SustoBen

During a game of LNOE, humans will do two things frequently:
– gather an arsenal of weapons
– die

To reduce the second item on the list, do the first one more efficiently. Every hero has a specialization for equipment which combines with their abilities. When you are surrounded by zombies, it is easy to think “Well now I’m armed, when I get something better I’ll give this weapon to so-and-so.” However, all the heroes need to work in concert, and share a common goal. Make the TEAM more effective, and you are more likely to live. Remember “guns don’t kill, people kill.” So yes shotguns in LNOE are awesome, but Johnny with a shotgun is NOT awesome. Overall, a human with a weapon is less likely to survive than a human unarmed but being protected by a human who should be using that weapon. So hand that pitchfork to Jenny, and take her fire extinguisher– you’ll find something nice later on.

Specialties:

— COMBAT ROLES —
Jenny: Melee weapons with special effects (pitchfork)
Johnny: Melee weapons with more damage/likelihood to kill (chainsaw)
Anderson: Firearms (becomes a walking gun factory)
Billy: Explosives (Dynamite, Gasoline– can get in and out)

— SUPPORT ROLES —
Becky: Resist temptation to give her healing items. Maximize team’s healing potential when possible, her ability is a bonus. (leftover weapons)
Priest: Leftover weapons, NOT front-line soldier (combine him with Becky for a Zombie Card-cancelling factory) (leftover weapons)
Cartwright: His job is to GET the weapons, and immediately give them to the most qualified player (leftover weapons)
Sally: One exception here, should keep best weapons she gets, combines well with her Luck ability (cleaver, pistol)

The important fight in the game is all about each team (Zombie or Human) forcing the other into a disadvantage. The humans have the upper hand inherently, but are forced to constantly jeopardize themselves to achieve objectives or build up equipment.

Humans: Your strongest area on the board is the Farm. Jenny of course has an advantage there, plus the corn field makes the zombies far less likely to attack the humans. If you can lure zombies there, you can count on winning the encounter. Your weakest area on the board is the Junk Yard. The maze-work of walls will restrict the humans, while the zombies can easily block the exits and come in through the walls. Avoid this tile at all costs, don’t bother even going there.
It will be tempting as a human to stay in the center of the board, but this is ill-advised. Moving along the edges of the board will maximize your mobility advantages, as the zombies cannot quickly travel across the board without using that central tile. Use the center tile only to shortcut directly across the board.

Zombies: The center of the board is your friend. Camp your zombies in the middle of the board and their mobility disadvantage will decrease. You will be more exposed, but any human who gets close enough to the horde will pay the price when a few can shamble right over from the center of the map.
Otherwise route, the humans (who are best off traveling on the inner edge of the outer tiles) towards the corners or the center of the board. All terrain is, in theory, “on your side” as walls essentially do not exist. So wherever there are walls, have zombies block the doors and let the rest move in through the doors.

The game becomes enjoyable when a plot begins to magically for out of thin air– first you’re tormented by tigers and marooned in the moors without any rhyme or reason, but before long a few “scenes” and “plots” become recurring. Use this to your advantage.
If you twist the story correctly, you can make an opponent’s character the center of the story, through your actions or commenting about how that character has dominated the story (“Grogar’s Engagement Reception” was the last one that formed during our game, with all events centering on that one character). So long as you keep the focus on this story, other players won’t notice the modifiers you place on your own characters, and they will strategize solely to make themselves more cemented into the developing story.
So, by all means, encourage story-telling… and use it to keep the focus off of you!

If you are playing as an elf, then as you know, you level up when you help an opponent vanquish a monster. Great. You also have access to some exclusive, powerful items. Awesome.

Sometimes, resist the urge to play as an elf even though your’e an elf. Don’t level up, and consider not using elf items. Sometimes, if you’re doing great without the added elf bonuses and abilities, let everybody forget you’re an elf. Because sometimes, just sometimes, you can say you just want the game to end/not let the OTHER guy win, and somebody will let you help them beat their final boss.

Plenty of scenarios like this come up. Remember: Let people forget you get extra for helping, so that when you do, nobody sees it coming.

