Aha! I
actually found time to make another blog post…being on vacation with the family
in Cape Cod. Since the last time I posted, I’ve had the privilege to play some
new board games which are always a fun time. As of now, I want to do reviews
for Zpocalypse, HeroClix, and Dungeon Command. I recognize that HeroClix is a Rules Engine that has
various incarnations. I will review HeroClix
based on the way I currently am using the system, which is with the Pacific Rim
line (Giant robots and Godzilla monsters). If I go in order of acquisition for
the list of games, Zpocalypse would
be first.
Zpocalypse
Zpocalypse is produced by the game company
Greenbrier Games.
It was a kickstarter project that was quite a
success. The kickstarter concluded before I became aware of it and therefore I
was unable to contribute anything. I was however exposed to Zpocalypse all the way back in April of
2012 at the Pax East convention. I was perusing the board gaming section of the
convention with some friends when the game’s booth caught our eye. We played a
demo of the game….and then stuck around to play another round…and another.
Flash forward to now, and I’ve had the opportunity to play the game at a few
other conventions and finally purchased a copy of my own 2 months ago.
The Setup
Zpocalypse is a 2-4 player zombie
survival-horror board game. It blends tabletop combat with card-based mechanics
to create a fun game of resource management and zombie killing. Each player
controls a party of survivors dependent on the number of survivor cards the player
has in their hand. The resources used are Food, Scrap, Ammo, and Medical. In
order to fight zombies, each survivor in the party must be fed; ergo 1 Food
card feeds 1 survivor. Scrap cards are used for building fortifications which I
will get into in a moment. Ammo reloads gun item cards, and medical cards heal
survivors.
Each player
is provided with a player board of sorts for tracking a plethora of stats. The
boards are of good manufacture; sturdy and cleanly cut. Even better, the boards
outline the course of 1 full turn of gameplay so everyone can quickly figure
out the flow of the game. The boards keep track of things like Health, Armor,
Melee, and Firearm Skill, and Smarts. Health and Armor are straightforward,
these are used during combat. Melee and FireArm Skills affect the combat aspect
of the game, determining if special abilities can be used. Smarts are important
for event cards.
The game
also utilizes an Experience Point system. Surprisingly the game gives one a
board with spaces marked 0-60 and little colored figures. This is how the
Experience Points are tracked in the game. Zpocalypse
calls them ‘Victory Points’ but coming from a tabletop wargaming background, it
is not the right use of the term ‘Victory Points.’ Oddly though, the points earned
on this board determine the winner as well…regardless, to me they’re Experience
Points.
The Turn
A turn of Zpocalypse is broken up into 4 phases;
Scavenge, Feed& Fortify, Something’s Happening, Combat. The turn itself
represents a full day of survival. The game is designed to end at the end of
Day 4 but can be played for longer. The Scavenge phase, each player pulls a
Scavenge card. The Scavenge card outlines a scenario that the player’s survivor
group goes through. There are things like raiding a candy store or inspecting
the local police station. Each card makes the player roll a skill check. The
skill is displayed on the card. If the player passes the check, they usually
get good loot or survivors. A failure is not devastating but does make things
more difficult. Each Scavenge outcome will make zombies spawn on the board.
After every
player has executed their Scavenge card, the Feed & Fortify phase is next.
Personally, this is part of what sold the game to me as a good game. Only
survivors that are fed with Food cards can participate in the Combat phase
later on. Players can trade with each other or hoard Food cards depending on
their tastes in diplomacy. Next is the Fortify aspect, or where the strategy
begins. This is the part where the players build
things. Now in reality these objects are 2d counters placed on map tiles on the
game board. However the gameplay mechanics make them neat. Players can expend
survivor and scrap cards to build things like walls, gates, lookout towers, or
traps. Each object has abilities that will help the players survive the night
of combat and each object built nets the builder Experience Points.
Once all
players have placed their structures on the board, they move to the next phase;
‘Something’s Happening.’ One of the player’s draws the card from the
appropriate deck and reads the text aloud. The gist is that each card puts a
modifier on the conditions for that Night’s Combat Phase. This is a cool way to
make Combat rounds more unique and unpredictable. For example the last time I
played the modifier was : a rain storm had rolled through miring everything in
mud, this in turn hampered our Survivor’s movement, making maneuvering through
the map more dicey.
