And With The Tabletop Zombies & Monsters

[Nefaro]

So I recently finished a practice learning session of the much-liked & recommended Last Night On Earth and I must admit it's fun yet still simple enough to flow quite smoothly.  The latter can be helpful with all those ADD types you may game with regularly. 

Yeah, I'm late to the game with this one but better late than never?

I turned around and ordered A Touch Of Evil, also from Flying Frog, because after watching a vid I'm convinced it has similar gameflow as the other, but perhaps with a bit more variety in the cards(?).  While not necessarily a zombie game, I've not been all that hyped about the genre for awhile now anyway.  I'd take this latter all-round 'Monster' premise anyday but the family members still love zombies.

Therefore I picked up Dark, Darker, Darkest last month when I had stopped at a local shop and saw it there, freshly released.  I've not punched the counters or anything on it yet.  Not sure what to think after speed reading the rules.  It's like a more detailed  LNoE but with some strange differences going on with the setting and objectives.  Looks quality, though.

Aside from Betrayal at the House on Haunted Hill (which evidentally is now out of print since I'm seeing the price skyrocket lately), and the Lovecraft-themed games from Fantasy Flight, what are some other recommended monster-themed games you guys might recommend?  Preferably of the non-fantasy sort.

I've also eyed Level 7: Omega Protocol since that one seems to be the popular favorite of the Level 7 series.  I don't have any alien experiment themed tabletop stuff but I'm unsure about the gameplay still.  I have plenty to play right now, but wanted to get some suggestions early.

[Barthheart]

I've played 2 different zombie games and one Cthulhu game.

1. All Things Zombie by LnLP. Think zombie Squad Leader. It's a tactical level man (or woman) vs man (or woman) vs zombie game played on hex maps. It's fun to play once you figure out the rules... which can be hard. Scenarios loosely link together to tell a story/campaign.

2. Zombies!!! Very light game with random map placement and random movement points and ... well ... lots of random. Easy to play and teach... but if you get in a game with a bunch of wargamers be prepared for it to take forever as it becomes "dog pile on the leader"....

3. Arkham Horror. Played it once with my group but.... we're mostly wargamers and since you are supposed to cooperate to beat the game instead of beat on each other, it wasn't much of a hit. It is interesting but lots of rules and take a crap load of table space.

[eyebiter]

.

[Arctic Blast]

If you're coming into the FFG Cthulhu games clean, I'd say skip Arkham and get right to Eldritch Horror. It isn't necessarily much shorter than a session of Arkham Horror can be, but everything is just nicely cleaned up. AH has some rather baroque and obtuse rules with a lot of fiddly exceptions. Eldritch still has a learning curve, but it's a much smoother game overall.

Definitely interested to hear of your experienced with Dark, Darker, Darkest. Was the rulebook, any good? The designer's previous game (Panic Station) was an absolute disaster, thanks in part to a rulebook that was a train wreck.

I've ended up owning a bunch of Zombicide stuff recently. It's nice in that it's a 100% co-op game against the game itself. A bit of leveling up, lots of running and gunning, think of it as Left 4 Dead : The Board Game. There are a couple of downright stupid rules, but they're easily remedied with a bit of houserule tweaking that doesn't affect the game much. The thing is, I traded for the base set, and had I paid full price for it (it's a significant investment), I don't know that I'd be thrilled with the product.

Since you like Last Night on Earth, take a look at Conquest of Planet Earth by the same company. It can be played either co-op or competitive, with each player running a different race of aliens attacking Earth. Lots of neat little upgrades and abilities, and each race has their own distinct feel without everything becoming bogged down in exceptions and major rules tweaks.

[Nefaro]

Conquest of Planet Earth looks like a lot of fun.  I may have to pick that up sometime.  Thanks!

I had considered Zombicide recently but after seeing the board I didn't feel all that impressed - especially considering the price.  Since I already have a Co-Op survival horror game in Dark Darker Darkest, I'm not in a big hurry to check out Zombicide.  I'm glad you gave me your impressions on it as it has only reinforced my impressions.

