Norlight

After months of anticipation and researching this title I was finally able to pick up a copy of Zombicide at my local FLGS here in Montreal. Zombie games? Been there done that but this is on a whole different level. The standard was set by LNoE but (as great as it is) after a few plays it starts to feel confined and left my gaming group relying on expansions to keep it fresh. We still pull out LNoE on a regular basis but since Zombicide there has been no looking back. Open ended and tons of possibility right out of the core set.

So whats under the hood of Zombicide? First off, tons of minis. Amazingly great minis. So good that when you have the inevitable crazy huge horde on the modular game board you can actually tell the difference between the different zombies (walkers, runners, fatties and The Abomination) which visually adds loads of dynamic punch and a frightening realism to the game. Not just brown or green sculpts of the same figures. This game looks too cool when it’s fully populated with zombies! You can see where the the most troublesome zombies are and adjust your groups strategy accordingly. The hero minis are color coded to the player sheets as well which is a huge bonus. Only gripe on the hero minis is that one is gray in color and when there are 70 zombies on the board, which are gray, he’s hard to find. Minor gripe. The modular board is adorned with great artwork and the art direction on a whole is fresh and very welcomed. From the cards to the chits every bit of this game has amazing theme. Well thought out and well executed. The double sided modular board tiles lead to a myriad of game board layouts. Unfortunately my game board tiles have warped. Not too badly but enough to be a slight nuisance. This game also sports the BEST EVER packaging/storage configuration I’ve come across. Pulls out in minutes and is put back just as fast which after a long night of Walker, Runner, Fattie and Abomination killing is very refreshing. Components and packaging get a 10! And yes there are Runners! Double movement for these bad boys.

Game play! Here’s where Zombicide really shines. You get a bunch of different scenarios with the rule book that start from a tutorial level and progresses to more and more difficult. The scenarios that come with core set seemed to start out challenging but became easier as we progressed through them and got better at playing the game but sure enough there were some erratas posted on guillotines website which helped make the core scenarios become more challenging. They also posted a ton of new scenarios and a fan made scenario which is one of the best and toughest we’ve played yet. There’s also a scenario generator available for download that gives you, the player, the power to create your own vision of the zombie apocalypse! This is the biggest draw for me as a gamer. Endless possibilities, endless playability and so many options available without having to spend your hard earned dough on expansions just to get some life out of your nearly $100 purchase. The core set will keep you going for some time to come. A great investment for sure! Tweakability my gaming friends.

The rule book is pretty straight forward and the game was a breeze to pick up on. Any questions we had were answered by the FAQs posted by the manufacturer and by the amazing wealth of knowledge available on-line. The noise rule is super unique and adds a ton of realism. It keeps you on your toes. Populating the board with zombies is also a huge rush in Zombicide. Open a door and you’re in for trouble! Strategy is a huge part of the game even though role of the dice is the outcome decider. Some of the rules such as if you are armed with a ranged weapon and shooting at zombies in a “zone” with another hero present, the hero takes damage first, seemed a little bizarre but in the realm of reality the hero would take a shot! No? Open a door… can’t close the door! We questioned that but agreed that closing doors you had to bust open would make the game too easy. As far as the games rules go I suggest you read them on-line before you buy Zombicide. If I was to go into the rules here you’d be reading for days but rest assured that you’re not looking at a mind numbing, rule reading how the heck do we play this game situation.

PROS… Fresh approach to a zombie game, amazing artwork, great game play, tons of variant, easy to learn, tweakability! and crazy cool minis! Tons of minis. Did I mention the minis? No joke, your heart will get a good jolt when you are faced with the horde that you will eventually be battling. You will feel hopeless and that is what a zombie game/apocalypse should feel like! Every roll will matter and your co-op skills will be challenged.

CONS… The price tag (well worth the $ but still up there cost wise), tile warping, another zombie game and how much time you will spend neglecting your job, children or family once you get bitten by Zombicide.

All in all a really solid game with so much replay value. Not something us gamers are used to in this day and age with core set purchases giving you a taste then requiring an expansion buy to kick the dead horse core set. If you hate this game you gotta tell me why. My weekly game group has become a 2 day a week game group because of Zombicide.

I picked Infiltration up from my FLGS the day I heard of its release and got on to learning it before my weekly weekend game night in hopes of having the rules nailed down to facilitate an easy inaugural session. Well my weekly game night didn’t happen and in a way I’m happy I had the extra time to spend getting the rules and game play down before pulling it out to my game group.

My first impression of Infiltration after opening the box was that it seemed similar to Elder Sign which I’m a huge fan of but after playing through a few solo games I realized that it is comparable but different in many ways. The frantic feeling of a countdown is there but you need an exit strategy and co-op play is not going to happen here. The locations or rooms that make up the modular facility all activate something that will affect your strategy as the proximity counter gets closer to putting the facility on full Lock-down rendering your data thieving useless and ending the game.