One interesting variant to try is to recruit a hunting party in the game. Before playing, decide how expensive it is to recruit (10 clue points work well) and the maximum hunting party (3 is a good number, though stick with two the first time). The boss’ health will be multiplied by this max-party number.
In the Town, a player may spend in Clues the decided amount to recruit a new party member– randomly select another investigator. Each turn, you may select the “head” of your party, and they will take all damage and take all skill tests.
When facing the final boss, you will need to decide whether you wish to fill your party (each consecutively attacks) or if you’re strong enough with fewer than the max amount of party members.
One more variant, you may wish to consider allowing a player to spend two Clue to switch the head party member when blindsided by a surprise test.

It can be confusing waiting until the keeper phase to swap items, or spend such valued actions to drop items for others. I’ve found that so long as two players share a space at any point, they are allowed to give or swap ONE item.

It just seems more realistic– if I’m passing my buddy in a spooky mansion and I want to toss her an ax, I’ll toss her an ax. We’re not going to fumble through our pockets and reorganize our belongings, but a quick coordinated swap makes sense– these people can multitask and talk, actions are reserved for more important events.

Of course, to prevent game breaking, if you’re giving the item that turn, you can’t have used it that turn.

Without going into extreme detail with all the variables, we find it entertaining if, before the game, it is agreed upon that a hero who becomes a Zombie Hero becomes a unique type of Infected. This can allow the Zombie Player to be more strategic with who they try to infect, and makes the game more memorable.
Examples (base game): Note the zombie champions retain no other perks from life

Billy (track star): Move an additional 2 spaces per turn
Sheriff Anderson: Use a pistol (but less effectively, hit on 6)
Becky (nurse): If zombie falls within 2 spaces, regenerate on 5+
Sally: “Still lucky” When Sally takes damage, reroll the attack once
Johnny (quarterback): “Charge” When attacking a hero, may move another two spaces to attack all other heroes encountered
Jenny: May attack using any melee weapons held on death
Father Joseph: Sacrifice 2 zombies to cancel any hero card
Cartwright: Sacrifice a zombie within 1 space. Draw two zombie cards and discard 1 of them

Why just stab your friends and cheat in-game? Take things into the real life (except the stabbing bit, please). When I play with my friends, we’re expected to cheat out-of-the-box. It’s accepted and recommended that you can cancel the pizza order, order your own, and demand people give you items if they want dinner. We use bribes, favors, anything– just nothing that will break friendships and not be all fun afterwards. It can get a bit intense, but if you have the right playgroup, I’d agree to try the Meta-Cheat house rule and watch everybody become a mastermind munchkin. NOT FOR EVERYONE, but takes the game to the next level.

If you are playing as Lannister, every strategy should center around the proper use of Adam Marbrand in any applicable mission. Like other heroes in the game, there are two “variants” of Marbrand.
His abilities to ignore rough terrain, or to be considered a flank attack, mean that enemies are always vulnerable to his wrath. So if you’re sending in your cavalry, be sure to lead with Marbrand’s flanked attack, and then have your other mounted units surround for the attack, launching several flanked attacks and leaving the enemy vulnerable and dead.
Marbrand should always be your big “objective seizing” hero– but if your opponent gets wise to his threat, he makes an excellent harass while the rest of your army takes care of business. I believe a part of his advantage is he’s a minor character in the books, and nonexistent in the shows, yet is the most powerful, ultra-mobile force in the base game.

This might seem a bit silly, but if you want the game to feel like you’re a part of a retro game, have the right music in the background. There are plenty of options, but I would recommend playing the Rogue Legacy OST– it’s up on youtube, and has a good brooding 8-bit dungeon music to it, with most tracks by A Shell in the Pit. For a lighter mood, try Anamanaguchi.
You’ll feel much more like a retro arcade boss when your heroes are getting killed off while manic old-school boss music is chiming away on your computer. We’ve even switched to more intense music as the Epic Heroes start coming out, and the starting screen music playing when we’re setting up the game– a little extra work, but it’s hilarious.

The first time I played the campaign, I neglected to limit the amount of items kept between missions limited to one non-character item. However, I would recommend making one exception to the rule: Filch may carry one additional dagger between missions. His special ability becomes much more of an incentive to the Filch player if they can hold onto those daggers (and not become captured), allowing it to fully stack to 3 daggers instead of carrying two and hoping he finds a third every mission. It just feels more like what the character would actually do, anyways.