The world has come to an end! Zombies run rampant in the streets, and your only priority is simply to survive!
My gaming group recently got together to play the print and play game version of the zombie survival game Zombie Plague, and, to our great delight, had a blast doing so. This was our first foray into the survival game genre, but as big fans of co-op gaming, we were excited to give it a go. Here's my breakdown of Zombie Plague:
 |
| Our group stands ready for action. Bring it on, you undead filth! (While experimenting with a new art style, I made custom minis for my gaming group.) |
I was surprised at the simplicity of the rules (I was expecting something a lot more complicated along the lines of a true tabletop RPG), but I actually really appreciated that simplicity as it made the game run more quickly and smoothly.
- Each turn, you get 6 action points to spend as needed to move or rotate 90 degrees, attack zombies, search for gear, barricade a window or door, or tear down a barricade.
- The attack mechanic involves rolling a single six-sided die (for most weapons) to see how you fare. Weapons have different ranges at which its attack will kill, hit (push a zombie back 1 square), miss, or epic fail and break.
- There are no hit points or life tracking in Zombie Plague. You either kill the zombie with a hit or you don't. Zombies either successfully bite you when they attack or they don't.
- After each of the survivors take a turn, the zombie horde gets to act. There can be a maximum of 5 zombies on the board for each player, and each zombie gets 3 action points. That can add up to a lot of slow-moving death headed your way. Fortunately for the other players, there are a few directives that the zombies must adhere to, such as "zombies don't strategically plan" and "zombies will react to noise".
 |
| This particular game board consists of a house, unattached garage, and a car in the driveway. |
Aside from trying to not die, your ultimate goal is for the players to collectively search various "search squares" on the game board (in order to gear up for surviving the zombie apocalypse), then either successfully escape (such as everyone getting in the car AND having the car keys) or successfully barricade yourselves all together in a room.
 |
| Me standing outside by the bushes. Sadly, I would never make it into the house with the others... |
I had a blast playing this with my group. The game was easy to learn; it probably took 10 minutes to explain everything. The game mechanics were simple, yet effective, and provided for enough decision making without causing analysis paralysis. BoardGameGeek says Zombie Plague can be played in an hour. Our game took closer to 2 hours, but to be fair, we were playing pretty causally and enjoying hanging out. If we really sat down and focused, I have no doubt we could rip through a game in 45 to 60 minutes.
Important Links
There is a TON of great player-made print and play content out there for Zombie Plague. I'll highlight a few, but I recommend perusing the offerings of Zombie Plague files on BoardGameGeek for more.
- Flytrap's Zombie Plague 10th Anniversary Edition
- Great player-made set of cards for the game. A definite must!
- The only thing this doesn't contain is a game board as Flytrap recommends using Kwanchai's Zombie Plague Redesign board (see link below).
- Kwanchai's Zombie Plague Redesign
- A complete print and play set, including game board. While I prefer the updated look of Flytrap's cards, the cards in this set are a little more printer ink-friendly.
- Kwanchai's Zombie Plague Expansion Maps
- Kwanchai presents two alternative player-made maps.
- The Church By the Cemetery Expansion
- Another great alternate map by Kwanchai
- Miniatures
- Zombie Game Themed Cutouts by Palsley
- While I made custom "survivor" minis for myself and my gaming group, we used the zombies in this PDF. There are survivor tokens in this set as well.
- iheartprintandplay Zombie Horde
- I decided to take some of my D&D zombie minis and reformat them to match the size of those put together by Palsley.
Never played Zombie Plague. Your survivors look like fun.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely recommend it. It was a lot of fun to play, even when you lose horribly. =)
DeleteAnd thanks! It was fun experimenting with an art style outside my wheelhouse of stick figures. It's definitely something I'll be expanding on in the future.