The rulebook for Dark, Darker, Darkest looks to be pretty straightforward.  The mechanics aren't anything crazy but the whole them and flow is a bit different.  I'm not sure what to think yet and since I've played some LNoE recently, I've not had a big urge to pull out more zombies (specifically) just yet.  Especially since I have A Touch of Evil and A&A Angels 20 arriving tomorrow.  I will give you more impressions of DDD after I've done a playthrough.  In the meantime, some guy calling himself 'the lonesome gamer' has a multi-part playthrough of DDD on YouTube.  I've found such playthrough vids for these games quite informative of the game mechanics, when deciding on which to purchase.

Also.. if any of you have played a fair bit of Last Night on Earth, do you have any steady house rules you use?  In the couple games I've played, the 4-card Zombie hand limit can be brutal, and mixed with the Zombie turn being first it has ended up with at least one character being wounded and on the ropes before they've even had a turn to move or search.  I was thinking of giving each player a Hero Card to start and/or lowering the draw limit of the Zombie Player.  The Zeds get a huge card advantage and both games have ended with the Hero team getting murderized quite easily before the game time limit is up and nowhere near victory.

[Arctic Blast]

Conquest of Planet Earth looks like a lot of fun.  I may have to pick that up sometime.  Thanks!

I had considered Zombicide recently but after seeing the board I didn't feel all that impressed - especially considering the price.  Since I already have a Co-Op survival horror game in Dark Darker Darkest, I'm not in a big hurry to check out Zombicide.  I'm glad you gave me your impressions on it as it has only reinforced my impressions.

The rulebook for Dark, Darker, Darkest looks to be pretty straightforward.  The mechanics aren't anything crazy but the whole them and flow is a bit different.  I'm not sure what to think yet and since I've played some LNoE recently, I've not had a big urge to pull out more zombies (specifically) just yet.  Especially since I have A Touch of Evil and A&A Angels 20 arriving tomorrow.  I will give you more impressions of DDD after I've done a playthrough.  In the meantime, some guy calling himself 'the lonesome gamer' has a multi-part playthrough of DDD on YouTube.  I've found such playthrough vids for these games quite informative of the game mechanics, when deciding on which to purchase.

Also.. if any of you have played a fair bit of Last Night on Earth, do you have any steady house rules you use?  In the couple games I've played, the 4-card Zombie hand limit can be brutal, and mixed with the Zombie turn being first it has ended up with at least one character being wounded and on the ropes before they've even had a turn to move or search.  I was thinking of giving each player a Hero Card to start and/or lowering the draw limit of the Zombie Player.  The Zeds get a huge card advantage and both games have ended with the Hero team getting murderized quite easily before the game time limit is up and nowhere near victory.

Dammit, now I'm watching his play videos. I'm 90% through the second one in another tab as I type this.  ;D

As for the LNoE stuff...I'm actually a bit baffled as to how enough zombies are even reaching the heroes on turn one to do anything to them. I don't think that I've ever had that happen one time. So either you're drawing a crazy good hand of zombie cards on that initial draw, or something's a bit off. The 4 card zombie hand actually tends to even out, because a lot of their cards are highly situational. You'll frequently discard a card at the end of a round just in the hopes of getting something better. Meanwhile, once the heroes start arming up, things get nasty rather quickly.

[Nefaro]

I think the initial zombie draw has been real good both times.   I seem to recall the first one getting the card that says "draw 3 more zombie cards" and one of those ended up being another "draw 3 more cards".  With all those cards, there were some bonus zombie moves (chosen zombie moves D6 spaces) & combat.. a variety of good things that allowed a hero to get nastily attacked in the first turn. 

The second game's initial draw had "They've Taken Over The.." card which spawns zombies a zombie in every empty space of a building.  Since the nurse was in the hospital, and it is quite large regarding the number of spaces, that was the prime choice.  I ended up with 13 zombies in play and managed to kill the Nurse, turning her into a Zombie Hero a couple turns later via another card play and further wounds sustained.  Brutal.

Needless to say both games started out with the players getting a big kick in the nuts before their first turn began.

I may just limit the amount of the Zombie player's first turn draw to two, instead of four.  That may be the best way to attempt curbing the big initial leap I've experienced.   Since they draw back up to four cards at the start of every turn, it should only make the first turn less threatening.  That or I could just let the Hero players move first.

