Saturday 19 December 2015

Zombicide: Black Plague - An Introduction


Christmas has come slightly early for me. A few days ago I received my copy of Zombicide: Black Plague and I was so incredibly overjoyed. When I backed this Kickstarter project in June of this year, Cool Mini Or Not and Guillotine Games announced that the game would ship in time for Christmas 2015. I doubted it would happen... but I was wrong - it has! Okay, so it's ONLY the basic boxed set. All the add-ons and stretch goals will ship in early 2016, but even so, what a fantastic Christmas present. To the left of here is the game box sitting on my dining room table, just waiting to be opened. Let's take a look inside.
The first thing you see is the rulebook, which runs to 60 pages in full colour. It looks gorgeous! I have read it from cover to cover and I'm mightily impressed with it. I can't find a single fault with it. Next comes a big box featuring a stunning piece of artwork showing the six heroes of the game - Ann the Warrior Nun, Baldric the Wizard, Clovis the Fighter, Nelly the Serving Girl, Samson the Dwarf and Silas the Elf.
Inside this box are two  plastic trays of figures and other items. The top tray holds the six 32mm scale Hero figures as well as the Abomination Zombie, the Necromancer and nine assorted Zombies (2 Fatties, 2 Runners and 5 Walkers). To the left are spaces for storing the dice, coloured bases and pegs (not shown) and the game cards. The Zombie Encounter deck is shown in my photo. Finally, is something new that Guillotine Games have designed - the Hero's Dashboard. This is a HUGE improvement on the old character ID cards from previous Zombicide games. I love them. They are one of my favourite parts of the game. I'll show one in use a little later.
The bottom tray is filled with Zombie figures - 54 in total. From left to right are a female Walker, a male Runner, a male Walker, a male Fatty, a second female Walker, a second male Runner, two more male Walkers and a second male Fatty. Coupled with the nine Zombie  figures from the top tray that is seven of each sculpt. I can see me converting more than half of these. The sculpting of all of the figures is just superb. These are going to be a labour of love to paint.


As promised, here is a closer look at the Dashboard, set up for the start of play. Your Hero card sits in the middle of the board. In this case I have chosen Ann the Warrior Nun. Her skills are listed at the bottom of her card and next to each skill is a slot in the dashboard to fit a coloured peg to show which skills she has chosen as the game progresses. There is space at the top right of the ID card to place a weapon or item mentioned on the card (an extra Dagger for Ann) or one of the pieces of Armour. In the top left corner of the Dashboard are four slots to show how many wounds a Hero has, ranging from 0 to 3. In Zombicide: Black Plague, Heroes now have three wounds, making them more durable than their contemporary counterparts. To the left and right of the Dashboard are trays to show which item or weapon the Hero is holding in their hands. Here, I have placed the Short Sword (one of the six starting weapons) in Ann's right hand. Further items and weapons can be stowed away in any of the five slots found in the top right corner of the Dashboard. These represent the hero's Back Pack and the cards stand upright. Finally, along the bottom of the Dashboard is your Experience Tracker, which slides from left to right as the Hero earns more experience. I have also shown the deck of additional Hero ID Cards, the Items deck and the figure of Ann with her coloured base corresponding to the colour of her pegs, which in this case is yellow.
Shown above are the two sheets of counters printed on very thick card. The two large tiles in the centre of each sheet are the Vaults. Vaults contain powerful artefacts (much like the Pimp-mobiles from the original game) and are also a handy way to take short cuts across the game board.
Last but by no means least are the nine game tiles. These are all double-sided, giving you endless gaming set-up possibilities. They are printed on the same thick card as the counters, so will stand up to a lot of wear and tear.

