A zombie game I actually like. It's ZOMBICIDE

 

I have never been a fan of Zombie movies, shows, games, etc. until I played this game (oh and the Zombie Fluxx, but that is a no-brainer game that just made it's way into my collection). I saw a demo of this game being played at my local comic book shop and thought it was a bit complicated. However, when I saw the popularity of the game and saw that my store finally got a season 1 box in stock, I told myself, I am going to try this and probably like it... also considering I got it on sale helped the budget a bit.

 

Before I get into the actual game play and review, I just want to mention the amount of expansions and so on you can get in this series: The original box comes with a load of stuff; zombies, survivors, equipment cards, zombie cards, noise markers, door tiles, objective tiles, police and pimp cars, game tiles and more. It also includes a rule book that has 10 different scenarios for you and your friends to try and complete and they are not easy scenarios that is for sure. But of course, if you are a real gamer, this box just won't cut it for you; you will need the Toxic City Mall expansion that has toxic zombies and new game times and zombie cards and new survivors to have even more people playing and even cooler, Zombivors (zombie survivors - yes you can keep playing with your character as a zombie with new abilities and such). Then of course you need more zombies because there just isn't enough already so you get the walking dead 1 and 2 expansions and then the angry zombies and then the toxic crowd expansion and why not the dog zombies and dog companions and finally the Second Season of Zombicide; Prison Outbreak... oh but of course you will need more game tiles so you will want the 3 expansion tile packs that add on to any base set (Season 1 or 2). You better make room in your game cabinet because this is going to take up a lot of room, or simply put all of this in just the base set box and you should have enough room.

 

My fun was playing with my younger boys (yes it says 13+ but they like moving figurines around and destroying zombies too) and taking whichever tiles I wanted and created my own scenario which we almost defeated. This is the main reason this game is so great, because it has amazing replay value (unlike Zombies where you need to buy every expansion and the only thing you do is walk around until you find the helipad and more zombies spawn and you have find health and ammo... almost like the Escape game but less fun) you can constantly change the scenario and with the random zombie cards that spawn new zombies every turn, you never know what is going to happen.

 

This game is really cooperative though, but even if you play alone, you need to use all 6 suvivors (or 10 I guess with the toxic city mall expansion... i should read those rules before assuming anything here) to get through the scenario(s).

 

Here is how it works: to setup the game, you either choose an already designed scenario from one of the many rule books, go online and download some free ones found here (missions) or create your own. Then you simply lay out the tiles and so on as described and start the game.

 

Each player chooses a survivor (1 survivor per player unless you are less players, then you divide the survivors equally - but read the scenario because some start with only 4 survivors) and receives one random equipment card (1 of 6 possible cards - 3 frying pans, a pistol, a fire axe and a crowbar).

Then a first player is chosen and given the first player marker and activates their survivor; each survivor has 3 possible actions (which you can choose from a list of actions - I am not going into this detail) and after that is done, the next player activates their survivor(s) and so on until all survivors have finished their actions.

 

Then, it's the zombie's turn... they attack any survivors in the same zone as them, they move and they spawn at certain locations.

 

And this continues until the objective(s) of the scenario is(are) completed.



The illustrations and details of the game pieces is amazing... the only downer I saw was with one of the survivor minis that is like a darker grey, almost the same as the Zombie minis... they could have used a better color in my opinion. The rules are quite easy to understand once you play a couple of times and having more players just makes the game so much more interesting (you really have to work together because at the start of the game, 2 survivors can open doors and only 2 have guns - stay close to these guys).

The entire game is fun and I simply can't say more than this so 5 out of 5 dice (or zombies) for this game and go buy it as a late Christmas gift if you can still find copies out there.

Provided by Multizone

A card game that Fluxxuates...

Fluxx the card game can be played within a very short time frame, even lasting only about 10 minutes if played right... The game is simple... at first... but within a few turns the game can change dramatically.

This simple-to-learn game can take any non-gamer out there and turn them into a card game winner within minutes; you start each game of Fluxx (and yes there are many different variations of this game - just like Munchkin) with two simple rules: Draw a card and play a card. However, that changes with players playing new rules and goals throughout the game which could lead a player to have to draw 4 cards and have a hand limit of 2 but must play 2 cards while speaking Pirate.

The goal of the game is quite simple, place a goal on the table and reach that goal; it could be that you need to have a cookie and a pear to win the game, or you need a treasure chest and a ship or you need the technician and the captain etc.

Each set of Fluxx cards (there is even a board game) plays as a separate game... I mean you could possibly mix them all together and make one crazy game that would probably last a weekend, but playing the sets individually adds great replay value; even though the rules are the same, the cards are not.

Every box has, I believe, 6 different types of cards: Keepers, Creepers, Actions, Goals, Rules and Surprises. Keepers are cards that you will want to keep in front of you until the perfect goal comes into play allowing you to possibly win the game. Keep in mind that keepers can be stolen, lost or discard due to new rules or other cards played by other players.

 

Creeper cards are just no good to have on the table and the minute you draw one, you must play it and as long as you have a creeper card, you cannot win the game even if you have the keepers needed for the current goal (however, you can get rid of creepers and sometimes, creepers and can actually help you win the game - like in Zombie Fluxx).

