Fight Zombie Elvis Impersonators!

 

Zombicide: Army of the Dead by CMON (their last one, I believe) came out late in 2024. A tie-in to the movie of the same name, it was a natural fit.

I pre-ordered a copy and...waited and waited. Finally the notice of shipment!

Six months later I got it. There was a FedEx truck crash in Arizona, insurance claims, and re-stocking woes. It was quite the thing. So when it did finally arrive mid last year I glanced at it, and put it on the pile of "Games I need to get to". 

Somedays, you just wake up and want to kill Zombies. So we pulled it it out to give it a go.

The interesting thing is that this is the only Zombicide product that did not have a crowd funding campaign to launch it. As a result, it is a lean one box set without a pile of (too many) add-ons.

The Good:

Character and Zombie sculpts are amazing. Great variation of Zombie figs, and the three Abominations are really well done.

The graphics are very nice. Sharp and vibrant. The bright fuchsia character boards are well designed and useful. A few minor tweaks to the base rules keep this a fast playing zombie crawl.

The Disappointing:

Nothing really bad or wrong with this game (provided you can enjoy the Zombicide gameplay), so I will just get to the things I wish they would have done.

Missions: Only ten, with no real flow to them. The movie set-up is just perfect for a campaign mode, but no luck there. 

Standard Issues I have with the Zombicide System: Searching is too random and too necessary. The Out of Ammo roll can just doom you very early. Abominations being so all-or-nothing. Zombie actions being too predictable. A bit of randomness in their behavior would spice things up.

Overall, I enjoy this version and we will definitely play through all ten missions and see which ones will be worth replaying. Recommended. 

Go Roll Some Dice

Just Avoid Snake Eyes

Printer Working Hard

 

Longer better, posts next month. Probably. Continuing the short posts for a short month theme: Some Pics of a 3D print!

These are some very nice 28mm sci-fi city buildings. I plan to use them for Cyberpunk and Sci-Fi skirmish games. I have a bunch of street scatter terrain to print up next. It should be very cool.

Go Print Something

Not Everything has to be Grimdark.

  

Tyranid Attack

 

It's been a very busy month. So here is a short form post of pics from a Guard Vs. Tyranid battle from last month.

A fun battle that saw the first use of my newly painted Tyranid terrain. The Guard put up a valiant fight, but it went so wrong, so fast, that by turn three I only had a handful of troopers left. Time for a rematch.

Go Roll Some Dice

Just Shoot Straight For Once

Everyone Loves Hot Mechs (Pt.II)

I had picked up the 35th anniversary started box, mainly because the Unseen were back with really great new minis. I was going to paint up a new Black Widow Company to replace my long lost metal figs just for fun. Then the came the Clans Kickstarter, and hoo-boy the flood gates of awesome mech sculpts were opened. 

Battletech had always had an art problem. I'll not go into it here, as there are many entertaining videos about the '80s and '90s BattleTech art on YouTube. But wow, there was some seriously bad art and mech designs. Add that to the weirdly anemic metal mech miniatures and new players stayed away in droves. 

But now: super clean art, great "realistic" mech designs with well done plastic minis. Home Run.

The kicker for me was Alpha Strike. BattleTech Total Warfare is a wargame, Alpha Strike is a miniatures game. Subtle, but important difference. I enjoy the scale of Alpha Strike more, not to mention the much smoother, faster gameplay. So it's back to the 31st/32nd century for me.

As far as the "everybody is leaving 40K for BattleTech now!" goes, simple answer is no, of course not.

Did some? Sure. I don't know anyone who completely gave up 40K because of BattleTech. (Some of our group gave up 40K for different reasons) 

I still play 40K, I just started playing Battletech again. I love both franchises. Both games (and parent companies) have problems with rules and business issues. Both give me different, good, sci-fi gaming experiences. Battletech is slightly easier to get into, but still has this kinda obtuse wall of Lore that can dissuade new players. Alpha Strike is by far the more teachable rules set, and the box set is a fantastic starting point. 

I'm very pleased to see BattleTech make a comeback on the tabletop. I hope they can sustain it.
 

Go Roll Some Dice

Enjoy the Mech Renaissance