My first play-through left me thinking “Is that all?” Just going through the rules and playing solo didn’t give me the feeling of being a data thieving operative competing against others because I was in control of all the characters but after a 2 player game my experience changed 100 percent! The objective of the game is simple. Collect (steal) as much data as you can and escape the facility with the data before the Security Force invades and takes you down. Obviously, not knowing your opponents (other operatives) strategy adds a huge element to the game that drives the competitiveness up and helps with immersion and the impression that you are actually sneaking around this building and hacking their computers all the while planning your exit strategy and avoiding the NPC’s.

The production is slick as always with FFG and the game is not table size hungry. The rules are straight forwardish and after a few plays most things make sense. There are still a few things that we’ve scratched are heads about such as… does the first player change after every round? We changed the first player each round assuming that was how we were supposed to play. Maybe it was just us who couldn’t find a solid answer to this. Probably the biggest disappointment was that all the Operative characters are pretty much the same. No special abilities!?!? Kind of makes the characters very “gray”. I was hoping for variety in this aspect but the game works fine the way it is.

All in all my impression of Infiltration is a good one and I can see this game appealing to a broad audience because of its theme, ease of play and almost zero set-up time. Much like Elder Sign I can see this being played often with my group because of the for-mentioned reasons and I’m also a huge Sci-Fi fan so this is a very welcome title. I look forward to seeing how FFG supports Infiltration in the way of expansions. More Operatives with special abilities and more secret rooms would be a huge bonus.

I’ll start off by saying that this is NOT everyone’s favorite game! Talisman has been kicking around for almost 30 years and I just picked up the Revised 4th Edition 4 weeks ago and it has crazily become the game my gaming group has nightmares about… in a good way! After a 5 hour marathon of the base game my buddy Danny who tests for Eidos claims to have fallen asleep during testing only to have awaken from a dream yelling “you took my talisman *$##$*”! Danny had his Talisman stolen by another player just as he reached the inner region!

I LOVE this game. The hard luck, the frustration, all the work put in to build your character up just to be able to survive the inner regions and acquire the Crown of Command only to lose and all the fun that goes along with it! My gaming group will back me up on my opinion as well. It’s now 3 weeks straight that Talisman has hit the table.

By combining the expansions you have an endless repertoire of characters to use or draw from randomly as we do. Every game has been different so far and combining the expansions has seen some players take the brutal path on purpose only to be victorious!

Talisman is by far one of the easiest games to learn and jump right in to that I’ve come across. The character figures are amazing as is FFG’s production of this game on a whole. The expansions integrate seamlessly and add tons of variants and characters to the game which have proven to be an extra challenge to my game group and kept Talisman fresh every time we have played.

On the con side this game takes up crazy table room when you start adding some of the expansions especially when there are more than 4 players and the game can last for hours! If you don’t like luck in your gaming experience forget Talisman because there is a lot of luck involved until your character has been built up by playing the adventure which can be tedious to some. Also, if you’re like me, you won’t be happy until you buy every expansion that Talisman has to offer which can cost a pretty penny!

Talisman has just the right balance for me. Not too complicated but not too simple with tons of characters, expansions and variants that keep it from stagnating. I lean towards games like Talisman for the fact that there is luck involved. Everyone has a chance and everyone can bring their own strategy to the game knowing they don’t need a doctorate in physics to have a chance at winning. That being said, I can understand that a game like Talisman with “luck of the roll” can be a downside for the more strategy hungry type of gamer but for the more casual/avid gamer and theme based gamer Talisman ranks highly for me and I would suggest it for anyone who fits the criteria.

Mr. Jack has to rank up there as one of the great “filler” games. Not the greatest components, artwork nor oozing with theme but it’s so easy to learn, easily portable and to quote another review “for your gf to like”. My gf loves this game! This game has become a great filler game between heavier games on game night and the right choice to pull out when traveling.

With ease of set-up and the number of games you can churn out in a couple of hours this is a definite “go to” game when your in the mood for something light. Even though it’s only a 2 player, all spectators get right into it and get involved guessing who is Jack. It also amazed me how many different strategies different people will bring when playing which ultimately changes the experience.

My wish for Mr. Jack would have been a grittier art style and maybe some miniatures but for mass appeal and price point it passes.

Not too much depth just simple deduction but fun and quick.

So the zombie plague has infiltrated suburbia! Now we’re holed up in our suburban houses and need to hunker down and hold off the encroaching zombie hordes. Gather supplies and arms and gas up yer mini van if you can to fetch supplies in town! What could be a cooler scenario?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Twilight Creations. I love the Zombies!!!, Humans!!! and Martians!!! series of games and own all of them including the expansions. When purchasing any of these titles you know what you’re getting but Zombie Survival was a huge let down for me in the production area. Not the best looking components and the tiny zombies… well just nitpicking I suppose. That aside, the rule book has to be about the worst I’ve seen. Maybe I just don’t get it. Crazy long set-up time and poor rules equal a really tough time. I wanted to love this game but hated almost every minute of it. I will give it another go though and if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

This game was a very hard sell to my game group after the first set-up and the first play through left us referring to the rule book way too many times. I’m all about supporting a company like Twilight Creations because they were my “gateway” company with the game Zombies!!! but in this day and age with the internet…and this goes to ALL GAME PUBLISHERS… PLEASE make use of the internet and publish a Video Walk-through of the rules and game play! No brainer in my opinion. I might love this game if that option was available.