[Arctic Blast]

I think the initial zombie draw has been real good both times.   I seem to recall the first one getting the card that says "draw 3 more zombie cards" and one of those ended up being another "draw 3 more cards".  With all those cards, there were some bonus zombie moves (chosen zombie moves D6 spaces) & combat.. a variety of good things that allowed a hero to get nastily attacked in the first turn. 

The second game's initial draw had "They've Taken Over The.." card which spawns zombies a zombie in every empty space of a building.  Since the nurse was in the hospital, and it is quite large regarding the number of spaces, that was the prime choice.  I ended up with 13 zombies in play and managed to kill the Nurse, turning her into a Zombie Hero a couple turns later via another card play and further wounds sustained.  Brutal.

Needless to say both games started out with the players getting a big kick in the nuts before their first turn began.

I may just limit the amount of the Zombie player's first turn draw to two, instead of four.  That may be the best way to attempt curbing the big initial leap I've experienced.   Since they draw back up to four cards at the start of every turn, it should only make the first turn less threatening.  That or I could just let the Hero players move first.

Did you roll for the building for "they've taken over the..." card? You're supposed to roll for the board (with 1 being Zombie player's choice and 6 being Hero players' choice. 2-5 refer to the 4 corner boards), and then for the building on the board.

I wouldn't drop the initial hand yet. You really had an incredible run of the luck in terms of zombie cards there. Getting that many good cards in one shot is incredibly rare.

[Nefaro]

I think the initial zombie draw has been real good both times.   I seem to recall the first one getting the card that says "draw 3 more zombie cards" and one of those ended up being another "draw 3 more cards".  With all those cards, there were some bonus zombie moves (chosen zombie moves D6 spaces) & combat.. a variety of good things that allowed a hero to get nastily attacked in the first turn. 

The second game's initial draw had "They've Taken Over The.." card which spawns zombies a zombie in every empty space of a building.  Since the nurse was in the hospital, and it is quite large regarding the number of spaces, that was the prime choice.  I ended up with 13 zombies in play and managed to kill the Nurse, turning her into a Zombie Hero a couple turns later via another card play and further wounds sustained.  Brutal.

Needless to say both games started out with the players getting a big kick in the nuts before their first turn began.

I may just limit the amount of the Zombie player's first turn draw to two, instead of four.  That may be the best way to attempt curbing the big initial leap I've experienced.   Since they draw back up to four cards at the start of every turn, it should only make the first turn less threatening.  That or I could just let the Hero players move first.

Did you roll for the building for "they've taken over the..." card? You're supposed to roll for the board (with 1 being Zombie player's choice and 6 being Hero players' choice. 2-5 refer to the 4 corner boards), and then for the building on the board.

I wouldn't drop the initial hand yet. You really had an incredible run of the luck in terms of zombie cards there. Getting that many good cards in one shot is incredibly rare.

Yes... I rolled "Zombie Player's Choice".  ;)

Tasty nurse turned Hero Zombie within a few turns.

[Arctic Blast]

I think the initial zombie draw has been real good both times.   I seem to recall the first one getting the card that says "draw 3 more zombie cards" and one of those ended up being another "draw 3 more cards".  With all those cards, there were some bonus zombie moves (chosen zombie moves D6 spaces) & combat.. a variety of good things that allowed a hero to get nastily attacked in the first turn. 

The second game's initial draw had "They've Taken Over The.." card which spawns zombies a zombie in every empty space of a building.  Since the nurse was in the hospital, and it is quite large regarding the number of spaces, that was the prime choice.  I ended up with 13 zombies in play and managed to kill the Nurse, turning her into a Zombie Hero a couple turns later via another card play and further wounds sustained.  Brutal.

Needless to say both games started out with the players getting a big kick in the nuts before their first turn began.

I may just limit the amount of the Zombie player's first turn draw to two, instead of four.  That may be the best way to attempt curbing the big initial leap I've experienced.   Since they draw back up to four cards at the start of every turn, it should only make the first turn less threatening.  That or I could just let the Hero players move first.

