Cool Mini or Not - Zombicide Invader - Board Game

Product Information

TechRaptor stated "The game is fun and challenging if you like cooperative games". [6] An entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction commented on the "complex gameplay" and difficulty. The writer Esther MacCallum-Stewart also praised the digital application that "greatly aids gameplay". [4] Awards [ edit ] You might be wondering, why kill zombies if that means more spawn as survivors level up? Great question, you would think evade, evade, evade where possible and kill as few zombies as possible. Unfortunately the zombies spawn from the pool. If you spawn zombies, but there are none to add to the board from the pool as they are all out, the zombies gain extra activations when they cannot be spawned and then things get very messy for survivors. There’s very much a balance required of zombie management and completing your mission objectives. Team strategy and tactics are everything. Additional Content Let’s first discuss how Zombicide plays and what to expect from the game then I will dive into how Invader is unique and what gameplay mechanics it has improved on from previous iterations. A Legacy of Lethality

I was always a huge fan of Games Workshop and MB Games’ Space Crusade when I was younger, and that was because of how it made me feel, not because of how technically good it was. Zombicide: Invaderis similar in the sense that it is fun, fast paced and simple to setup and play. It looks great and feels like good value when you see the contents of the box, so it’s a strong recommendation for me, and certainly my go to game from this series to date. **** 4/5 All this is to say that if you are looking for a fun, fast-paced co-op that works well with variable player counts and will keep you on your toes then Invader is for you. It is dripping with theme, quality, and the massive missions index will leave you in no want for replayability. It’s an out of this world good time. Each player in the game represents one or more survivors in a zombie apocalypse. Their goal is to complete the scenario objects dictated by their particular mission before being overrun by zombies. The game board represents a zombie-infested town, with large square tiles, laid according to the mission selected.Also, there are melee weapons that will likely be your best friend when going into the dark and there are some terrific options to choose from including hammers, chainsaws and various mining implements. Another big change from previous Zombicide games is that your characters have multiple life points and armour so they can take more punishment. But it also means a game over if you lose a single character so there is no more room for heroic sacrifices which is fairly common in the existing titles and arguably one of the best bits. Components There are however some new tools to mitigate this. There are skills and item cards that can illuminate areas or grant nightvision. There are also new drones that can be operated via the remote item card or manually by being on the same area. These drones ignore darkness and have some devastating firepower but they are also particularly flimsy and once lost are gone for good.

Before the beginning of the game, a mission is chosen. The playing area is built with board tiles and features (icons representing cars, doors and objectives) according to the selected mission. Each players chooses one or more survivors to play and everyone places their survivors on the starting area of the board. History has proven that CMON is onto a winning formula when it comes to the Zombicide series. What began as an ambitious project to reinvent miniatures gaming has since evolved into a hugely popular and long running series that has spawned (excuse the pun) multiple expansions and spin offs. Around this time last year, we reviewed the previous outing; Zombicide: Green Horde, awarding it a solid 3.5 out of 5. For this years big release, CMON are blasting us into space in Zombicide: Invader– let’s find out what the fuss is all about.

The Big, the Bad, and the Ugly

Dark Side serves as an alternative to the generic Zombicide invader boxed game and a prequel in terms of story. It features Green Squad. An elite group of soldiers trapped in the Xenium mines of PK-L7. It is also fully compatible with the other Zombicide Invader core set and as such comes with alternative xeno types. It also has its own tiles and unique mechanic in the form of low visibility areas. The zombie spawn cards tell players to spawn what zombie type and how many depending on the highest players level. Occasionally a player may draw an activation card, which can mean all walker types zombies gain an additional one-off action immediately. Or players may draw the newly introduced “Rush” card, which works like a standard spawn, except once the zombie type and numbers have been spawned they immediately activate. This can cause chaos, especially if it happens to be a Runner Rush, as those guys move two spaces at a time. Try and avoid finishing a turn in the same space as a zombie as after all players have had their turn those Zombies in play activate, that means they take an action and it is either movement or strike. If they are in the same square as survivors then the survivors are going to get hurt.

Roll virtual dice for any of your equipped weapons, automatically calculating successful hits according to any combat skills you may have (and with sound effects to boot!) Although slightly unsettling, there are now child Survivors. They have one less health than their older counterparts, but each has the “slippery” ability, which allows them to walk through groups of zombies and avoid being overwhelmed.Zombicide: Invader is also considerably easier than Green Horde, based on the six or seven missions that I have played to date, in comparison to the overall campaign in Green Horde. But, that’s not to say it’s easy, it’s simply more manageable than it was in Green Horde, which on reflection I probably would have called out as being too difficult had I played the original game first. Invader‘s monsters are slightly weaker than those in Green Horde, whilst the mould that spreads throughout each environment is materially easier to deal with than when a horde card was drawn in Green Horde.

Combat comprises of selecting a weapon, grabbing the required amount of dice displayed on the card, rolling and seeing how many of those dice count as hits, once again, this is dictated by the weapon card. Walker and Runner zombies can be taken out by weapons with one damage, Fatties can only be taken down by weapons with damage of two or more and Abominations need five… or a Molotov. Take a BreathEach version of Zombicide has learnt from and built upon its predecessor in terms of rules, mechanics and quality of life adjustments. For the sake of this review, I will be comparing Zombicide: 2nd Edition to the last modern-day setting Zombicide – Zombicide: Rue Morgue. It also sets itself apart from the other base game. The regular zombicide invader feels more like Zombicide in Space while Zombicide Dark Side feels more like a tighter knitted alien blasting experience. Despite using the same core rules it is gratifying that they are able to create two very different feeling games. Final Thoughts Zombicide is without doubt one of my favourite games and was the first cooperative game I ever played. I was first introduced to Zombicide in late 2012 and this was the very first edition of the game. I didn’t know at this point in time that such a thing as a cooperative game existed. By that, I mean teaming up against the game, as I had worked alongside other players playing against other players in the past. Teaming up with friends in the post zombie apocalypse world, just wow!