AToE has the theme nailed but be warned that the rules are a mess and at first go the rules are bleak at best. This one will command some time and attention as well as a few play throughs before you get the mechanics down. The first time this hit my table I had to shake out the table cloth from dead skin due to all the head scratching. That being said, when you get this one down it nails the Sleepy Hallow theme perfectly and the feeling of adventure and mystery can be huge.

This game is all about investigating. Locations are the heart of the game and every corner location has you draw a card specific to the location. Drawing cards at locations can either be a reward, a test or something evil. Random locations also give you the opportunity to draw event cards or roll a random test which can increase your characters stats which will be valuable when facing the The Evil Villain in a showdown. Town Elders pump a little blood as well. They hold secrets which you will want to uncover before the showdown so you can pick them to join you in your final battle against whichever monster you will be facing. Be warned that the Town Elders can also join the villain and strengthen his abilities as well!

There are so many intricacies to this game, far too many to go into here but all the mechanics come together to provide a horror movie like showdown with one of the 4 villains provided in the core set.

With a full expansion and a hero expansion already available, not to mention “The Coast” upcoming expansion, AToE is sure to be around for some time to come. Hits my table 2-3 times a month!

Wow! This game is brutal and so much fun. If you enjoy enraging energy drink gulping, spell wielding nerds this is the game for you! If you enjoy petting bunnies and cuddles avoid this at all cost! This one gets personal… fast. If you play this while consuming alcohol provide plastic cups to avoid any injuries due to WizNerd gorilla anger.

Wiz-War has so much going for it in that it crosses many player level paths. It provides the novice with a great starting point and gives the avid gamer enough complexity to keep it interesting. My group signals Wiz-War whenever we get together. Needless to say, my group goes for this type of game. Everyone brings their own strategy only to learn that there is always someone who dodged the radar then the focus is frantically put on that individual!

Great production as always from Fantasy Flight. I never played the original version of this game but thank the lord for the internet for providing a ton of variants from the old game to keep this new version fresh by adding older rules.

With a fairly easy pick-up and go set of rules this game is a breeze to teach newcomers the art of brutally frustrating friends. Wiz-War hits my table a few times a week and with hopes of expansion I see it staying there for a long while.

This was the game that started it all for me. The insanity and all the dollars spent is fully owed to this small box of chits, plastic zombie minis, cards and tiles. I happened upon this gem at a Chinese Souvenir shop of all places! I thought “This looks cool”, bought it and the rest is history.

Zombies!!! although not very complex has just the right amount of theme and a kind learning curve that has proven to be the perfect virus to spread the more advanced gaming bug to the Monopoly crowd. It has been THE gateway game for most of my weekly game night crew. After a few plays with a newb I usually hear “so what’s Arkham Horror all about?”.

The rule book is a bit of a disaster but is clear enough and with tons of on-line info you won’t feel stranded for long, well not until you start populating the game tiles with hordes and hordes and hordes of zombies! With 10+ expansions house rules are inevitable but I see this as a strength to the game. It can easily be tailored to your liking or style of play. Zombies!!!7: Send in the Clowns is a crazy expansion that I recommend after picking up the core set.

This series has endless possibilities and tons of cool minis in the expansions. The cards and abilities are hilarious especially if you love scroning your friends a la Wiz-War. If you’re a Zombie nerd this one is a no-brainer well actually an all brainer!

If you are familiar with Arkham Horror then Elder Sign’s theme should be right up your alley! Explore the museum and unravel the mystery that is plaguing Arkham. Defeating GOO’s, closing gates (collecting Elder Signs), battling Lovecraftian monsters and saving the world is the name of the game.

Although Elder Sign is not the most difficult game to win it does take some time to master. Once you master it, it does become fairly easy. That being said, there are many ways to increase the difficulty and one of the ways is by choosing the more difficult GOO’s or by applying the rule variants that come with the digital version of the game. With the wealth of home brew alternate rules available on-line the difficulty can be increased and since future expansions have already (supposedly) been submitted to FFG it looks like re-playability for Elder Sign will increase dramatically. Just the updates alone to the iOS version have increased the difficulty and expanse to the game ten fold! We’ve actually borrowed many of the challenges offered in the iOS and applied them such as doubling the entrance costs.

The components are top-notch as is the artwork. The dice which are used for completing the adventure cards are outstanding.For a game at this price point nothing has come closer to hitting my game table as many times as Elder Sign and it has even proven to be a great gateway game for the newer members of my game night. Some strategy, tons of luck and tons of fun for the casual and advanced gamer alike.

I highly recommend picking up the iOS version as an introduction for anyone who hasn’t played the physical game yet. You’ll get the rules down and be able to play this game at your table with other gamers the way this game should be played!