Post by Todd Tjersland on May 21, 2008 13:00:11 GMT -8
Just picked up Last Night On Earth and its expansion pack, Growing Hunger by Flying Frog...
A bit like ZOMBIES! with the modular board, minis and cards, except it is cooperative play. Key differences are the board which, while changeable each game, is fixed in place at the beginning. Each board section containbs different key buildings, some of which have special rules. Players are split into teams, one as zombies, one as heroes (victims). Each hero is unique with special strengths and weaknesses, and each gets a unique mini and sometimes bonus cards.
You can either move or search a building (enabling you to draw a card), then shoot (if you have a ranged weapon) and then go hand-to-hand with any zombies in your square. Both the heroes and zombies have their own special card decks; each card provides some (hopefully) useful advantage, such as spawning new zombies or finding a weapon. Weapons are really powerful against zombies but prone to running out of ammo or breaking if you roll badly in combat. Zombies win ties in hand-to-hand combat so this helps give them an advantage. Most heroes only have two hit points, so if they take three wounds, they are dead (or become zombie heroes).
One nice thing is that you can't get knocked out of the game. If a hero dies, that player gets to select a new hero (but loses the old hero's cards, if any). The zombie player(s) add new zombies to the board, possibly every round, up to a limit of 21 (all the zombie minis).
The game comes with a bunch of scenarios, each with opposing objectives for heroes and zombies, that add to the replay value. Rules include a basic game, advanced game, two-player only game, and various optional rules (found in the expansion pack). There are a lot of high quality minis, punch-out bits and illustrated cards. Production value is high, everything seems both pretty to look at and durable.
I playtested the basic game and advanced game with expansion pack over the weekend and found the winner to be quite close both times, so even if the game seems hopeless to one side, it is still possible to turn it around in the last few rounds and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
I enthusiastically recommend Last Night On Earth--both for zombie fans and boardgame lovers alike!
A bit like ZOMBIES! with the modular board, minis and cards, except it is cooperative play. Key differences are the board which, while changeable each game, is fixed in place at the beginning. Each board section containbs different key buildings, some of which have special rules. Players are split into teams, one as zombies, one as heroes (victims). Each hero is unique with special strengths and weaknesses, and each gets a unique mini and sometimes bonus cards.
You can either move or search a building (enabling you to draw a card), then shoot (if you have a ranged weapon) and then go hand-to-hand with any zombies in your square. Both the heroes and zombies have their own special card decks; each card provides some (hopefully) useful advantage, such as spawning new zombies or finding a weapon. Weapons are really powerful against zombies but prone to running out of ammo or breaking if you roll badly in combat. Zombies win ties in hand-to-hand combat so this helps give them an advantage. Most heroes only have two hit points, so if they take three wounds, they are dead (or become zombie heroes).
One nice thing is that you can't get knocked out of the game. If a hero dies, that player gets to select a new hero (but loses the old hero's cards, if any). The zombie player(s) add new zombies to the board, possibly every round, up to a limit of 21 (all the zombie minis).
The game comes with a bunch of scenarios, each with opposing objectives for heroes and zombies, that add to the replay value. Rules include a basic game, advanced game, two-player only game, and various optional rules (found in the expansion pack). There are a lot of high quality minis, punch-out bits and illustrated cards. Production value is high, everything seems both pretty to look at and durable.
I playtested the basic game and advanced game with expansion pack over the weekend and found the winner to be quite close both times, so even if the game seems hopeless to one side, it is still possible to turn it around in the last few rounds and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
I enthusiastically recommend Last Night On Earth--both for zombie fans and boardgame lovers alike!