 

Action cards, well, they let the player do actions; like steal keepers or cancel another player's card etc. Surprise cards are similar to these but can be played at any time, whereas action cards are on your turn only.

New rule cards and goal cards are pretty much self explanatory; new rules change the current rules in effect and goal cards make it that someone will try and have the necessary cards on the table in order to win.

 

There isn't much more I can say about these games because they are so simple to play, anyone can just pick it up and get into it quickly. I currently own Pirate, Star and Zombie versions of Fluxx and really enjoy all three. There are many other versions to play with and can be purchased at Multizone and if you need more info regarding Fluxx... take a look at their home page: Fluxx.

 

I will give these games 4 out of 5 dice (creepers).

 

Enjoy.

Cheer up! It's time to play GLOOM.

In the Gloom card game, you control the fate of an eccentric family of misfits.

The goal of the game is sad, but simple: you want your characters to suffer the greatest tragedies possible before passing on to the next life. You'll play horrible mishaps on your own characters to lower their Self-Worth scores, while trying to cheer your opponents' characters with marriages and other happy occasions that pile on positive points. Once all of your family members are R.I.P., the player with the lowest total Family Value (the most depressive family) wins.

Printed on transparent plastic cards, Gloom features an innovative design. Multiple modifier cards can be played on top of the same character card; since the cards are transparent, elements from previously played modifier cards either show through or are obscured by those played above them. You'll immediately and easily know the worth of every character, no matter how many modifiers they have. You have to have some sick sense of humour to play this game.

The base set GLOOM comes with four families and enough modifiers to get you going with your family and friends; however, like every other card game, there are expansions to this one as well:

1- Unhappy Homes:
In this first expansion, you get a new family to add another player to the game and also houses for each family. There are new modifier, event and death cards but there are also new mystery cards that can be played on your households in order to have lasting effects for your family; which can also give you a lower family value at the end of the game. There are an additional 55 cards in this expansion and worth it.

2- Unwelcome Guests:
The second expansion that adds, once again, a new family and a new residence for that family to be played along with the Unhappy Homes expansion (and if you don't have that expansion, then just the residence aside - along with any mystery cards in this expansion) and a total of 55 more transparent cards (modifiers, events, untimely deaths, etc.). However, this expansions includes 5 new character cards known as "Guests". These character cards will be placed on the table and throughout the game, they will "follow" a family once their card effect is triggered (ie. when you play a certain modifier, this guest will attach itself to the player's family that just played that card). The guest cards will do this the entire game, which could also make the player closest to winning the game, be the player who has to now kill off a guest in order to win the game. Great little expansion that lets you have 6 players when added with Unhappy Homes.

3- Unfortunate Expeditions:
This third expansion adds another family in order to allow for a 7th player to join in on the Gloomy fun and again with a total of 55 new cards, you will be able to add new modifiers, events, mysteries and untimely deaths. Also included are expedition cards; these are placed on the table out of play until a player plays a modifier or untimely death card that has the expeditions' symbol on it and then that card is put in the middle of the play area and the effects are triggered and effect each player until a new expedition comes into play (there can only be one expedition in play at a time and when a new one comes into play, it replaces the old one. These effects remain as long as the card is in play.

4- Unquiet Dead:
Finally, the last (sort of) expansion for the Gloom card game; this expansion does not add a new family but does add 7 new undead modifiers. These new modifiers can change your character to an undead character such as a vampire, mummy, ghost, ghoul, wereduck, invisible person, or haunted portrait; these undead characters are both living and dead and can have modifiers and events played on them just like on living characters. These cards also count for your family's self worth and can help you kill off your family faster while still bringing down their morale. There are a total of 55 cards in this expansion which can be added to the the rest of the cards; in these cards there are new Story cards which players will want to have on their side of the table because these cards will give you special abilities until another player steals the story. Finally, they have added some timing symbols on the modifiers to show whether a card has an Instant effect that occurs when the card is played from your hand; an Ongoing effect that lasts until it is covered by another card; or a Persistent effect that can last as long as the Character is still alive ... or Undead.

For Cthulhu fans, there is a second base set entitled "Cthulhu Gloom" and it has it's own expansion as well, but I was not interested in this whatsoever.

Now when you look at all these expansions, 110 base cards and 55 x 4 expansions makes one hell of a big deck of cards to play with, and you are right; myself, I decided to create 3 separate decks using all sets (base and expansions) and mixed up all the modifiers, untimely deaths and events and distributed them evenly among the three decks. I also made theme-style decks; one regarding the undead (so I put less untimely deaths in this deck) which I believe is my "starter" deck, a deck with the stories and mysteries and another with the expeditions and the guests... I think that is what I did, I can't remember. Anyways, I think this is a better way to use all of these cards, but trust me, just the base set is a great way to play this with a few friends now and then.

