Zombicide Season 1 Survivors 01

We start the month of May with a detailed look at the board-game that has captured the hearts (and wallets!) of a lot of zombie gaming fans - Zombicide by Guillotine Games. As you probably know, I came into this game rather late, and missed out on all of the season 1 offers and special edition figures when the game was launched on Kickstarter last year. I bitterly regret my decision not to support the game due to me not wanting to get ripped of by the thieves at the UK's Customs and Excises department. Being assured that such a thing would not happen when Season 2 was launched earlier this year I made up for my previous mistake by supporting the game with gusto. I ended up pledging $400.00 to Guillotine Games. Money well spent in my opinion.
I'll take a close look at the game later this month, but first I want to review the figures that come with the game. The figures are roughly 30mm in size. I will post a size comparison shot for you after I've posted my reviews. I shall start with the six survivors that come with the game and here they are. Note that I have arranged the figures alphabetically from Amy to Wanda.

At the far left of the group is Amy the Goth Girl. She is armed with a Katana and a Sawn-Off Shotgun. Each character starts the game with a special ability known as a Skill. As they kill more zombies, they gain further Skills. Amy starts with +1 free Move Action, which allows her to move four times in a turn (if she wanted) instead of three. The second Skill that everyone gains is always +1 Action, which can be used as they please.
Doug the Office Guy is armed with a pair of Uzi Sub-Machine Guns and has a pair of pistols tucked into his pants. His starting skill is Matching Set. This means that whenever he draws a card with the Dual Weapon symbol, he can immediately search the Equipment deck for a second card of the same type. This makes Doug a great killing machine from the outset.
Moving on, we come to Josh the Street Thug. He certainly knows how to survive in these mean streets and this is reflected in his starting skill - Slippery. This allows him to move through a Zone that contains zombies, without having to spend extra Actions to avoid them. He is armed with a pair of Pistols and a Machete.

Fourth in line is Crazy Ned, a homeless guy full of street smarts. He is armed with a Rifle with a fitted Scope-sight, a Baseball Bat and a Frying Pan. Yes, the Frying Pan is a weapon and is dealt out to the three unlucky survivors who don't start the game with an Axe, a Crowbar or a Pistol. It only hits on the roll of a 6 on 1d6 and is usually the first item to be ditched whenever a survivor finds something better. His starting Skill is +1 free Search Action. This action can only be used to search and like all Search Actions can only be used once per turn.
Next up is Phil the Cop, who is armed with a Shotgun and a Pistol. Phil's initial Skill is Starts with a Pistol. This card is always assigned to him before the game begins. It does not count against the six weapons assigned to the group at the start of the game, so if Phil is included in your party, they'll automatically start off with two pistols for the group. By the way, does anyone else think that Phil would make a great figure for Shane Walsh from The Walking Dead?
Finally, we come to Wanda the Waitress, who wears a pair of roller skates and who is armed with a Chainsaw and a Sawn-Off Shotgun. Because of her roller skates, she starts the game with the Skill of 2 Zones per Move Action, meaning that whenever she spends one Action to Move, she can move one or two Zones (her choice) instead of only one. This makes her very mobile and a great scout. Arming her with a Chainsaw can be a game-winning tactic as we discovered on many an occasion..
When I recently played with Mathyoo, Amy was his favourite character, followed by Doug and Ned. My favourite character was Wanda (especially if she acquired a Chainsaw!), followed by Phil and Josh. We once tried switching characters and it just didn't feel right so these were the three survivors that we chose in the majority of our games.
One thing that you've surely noticed about my figures is that they have all been given textured bases. This is the same texturing and colour scheme that I use for all of my other 28mm scale figures. I wanted to do this so that I could use these figures in my games of ATZ. After all, they are nicely sculpted figures, so why limit them to just the board-game?
Finally, I'd like to reassure those of you worried about how well the figures take acrylic paint and because they are made of plastic, are they too bendy? These figures are made of a hard plastic that holds its shape very well. I primed them in black acrylic paint and they painted up a treat. The photos show the figures after Mathyoo and I had gamed with them about a dozen times or more and as you can see, they show no flaking or damage whatsoever.