Readers of my blog will probably know by now that Zombicide is my all time favourite board-game, so it seems obvious that this review of Zombicide: Black Plague will be biased. That can't be helped and I make no apologies for it. The bottom line is that I like this fantasy based expansion set more than the modern day sets. The rules will be very familiar to anyone who has played any of the contemporary sets. But what makes them better are the changes, all of which I approve of. I have already mentioned the new Dashboard. This is such a massive improvement on the old-style Character ID cards that I hope Guillotine Games will produce them for the contemporary sets. It's unlikely to happen but I can dream, can't I?
Fatties now spawn on their own, without their pair of Walkers accompanying them. The extra Wound and the introduction of armour makes Survivors have a much better chance of surviving without making them too powerful. But best of all, are the new Friendly Fire rules. Probably the most controversial and least popular rule in previous Zombicide sets was the Target Priority rule used in Ranged Combat. This rule made fellow Survivors the first targets to be hit by ranged fire. I know many people hated this rule or couldn't understand why this had to be. Some gamers ignored it completely. I accepted it as part of the game but used canny tactics to ensure such a situation never arose. In Zombicide: Black Plague, Friendly Fire only occurs if you fail to hit your target. The player(s) then choose which Survivor in that Zone is hit. But this is not automatic as the wound(s) can be avoided by making a successful Armour roll for the Hero chosen. This seems far more logical to me and is a rule that should be used in ALL games of Zombicide.
I have played the tutorial scenario twice and the first two scenarios once each, winning in every case. Bear in mind, these are all described as being easy scenarios. But even so, I took to the new rules straight away and thoroughly enjoyed playing them all. This is one game that will get played a LOT in the coming months.
Only those people who made a pledge for the game on Kickstarter will be receiving this boxed set so early. Everyone else will have to wait until early 2016 before they can buy it. Consequently, I'm not giving out price details. My final verdict is that Zombicide: Black Plague is the best zombie board-game ever! It surpasses the original Zombicide game in so many ways and I can only give it my very highest recommendation. As it stands it is damned near perfect but once the add-ons and stretch goals are released it will be just awesome! When I first learned that Guillotine Games were going to produce a fantasy version of Zombicide, I was a tad sceptical about it. But that passed within seconds when I realised the potential of the game. Every Zombicide set produced so far has improved on the previous ones. Guillotine Games have a proven track record of striking gold with their games. So surely Zombicide: Black Plague HAD to be something special? I'm telling you, folks, IT IS!

20 comments:

  1. Very nice review Bryan, I can see your enthusiasm for this game shining through with every word you write. Which is not a bad thing. There are `fan boys` (who can see no ill in anything they ever collect for their favourite game, and their words are always terrible pro biased) and there are enthusiastic gamers... like you... who you can trust to give a full, balanced view on all aspects of a game. Helps enormously when deciding whether to buy a game for yourself, to be able to read and trust the words of a gamer already in the know.

    As you know Bryan, I also pledged (Knights Level) for this game and am expecting a whole host of wonderful goodies when it is all finally released to us. My base set copy hasn`t arrived yet, but living in Ireland I`m not surprised. It will come when it comes. With Christmas just round the corner, I`d be too busy to investigate the game properly right now. SO in a way its a godsend that mine is still out there somewhere, winging its way to me.

    "Patience, young Padawan".

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    1. A very nice reply, Steve. I think "an enthusiastic gamer" is a very fair description of me. I try to be balanced in my reviews and if something is crap I'll say so. But Black Plague has me excited beyond belief.

      On the whole, I'm sad you are still waiting for your copy to arrive but I do understand why you feel it isn't the end of the world. Whereas I can see you're going to be having a very busy Christmas, I'll having a very quiet Christmas. Christmas lost much of its sparkle when my dad died in 2011.

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  2. understood mate :(

    *manly hug*

    Yes it is a hectic time here. In a way I long for a quiet Christmas, just me and the missis.... but the family tribe and their attachments (boyfriends) always descend on us for the duration, leaving us with cupboards bare and bottles empty (**) Its lovely for a while, course it is.... but when New Year`s Eve approaches (more interesting `parties` with their hip friends elsewhere on that day hehe) and the last of them finally departs; I do sigh an enormous breath of relief, because then I know us `old folk` can really... PARTYYYYYY, LETS ROCK!!!!!! as only us oldies know how ^^

    (**) we have grown wise in our own age, and always well and truly hide some choice food treats and a bottle or two for ourselves.