Did you roll for the building for "they've taken over the..." card? You're supposed to roll for the board (with 1 being Zombie player's choice and 6 being Hero players' choice. 2-5 refer to the 4 corner boards), and then for the building on the board.

I wouldn't drop the initial hand yet. You really had an incredible run of the luck in terms of zombie cards there. Getting that many good cards in one shot is incredibly rare.

Yes... I rolled "Zombie Player's Choice".  ;)

Tasty nurse turned Hero Zombie within a few turns.

Ah, okay. In that case, good choice.  :)

[BanzaiCat]

Second Zombies!!!

Also, Zombie Dice is a lot of light and quick fun.

[Nefaro]

I just set up Dark, Darker, Darkest on the table but haven't started my first playthrough yet.

For some reason, I'm just not all that motivated to try it.  The quality of the parts is generally pretty good.  Minus the cards being cut just slightly uneven enough to be a pain to properly shuffle with some small bits of clumping (a fairly common issue with boardgames, to be fair).

However, I'm just not sure if I can get into the gameplay.  I thought it was a bit more card-driven adventure game style but it's more dice-driven strategy.  Don't get me wrong, I love dicing.  But it doesn't add as much variety to the gameplay when situations are being created with a handful of symbols on some dice.  After recently playing Last Night on Earth, Arkham Horror, and A Touch Of Evil (all card-driven games which also have dicing), this one seems a bit flat on flavor.  The cards in DDD are solely items & weapons you find in the house which you use to both kill zombies and unlock the codes on doors with the items' accompanying symbols.

The background premise also feels a bit disjointed.  As if a few kids were brainstorming for features to add to the game and  one says, "I know!  We should add random fires starting up in rooms and spreading around until the players put them out!" on top of fighting zombies and collecting code disks. 

Must be a combination of these that has made me "Meh" at starting it.  It's already on the table, so I'll give it a short run, but if it still doesn't catch me after some time then I may sell or trade it.

[Arctic Blast]

This seems to be a consistent problem in games that David Ausloos designs. His previous game was a disaster called Panic Station that is probably the single worst mess of a board game that I have ever played. It didn't fit together at all. And the whole premise didn't even make sense...it became one of those deals where he clearly bent the whole explanation of what was happening to match the game mechanics. Just a disaster. He doesn't seem to be able to see that sometimes editing is a good idea. Removing something clunky is a better way forward that creating bizarre bending of the rules or situational fiddliness in order to accommodate the clunky problem. Instead, he keeps bolting stuff on that doesn't always make sense either thematically or in terms of rules and needlessly adding complexity.

This seems better than Panic Station was, but I still found myself saying WTF quite a bit while watching those walkthrough videos and poking around the forums a bit. Okay, being spotted on a camera makes bad things happen...fine. But when it's causing a fire to start at a random location or a badass creature to heal damage, that's where it ceases making any sense. Players can freely swap equipment between their hands and their inventory without using an action, which is somewhat insane. I can use a flamethrower, but that can't start a fire in a room. I get why he did it that way, otherwise the flamethrower would be useless. But why not just REMOVE the damn thing and REPLACE it with some other type of weapon? Now you don't need to create an exception to your fire rules!

Instead, he gets page after page of questions due to murky rules, then tries to explain it away as "Well, no rulebook is perfect." while also trying to nudge the blame towards whoever wrote the rulebook. Dude, YOU wrote the RULES...this is on YOU. And since you've supposedly been working on this game for something like 7-8 YEARS now, one would think it wouldn't be full of holes?

I can see an interesting game in the box, but I don't know if he is ever going to get out of his own way long enough to help find it.

[BanzaiCat]

Anyone play Dawn of the Zeds - Battle for Farmingdale?

I almost grabbed it on Amazon for myself for Christmas, but eschewed it in favor of Swing States 2012. I love election games, and couldn't quite pull the trigger on DotZ.

[Nefaro]

Anyone play Dawn of the Zeds - Battle for Farmingdale?

I almost grabbed it on Amazon for myself for Christmas, but eschewed it in favor of Swing States 2012. I love election games, and couldn't quite pull the trigger on DotZ.

I knew nothing about it until you just mentioned it.  Don't think I've browsed much in the way of VPG's stuff very often.

Looks interesting.