Zombicide Black Plague

Zombicide Black Plague is a great board game, with simple rules that can be learned in half an hour, fast moving play, tension-filled in-game situations, tactical and strategic challenges, and a true cooperative play experience. For those with experience with the original Zombicide, note that Black Plague is a different experience in that your characters are less victims trying to survive a zombie apocalypse than skilled and equipped heroes who are fighting back against the zombie horde. Everyone starts out with a viable weapon, and the equipment just gets better from there after a few searches. There is plenty of zombie hack and slash in this game. In the course of a single quest, high dozens to hundreds of zombies will be slaughtered as these heroes valiantly strive to push back the undead tide. And yet that might not enough for most of the scenarios. The character's abilities will have to be used to the utmost in combination with a well-thought out plan of attack for the particular challenge of each quest if the characters are to overcome both the unrelenting horde and fickle fate (i.e. die rolls and card draws). The game materials are of very good quality. The game board tiles beautifully evoke a medieval setting, and there are multiple varieties of miniatures for each zombie type. Set up and tear down is not too bad, averaging 10-15 minutes each for one to two people, and probably less with more help. All in all this game provides a fun, challenging, and immersive experience for those who enjoy fantasy/medieval themes, the zombie apocalypse genre, or both. If there's a downside, it is that there's no character progression from scenario to scenario. The characters go through the full power progression each and every quest, just like regular Zombicide. Oh well, there's always Massive Darkness to look forward to.

I absolutely adore Zombicide: Black Plague! This is my first entrance into board games in general - although I have sculpted and painted miniatures for years. For the money, I don't think you can do much better than this! Key points I've observed: Easy to understand and play. My 8 year old daughter figured out the core mechanics within a few minutes and was blazing a path through the encroaching horde on the 2nd turn. She has a much easier time staying engaged with this thanks to all the visuals - a miniature representing her character, cards (with excellent artwork), a leveling system -- all of this kept her attention far better than Pathfinder or other games where you're reliant more on the story than the visual. Outstanding figure quality. The miniatures are extremely impressive for a board game. Each character has excellent detail, and easily distinguished on the board (even without paint). The zombies do have limited poses, but each of their core sculpts was executed very well. While they may not be up to the same level of detail as say something from Games Workshop -- I wouldn't expect them to. At the price point, and their intended purpose, they're an absolute bargain. Modular system with expansion. We're already eyeing some of the upcoming character releases, and the guest artists boxes. There is even a crossover planned for their other game: Massive Dark (which just finished kickstarter), so there should be plenty of repeat play-ability. Overall, this is a fantastic game. Highly recommend picking it up, whether if you're a fan of the genera, like painting miniatures, or are just looking for a good game to play with family and friends :)

I have played all of the other editions of Zombicide and this one has quickly become my favorite. While the core rules are pretty much the same as the modern versions, there are several differences that set this version, and it's companion Wulfsburg, apart. First, the card holders with the peg system is outstanding. It is so much easier to organize the cards and keep track of levels with the trays in this version. They are made of a thin plastic. I feel like they would be easy to break if you were hard on them (such as dropping them from the table onto a hard floor) but over the three games we've played since it arrived, they've held up well. Second, the necromancer makes the game much more interesting, especially if you are not able to kill it before it escapes. For those that haven't read the rules, when a necromancer spawns, a new spawn point is added to the board. If you can kill the necromancer before it escapes the board, then you can remove a spawn point of your choice, if not, then all spawn points, including the new one, remain. There are rules for necromancer cabals as well if you buy the necromancer expansions (I have not purchased these yet but intend to at some point in the future). Third, there are color disks to attach to the bottom of the player characters. This is a little thing, but it makes identifying whose character is who so much easier, especially when you are not familiar with how the characters look. In the other versions, we often had problems where one person would move the wrong character, so this solves that up very nicely. Also, the color pegs you use on your plastic card holders match the color disk, making it even easier to identify player characters. Finally, the vaults are a unique touch. On the missions we have played, there are two secret doors, both of the same color. When you open these secret doors, they lead to a vault that often has special vault equipment in them and is separate from the gameplay board. These are great for getting special items and for navigating across distances on the board. For example, in one mission the purple vault door is positioned in the top left of the board and the other purple vault door is positioned in the bottom right. This allows the player to traverse the board in one or two turns, which can be very handy. While I still enjoy the other versions of Zombicide, Black Plague has quickly become my favorite version. If you have never played any of the Zombicide versions, this would be a great one to start with. If you are a Zombicide regular, I encourage you to add this to your collection. We've had a lot of fun with this and I can safely say that with this version, you don't always win!