Quickly, this is how you play the game of Gloom:
First you choose your family (take the residence that goes with it, if you have the Unhappy Homes expansion) and draw 5 cards. Each player has 2 turns; the first turn you can play any type of card (modifier, event, mystery, untimely death, etc.), discard a card or simply pass. The second turn is the same but you CANNOT play an untimely death unless a previously played card allows for an out-of-turn card to be played. Then, you draw back up to your hand limit (which can be modified by certain cards). Simple right, well it is... keep playing cards until one familly has been killed off and count up (or down) your family value and see who wins the game. Just a quick hint, try and kill other player's family members before they get to play modifiers on them.

The real fun of this game is storytelling; yep you can tell a fun story while you are playing this game just to keep it fun and entertaining while trying to be as gloomy as possible. There is a good example of this on youtube posted by TableTop:

Overall, I give this game 4.5 dice out of 5 and recommend it to anyone who has a sense of humour.
I really enjoyed playing this and it made us all have a good laugh.

This game is available at Multizone.

Forget about it... it's Nothing Personal The Board Game

 

A game where each player is trying to gain as much respect as possible while backstabbing, whacking and blackmailing each other player and it's Nothing Personal.

 

 

So here is the game once it is setup for a 3 player game. As you can see this is a well designed game and very sturdy... I mean the box is heavy; you have money that is like thick cardboard and the omerta and blackmail coins are like real money (but heavier). The board and the cards have really nice illustrations on them and the game overall is really fun to play.

 

My video will explain how to setup the game and how to play the game as well.

 

So for now I will simply review the game itself.

 

There is not much to say except that I really enjoyed playing this game with friends, we were six players and it took almost an hour just to get through the first part of the game; it is quite complicated to explain to new players, but once you get the hang of it, you move right along scheming and planning the whole time. There are so many cards in this game that almost every game you will have new gangsters showing; both historical and fictional. The game offers great replay value because of this and each player plays differently it trying to control more gangsters instead of just trying to control the Capo... which could be a good or a bad thing depending on how well you play.

 

This is a great party game for mafia enthusiasts like myself and I would say that the 13+ age group is a little low but I think they could understand it...

 

Overall I give this game a 5 out 5 dice and recommend to all those who love the Godfather movies and any other mafia related film or history.

 

Now enjoy my video:

 



 

Defeat Sauron with dice.

The Lord of the Rings Dice Building Game:

 

Scroll down to view video review!!!

Let's go on an Expedition

Expedition: Northwest Passage is not really your typical game. It was created by Yves Tourigny, who actually live in my current hometown so it is nice to have the opportunity to review a game that is not really know as of yet (also considering it is not for sale yet). Also, the creator signed my box (the owners of Multizone got that done for me).

Like I said it is not your typical game - which usually has some sort of battle, or calculating and so on. Now there is a level of difficulty to this game that it takes a few rounds before you get the hang of this game

The point of this game is to get from Greenland to the Northwest Passage and back again before 10 days have gone by. You also have to do this without getting your ship stuck in ice and losing your crew on a sled.

Along your expedition you will come across expedition interests which if you use your action points (crewman) you can pick them up for more victory points and in the end possibly give you more points if you have one of each point of interest. You can also try and complete islands and the bigger the area, the more points you get.

This game as a really cool (forgive my pun) gameplay mechanic.
You start on with 7 crewmen on your ship and these crewmen are your action points and you can perform one of 8 possible actions and each action requires one or more action points (some require one, like taking a tile, or 3 for picking up a special expedition). Now on your turn, you can spend the required number of crewmen to perform an action and if you wish to to do another action, you must spend the amount of crewmen needed and one extra crewman as well. At the beginning of the game you may not want to spend those extra crewman and just wait until your next turn to play again. If you pass or have no more crewmen to use, and you are the first person to pass, you become the first player on the next round... once everyone has passed, the round ends and sun moves to the next spot...

Talking about the sun... there is a blue part and a yellow part and the sun must never be rotated; why you ask, well simply put, when the sun is placed on the board, the blue side is up and the yellow side is down to indicate what part of the board is frozen and what part of the board is as is. If a section of the board is frozen, you cannot move with your ship only the sled. Now in order to send crewmen to your sled, you have to use an action as normal and then you can transfer as many crewmen you need to your seld.

Playing this game with more players than few is actually a little better because you have more people placing tiles in order to move ahead in the game, but do use your friends to place that perfect tile and take advantage to cut them off to score the greater points of the Nortwest Passage and hopefully get back to Greenland before the 10 days are done.

If you fail to get back, you lose 2 points per crewman that was lost and 2 points if you lost your ship.

The game is well designed and illustrated, I did find that the tokens were a bit flimsy when taking them out of the cutout boards but once that was done, they are pretty tough. The tiles are nice and you do need to read the rules quite closely. Gameplay changes almost every game you play because there are so many tiles to use and each player can play differently each time. Some linger back and pick up all the points of interest and wait for the path to be completed and then just use their crewmen to move.

So I will say that I really enjoyed this game and so did my fellow board gamers. In fact they want to play it again soon. It is not a game for those who like action and boasting, but it is a good game about history and not a bad game for a family to play.

I give this game 4.5 dice out of 5 and recommend it to all.

The game is now available at Multizone.