/?clipid=1713801

October 27, 2014 0

Gaelcon 2014

This should be quite the weekend.

Going to Gaelcon Sat and Sunday, or more accurately I’m being brought to Gaelcon courtesy of the driving skills of one of the Knaves.

Radio Interview Tomorrow morning with Dave Fanning about Monopoly (and if I have my way some real games) on 2fm between 10:30am and 11:30am

a coffee date with Nigel from the Wargaming Ireland and tasting of what he claims to be “the best coffee ever” in Third Floor Expresso

Some gaming, the pub quiz and perhaps a few beverages

Come say hello at Gaelcon, Look for the handsome dude in the Knavecon T-Shirt (I’ll be standing beside him wearing one too) and join me for a game or two

Doesn’t get much better than that.

Huzzah!

Vic

October 24, 2014 0

MrSaturday in the House/Alley

MrSaturday (not real name) is a long time gaming buddy of mine (there are no buddies in gaming only ladder rungs). Dave is famous for his amazing art work and model painting skills among other things. He also runs a fine blog on painting and oldhammer which I Highly recommend you visit. He’s been good enough to write a guest article for me on a game he likes, something a little different …..

I’m a big fan of skirmish level wargaming. Back in the day I would have been playing Necromunda, Mordheim and Gorkamorka. These days you have games like Infinity, Malifaux, Deep Wars and a ton of others. Right now though, my skirmish rule set of choice is Pulp Alley.

I was introduced to Pulp Alley by the Irish Oldhammer group, and I was hooked right away. There are a lot of settings for skirmish games I am are keen to try out. Warhammer 40k inquisitorial warbands, Strontium dogs hunting down criminals while dodging the local cops on some dusty backwater planet, bands of undead cowboys raiding the town bank in an alternative Wild West, the list goes on, and Pulp Alley can handle them all.

Part of the reason I am quite keen on games at this level is there is an outside chance I might get the relevant models painted. Sure, I like painting big armies, but by the Gods it takes me ages. Having some smaller painting projects going on to break up the big stuff keeps it fresh. Anyway, Pulp Alley.

The biggest draw for me is that Pulp Alley lends itself heavily to narrative play. In fact, it’s the main driver. Instead of victory points you have plot points, so that gives you an idea of the lean of the game. Its intended setting is Indiana Jones style adventure, but you can apply it to pretty much any setting or period with no effort whatsoever.

Its mechanics are very simple indeed. A 4+ is a success for any roll. What changes is the dice you use to roll the test. A leader might use a D10 for the roll, whereas a sidekick might only use a D8. The types of dice you use will change in game as characters are injured and so on. There are several tiers of character that can be heavily customised with skills to represent pretty much anybody, or anything. Your group of characters is called a league, and they can be as small or as large as you like. There are several expansions for the game with rules for vehicles, larger models and so on.

Added to this are fortune cards and perils. When a player attempts to resolve a plot point, (effectively an objective), they make a peril roll depending on the difficulty of the plot point. Hacking into a security panel, searching a corpse, that kind of thing. Other peril tests come from terrain, wild animals etc. Jumping a ravine, hopping a fence, fending off a bear and so on.

Fortune cards are drawn by the players each turn, and have wide variety of effects. The fortune cards are essentially ways to boost your own guys, or much more entertainingly, mess with other players. Having a character spectacularly fail to climb over a high fence and get caught on it by a sensitive part of his anatomy for the remainder of the game due to several cards being played on him in quick succession provides (and did provide) much hilarity.

So, if you’re looking for a light and very entertaining skirmish system to suit any models or setting you like, give Pulp Alley a go.

http://pulpalley.com/

October 22, 2014 0

One Sentence Reviews

I recently summed up a Boardgame in two words. Here’s my attempt at a few more one sentence reviews….

The Walking dead = Undead snake
Talisman = Ludo+
Relic = Ludo++
Risk = RSI back stabbing
Diplomacy = Friend ender
The Resistance = First to talk is the traitor
Skull and Roses = Break their mind
Twilight Struggle =Ever increasing Plate spinning
Puerto Rico = Just buy corn
Lords of Waterdeep = Big quests win, nice box
Battlestar Galactica = Probably is Cylon
Descent = Grown up heroquest
Pirates Cove = Build ship Avoid fights
Constonopolis = Puerto Rico+
Through the Ages = Blind man Civ
Nations = through the Ages 2.0
Sid Meirs Civilization = First to fly wins
Galaxy Trucker = Keep quiet and grab the shields
7 Wonders = Lucky Pierre
Augustus = Roman bingo
Junta = It’s always a bad year
Spartacus = Get one good warrior early
Heroquest = Always search
Warrior Knights = Barely warmed up
Citadels = Thief wins
Tsuro = Nothing to see over here
Game of Thrones = North is screwed
Modern Art =Chaos math
Zombicide = Oops my bad
Attack! = Posh Risk
Robo Rally = Dizzy racing
Eclipse = More missiles
El Grande = Omnipresence
Coup = Can’t be sure
Cards against humanity = So I’m not the only pervent
Boss Monster = Everyone loves 8 bit
Imperial = You don’t own it
Serinissima = Seamen
Death Angel = Game Over Man
Small World = Trolls win
Fury of Dracula = Fighty Scotland Yard
Letters from Whitechapel = Scotland Yard+
a Study in Emerald = A fine stew
Age of empires = I call shotgun!
Rex final days of an Empire = the Cats have it
Mansions of Madness = Long setup
Lord of the Rings = Coop hate
Cold War CIA v KGB = Blackjack plus

Feel free to add you own!

October 20, 2014 1

More Dead than Alive

“Should I stick with it?” Probably not a good sign when it comes to a TV series. I’m very unforgiving when it comes to TV. The Living Dead leaves me cold (pardon the pun). I read the comic and liked it for long time. I’m
Now a bit bored with it. The TV Series never really blew my head off. I’m going to try and get back into it. I’m on series 3. I’ll see how it goes.

The Walking Dead we played on Thur is based on the comic rather than the TV Series so more the better. The game can be summed up in two words. “Zombie snake”

Remember Snake on the Nokia where you zoomed around with an ever growing trail trying not to crash back into it? Tron light cycles if you will. That’s pretty much the game accept its zombies you leave behind and crossing your own tail means tangling with variable numbers of the not really dead.

You and up to five other players wander around the hexed map trying to complete three objectives in three locations before anyone else does. All the while trying to cock block the other players. The usual shout of “if you do that he’ll win” are regularly heard… It’s grand.

I played this game before and got hooped good and proper. This time I won. I’m still not into it. I love the game but I’m not IN love with it, sorry, it’s not your fault, it’s me not you.

It’s good fun but I see two flaws with it. It’s not interactive enough and its elimination. Oh and it’s shit. No it’s not shit it’s not a bad game it’s certainly not as jaw breakingly boring as Talisman but it has a bit of that vibe.

There are better zombie games out there (Zombicide) and certainly worse ones (zombies). This fits somewhere in the wide divide
Between them. Try it and see if you like it (maybe at Knavecon) . I don’t have strong feeling about it one way or the other

Huzzah

Vic

October 18, 2014 0