The basic premise of Zombicide is pretty simple: Navigate your heroes through a set of objectives while carving through zombies of various flavors. What seems like a dreadfully simple concept is complicated by particular rules both you and the zombies must follow (the zombies basically 'play themselves' by using rules with precedence -- e.g. "attack someone in your square before moving to another square, etc.") Your band of heroes (6) all have special abilities to help with the fight, and there is a degree of customization as you level up and decide what future skills you get. However, as your party levels, so do the zombies (typically by increasing their numbers, but sometimes through extra moves, etc.). You don't just attack or search for items - you can also cast spells (when found), make noise to distract zombies, etc. You also have to plan out your actions with your co-players, because bad strategies end games very quickly! The materials are all good quality -- the variable 'game board' is really up to 9 large, thick, dual-sided cardboard tiles, with lots of other tokens used to represent doors, objectives, spawn points, etc. Games typically go from about 1 hour to 2 or more, depending on how you approach each quest (there are 10) -- but it's a HECK OF A LOT better than a repetitive Monopoly game (my son's former favorite). I'm not a huge board game buyer, but I've already began painting my figurines (my photo shows my first foot soldier zombie) and we bought the Bosses expansion pack (WOW, talk about awesome!) There are a few cons that are worth mentioning, though they are definitely minor: 1) The 9 board tiles may be slightly warped when you open the box. This isn't horrible, but you notice it since you have to line up these tiles on your table to make a particular scenario. The Fix -- Either *gently* counter-bend them or just set them 'upside down' for a while with a flat weight on them all and they'll straighten up perfectly. 2) The equipment and zombie cards are tiny. This is a bummer because A) I'd love to see the cards larger to enjoy the artwork more and B) shuffling them is a major PITA because they're not big enough to really riffle / waterfall (I mean, it can be done and I've done it, but 50% of the time it's not worth the hassle). 3) Not really a 'con' but a note- these zombies are 1.5" tall (the foot solders), so they're not huge, but they're pretty darn detailed. There are larger figures (the necromancer and abomination and fatty) and the bosses expansion (sold separately) are massive. Highly recommended game -- it's awesome.

The fact that this isn’t a post-apocalyptic modern times, Walking Dead rip off like every other zombie thing ever is what caught my attention. And I’m loving it. If you enjoy the theme and Fantasy Flight style PvE miniature board games this is right up your alley. The rules are relatively simple and straight forward, the minis themselves are well made, and the gameplay is a good mix of fun/fast-paced and challenging and is neither too easy or too hard. My only complaints are as follows: 1. Like with FFG there are some rule specifics that aren’t 100% clear and you’ll have to hit the internet for clarification. 2. The base game comes with one necromancer and one abomination yet features cards that want you to bring in more. This isn’t a big deal as the rules can be changed to account for this but still...the fact that additional necromancers and abominations are hard to find (for reasonable prices) isn’t fun either. 3. If you end up liking this game and are the type who wants to collect everything associated with it that will be challenging without spending hundreds of dollars. I guess this was a kickstarter thing a few years ago and since then most of the content aside from the core box and expansion boxes either never went retail or did and haven’t been reprinted yet (if they ever will be). Special Guest hero boxes, additional enemy boxes, etc are out there but can range from being normal, fair retail price to being double, triple, or even quadruple their original cost.

This was my first foray into the Zombicide world, after following a recommendation from Geek & Sundry. I had only played two other miniature-based RPG-lite-style boardgames prior to this one (Mansions of Madness, Mice & Mystics) and, upon seeing the sheer amount of pieces and minis Zombicide had inside the box, I was worried it would be overly-complicated and rule-heavy (a la Mansions of Madness). However, I was pleasantly surprised as Zombicide: Black Plague has a comfortable ease-of-play while maintaining re-playability even with the 10 base maps just because your Zombie draw will always be different. Don't mistake ease-of-play with easy-to-beat, though. I have only gotten to play a handful of times, but we've struggled with conquering the first quest. That said, we've also not yet tried it with a full complement of team members. That is one thing that I enjoy about this game -- you can play as many characters as you want. At first, when I read that rule, I thought that would be overwhelming, but seeing as each character only has 3 hit points, you're going to want to be playing multiple characters (if less than 6 players at the table). All in all, a great game with an extensive and informative rulebook (with a peppering of humorous quips from the protagonists), protective in-box miniature organization, handy player "dashboards" to keep your items and equipment organized in-game (something Lovecraft-based games like Eldritch Horror or Arkham Horror would do well to consider), high replayability, and the opportunity to create custom quests/maps using the 9 double-sided map tiles. If you're looking for a fun zombie-survival game, I would highly recommend picking up Zombicide: Black Plague.