Now that all
the logistics have been taken care of, it is time to smash some zeds! The
Combat Phase represents the rest of a Turn (Day). Players take turns moving
their survivors about the map killing the zombies that had cropped up during
the Scavenge and Something Happening phases. Players as a group also alternate with
the Zombies taking turns. Zombies by default move towards the ‘bunker’ (a
location on the map that represents the home base of all players) unless a
survivor gets within 4 squares to lure them away….(or play the guitar as some
sort of psychotic pied piper).
Once the
players have killed all the zombies on the game board, a new Turn starts back
with the Scavenge phase…or all the players are dead which means time to start a
new game…or ragequit, heh.
Net Result?
The end
result is a really fun game of zombie survival. There are enough Scavenge and
Something’s Happening cards to keep the game fresh for quite a while. Players
can even come up with their own scenarios in no time to expand on the basic
formula. The Combat phase is fun and made even more exciting with the ability
to affect the game board in some capacity with the construction of obstacles.
Game
Mechanics that really stood out for me were as described above, the Fortify
phase, and the use of a bit of RPG elements like Melee and FireArm skills. I
also loved the use of an expanding game board. Overall play time is somewhere
in the 2hr range easily. This may put people off but the best part is any give
group does not have to play the full 4 days to enjoy the game. Even 1 or 2 Days
(turns) are enough for a casual game night, and played this way slows the burn
out rate of the game.
Price Point
So, Zpocalypse is a bit steep at 60$ which
is the cost of an average video game. I only recommend getting this game if you
have a group of regular gamer friends. The game operates best at max capacity
with all 4 players present on the game board. Although the game is 60$, you get
a good amount of stuff for 60$. There are 4 different types of starting area
for the game board with all map tiles being printed double sided. The card art
is a bit basic but fun, the text being the more important and fleshed out part.
A bit of caution though, the card material felt thinner and flimsier than what
I’m used too so try not to bang up the cards too much. The game also comes with
specialized six-sided dice for making rolls. For miniatures, you get
single-colored figures of the survivors (gray) and a bit of variety of zombie
figures (dark green and neon green). The figures are decently detailed and
pretty sturdy.
The box set also
comes with full-colored rulebook that is about 20 pages. The rules are
straightforward but the layout of the pages in the rulebook are bit a jumbled.
There is a decent amount of information that the rulebook has to cover, and for
me at least, I had a bit of trouble teasing information out of the rulebook due
primarily to the page layouts and presentation of information. Fortunately the
rules are easy to pick up. When it comes to rule books, I have begun looking at
them as a programmer. Although flowery descriptions and layouts are nice to the
eyes, I prefer bulleted lists and tables for the rules, with the whole
If/Then/Else schtick
.
Final Thoughts
Zpocalypse is a good game. I’d give it 4/5
rating. It doesn’t rely solely on a single gimmick or two. It dabbles in a few
types of interaction and does a good job of balancing card and tabletop play.
The game has resources to manage, and combat to win. There are opportunities
aplenty to screw over your fellow survivors for those precious Experience
Points or pieces of loot. I’m much more of a team player though, and the team
aspect really shines through when the game reaches Fortify phase where players
put down strategic obstacles for added defense. The price point might be a bit
steep for the casual gamer, but the game itself will not disappoint. It has
quality components and a bit of dynamism thrown in as well.
Back of envelope notes
A good thing
to keep in mind is that Greenbrier has moved to expand Zpocalypse in several ways. Each new pack adds a new element to the
game for added variety. One modification adds the role of ‘Zombie Master’ who
is able to control all the undead along with a group of new undead. This
reminds me a lot of the ‘special infected’ from Left 4 Dead series of video
games therefore I look forward to picking up a copy. Another game type removes
the ‘bunker’ aspect and makes the players wander the wasteland, revealing game
board tiles as they explore. It’s always good to see a company support their
product and recognize that many veteran players want more of a game they like,
but not always more of exactly the
same.