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    1. It's not all doom and gloom here, Steve. I'll be watching lots of DVDs as the TV offerings are really poor. And I'll be painting figures and playing board-games. I do think my partying days are over but I wish you and Hils all the best. How sensible to hide some food treats and drinks for yourselves!

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  3. Wow, what an absolutely cracking review Bryan. As Steve states your utter joy with this game is tremendous and if I hadn't bought into this Kickstarter myself then I'd be completely green with envy. It all looks superb and I'm delighted it carries the Vampifan Seal of Approval (VSoA) having invested so heavily into it myself. In many ways I now regret having a considerable amount of miniatures primed and ready to paint for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, as I can imagine the fun you're going to have painting and converting all these minis over the next few weeks/months :-) Perhaps I'll take the cellophane off of my box and have a look inside...

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    1. Thanks very much, Simon. This most certainly does get the VSoA! Oh yes, I'm going to have a lot of fun painting and converting the figures from the game. I'm in two minds about whether you should open your box. For the most part, I'd say, of course you should open it. Do it now! But do that and I just know you'll get sucked in and bang goes your painting challenge!

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    2. I do have a cunning plan if I can get through my intended minis by February, as I would hope I can use a lot of these "Black Plague" minis for "Frostgrave" too ;-)

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    3. That's a brilliant plan, Simon! They would fit in so well. That's what I call a win-win situation.

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  4. The contents of the game look fab Bryan. Your enthusiasm for the game is infectious (like a zombie bite lol) and I wish I had gotten into zombicide but Bushido is calling so my gaming budget is too stretched. I trust that when you have displayed the minis in all their painted glory my willpower will be sorely tested though. Have fun buddy!

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    1. Thanks, Andy. The game doesn't go on general sale for probably three or more months so if your finances improve perhaps you could buy it then. I'm going to be spending the first part of 2016 painting the figures from the game in order to show them on my blog as soon as possible.

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  5. Well what can I say. I am thrilled that you have a nice pre Christmas gift. I hope you remain thrilled with it for many years to come and I look forward to seeing the pieces painted. (as I am sure they will be pretty soon.)

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    1. Cheers, Clint. This was the perfect Christmas gift for me. I'm looking forward to getting many years of pleasure from it. Yes, I'll be posting pictures of my painted minis sooner rather than later.

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  6. This was one of the few Kickstarters i have been tempted by, but appeared at a time when there was no spare gaming budget *sigh* Nice 'unboxing', Bryan. Better to hear a genuine review from someone I know and trust - once I've seen what you've done with the figures, I may very well be looking to get my own copy. :)

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    1. I hear what you're saying, Jez. I've had to let a fair few Kickstarters pass due to a lack of funds. I do hope I can persuade you to invest in this wonderful game after you've seen the figures painted by me.

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  7. Nice review and unboxing Bryan! It's good to know that Guillotine are still producing quality products. I had to pass on this, lack of funds and the whole fantasy thing just doesn't float my boat anymore. Give me a pump action shotgun any day of the week. I do wish you the best with it though Dude.
    Are you going to be investing in the Black Plague paint set?

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    1. Thanks, Bob. I know you hate fantasy but I've rediscovered my passion for it. Yes, I will certainly will buy the Black Plague paint set.

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  8. Nice to see Santa visited you early this year. I am looking forward to my copy arriving soon. It looks great!

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    1. Santa certainly did arrive early this year, Rob. I hope you enjoy the game as much as I have.

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  9. *sings, from Fiddler on the Roof*

    "WONDER OF WONDER, MIRACLE OF MIRACLES"

    Bingo!!!!!

    My own copy of Black Plague just arrived in the post.

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    1. WOOT, WOOT, WOOT! I couldn't be happier for you, Steve. What a great Christmas present to receive just in time for the big day. Have fun and enjoy it!

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