My family is new to the Zombicide franchise, but we have experience playing Mansions of Madness, Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth, Castle Panic, and many others. We picked up Zombicide Black Plague because we wanted a new game that didn't require as much time to play through and had fast gameplay. The base game comes with 10 quests of varying difficulty and additional quests can be found on the Zombicide website. I think it is fairly easy to make your own quests as well. Pros: -Lots of combat, yet still requires strategy -characters can be leveled up and acquire new skills -Plenty of detailed enemies -Instructions are easy to follow (occasionally had to go on the internet for clarification) -A lot of the quests require 6 players, but it is easy to control multiple characters -Generally fast gameplay, but some quests can be lengthy (due to strategizing- it can get hectic with the amount of enemies on the board :-)) Cons: -We changed one rule when it came to ranged combat. We didn't like that you could still hit a friendly in your own space if you failed on a dice roll. It makes more sense if you are targeting an enemy in a space further away that you could possibly hit your teammate if they occupy the same space as an enemy. -We would have liked to see more base quests included, but like I said above, you can find more on the Zombicide website. -Would have been nice if more tiles were included to further increase variability (not a game breaker though). -It can be a little frustrating when it comes to killing an abomination in the base game because it requires you to have dragon bile and a torch or Samson has to have the +1 damage skill (if you have the Wulfsburg expansion, you have more tools at your disposal to kill harder enemies). All in all, I highly recommend this game and it has been very fun. We definitely have our share of "epic" moments when we for sure thought we were done for.

Package arrived faster than I expected and boy was I excited when I saw it sitting on my porch. I opened it as soon as I could get it inside and was immediately impressed by the amount of content you get with this game and how well it is packaged. The tiles are thick and have a good weight. The punch out pieces are made of the same material and feel very durable. All of the figures are high quality and have amazing detail. They are packaged tightly so they arrived with no damage. Each piece has its own place in the plastic inserts that come with the box and makes for some what easy and organized clean-up. At least until you buy something better, such as a foam case made specifically for miniatures. My only complaint is with the size of the cards that come with it. The inventory cards and zombie spawn cards are TINY. They look like they are made for a child's hands, and even then they could still be considered small. The inventory cards I understand a little bit, as each character has a plastic tray that helps you organize your equipment and inventory, but the zombie spawning cards could have been a little bigger. As far as the game play goes I have not had the time to get through all ten quests included with the game, but the few I played were fun, interesting and lasted long enough that I was satisfied with the extremely long setup time involved to get a game started. I highly recommend playing with 6 characters on each campaign, regardless of how many actual players you have. It was just my girlfriend and I playing for our first few games, and on the first one we only played with 4 characters (2 each) and died very quickly. We tried again with 6 and the game ran much smoother and we were able to come out victorious! The over all gameplay is fairly easy to learn, but there are a lot of rules you need to remember. However, repetition makes them easier to comprehend and after a few games everything with run smoothly. That being said, this game can be very difficult. If you don't work together or plan out your moves you can very easily be overwhelmed by the oncoming zombie hoards. In one scenario we played an 'extra activation' card was turned, giving all basic zombies an extra turn. This led to one of our heroes being killed immediately, with nothing we could do to prevent it. There will be times the game seems unfair, but it is all part of the challenge. Don't misunderstand me though, this game is extremely well balanced, it was just designed to be difficult, so if that isn't your thing or you are looking for just a casual game I would find something else. Each game lasts anywhere from 30 mins to over an hour depending on what spawns you draw and how you play the game, with setup taking anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, and tear down taking about the same. All in all the quality of this game, the sheer amount of content included, and the option to expand the game with expansion packs make this a must buy for anyone who enjoys zombie games, miniature games or (if you are like me) Dungeons & Dragons style adventures.