The Walking Dead Board Game Review. (A bit lengthy)

The Walking Dead Board Game $29.99 @ ThinkGeek.com.  (AKA The best site EVER) 

The Walking Dead Board Game!

Everyday I have this debate on whether or not I'm going to check out ThinkGeek's "What's New" tab.  I always end up doing it, and it seems I ALWAYS end up buying something.  TG might be able to survive off of my business alone..  You're welcome you stupid Caffeinated Monkeys!  Not only do they have the coolest stuff around the net, their service is wonderful, shipping is super fast, and you earn geek points that gets you free stuff!  I'm not sure if I just happen to live in the right place, or if their team of monkeys sends my packages through hyperspace, but I always receive my packages within 2 days of placing my order!  

The other day a Walking Dead Board Game magically appeared under the What's New tab. Now if you aren't familiar with AMC's series The Walking Dead, I don't know what is wrong with you, but you should definitely check it out!  Needless to say I bought the game and figured I'd write a nice little review about it. It's ZOMBIES for crying out loud..

The game is for Ages 15 and up.

1-4 players. (Which is cool for those of us with no friends!)

Unboxing:  Me and the BF ripped into this thing like savage beasts.  The 3 card decks are wrapped so tight you probably should just get out a razor blade and save yourself a few minutes.  You have to punch out all of the game pieces and player cards.  It's simple.  Takes about 2 minutes.  The game board itself is a giant mousepad!  It's nice for the fact that it's pretty much indestructible, but I think it makes the writing and detail of the board really washed out.  It doesn't look bad by all means, but some of the writing is really hard to read.  Once you've punched out all your pieces and unrolled the game board, you are ready to read the instruction booklet and begin playing.

Objective of the game:  The objective of the game is to collect all 4 location tiles and return to camp without turning into a zombie!  Easy Peasy, huh!

Rules/Gameplay:  It comes with a large bright orange book that will happily teach you how to play.  Now if you are anything like me, you always want to dive right into the game, without having to read the instructions..  I don't suggest this approach for this game.  Me and the BF were playing it wrong and it really took some of the fun away.  We were skimming the instructions, but still we played wrong..  It wasn't until I decided to sit down by myself (Thank you solo play!) that I finally decided to learn how to play.  

There are a few different modes to play all revolving around the normal play mode.  There is solo play which is played with most of the same rules as normal play, and there is Team Zombie vs Team Human (Which I did not get to play yet).  You can play as a walker (which once again I didn't try) or as one of the main Characters from the show (Shane, Rick, Lori, Dale, Andrea, or Glenn).  I'm not sure why Daryl wasn't included in the playable characters but whatevs..  Each character has a different special that they can use once per game to get them out of a bind if needed.  It's printed right on the character card.  

My dealt scrounge deck

To start the game you choose your character.  You build a Scrounge deck which consists of 10 cards per player.  Ex: If you are playing with 4 people, the deck will have 40 cards.. (duh)  Each player is dealt 5 cards from the built scrounge deck.  You can reveal your scrounge cards, or keep them hidden.. Your choice.  The rest of the scrounge cards are placed on the board where it says scrounge cards.  These Scrounge cards are going to be what helps you survive zombie encounters along your journey. 

You roll the die to see who goes first.. blah blah blah... You could also get creative and chose some other way if you aren't into the cliche who goes first rule.  The board consists of 4 regions that each contain one specific location tile (Police Station, CDC, Abandoned Car Lot, Convenient Store).  Gaining those location tiles will win you the game.  

Camp. Starting/Ending/Safe zone..

You start off at a camp in the center of the board, roll the die and move the spaces on the die.  You can move in any direction to spare you from disastrous tiles too, which is cool.  Most of the tiles are going to result in an encounter..  They definitely aren't going to make the journey easy for you!  

The 2nd out of the 3 decks is your encounter deck.  This is going to be the root of the game.  Pretty much any space you land on will result in an encounter.  For an encounter you draw a card from the encounter deck.  More than likely you will encounter a zombie, but sometimes you'll luck out with a card that says "Nothing happens" and you will be safe from an encounter and the next person will go ahead and play their turn.  Now a zombie encounter card that is an actual encounter will have a number on it.  This number will be the strength of the zombie.  To defeat the zombie you must attack it with the roll of the die.  If the number on the die is equal to or greater than the number on the encounter card, you win the battle.. If you roll a 6, you automatically win any battle.  Now the only fighting chance you really have against an encounter such as a 9 strength Zombie Horde, lies in your scrounge card hand.  You must choose a scrounge card (or however many you wish) BEFORE you attack.  Scrounge cards add strength to your attack. 

Now what makes the game a little more interesting are the bonuses/penalties some of the cards will hold.  Some encounter cards will have an "If you win draw a scrounge card and add it to your hand" If you lose draw another encounter card"..  "No scrounge cards may be used on this encounter"  you know.. stuff like that.  There can also be a penalty for using scrounge cards, though.  Like using the shotgun.  If you roll a 1 while using the shotgun you must draw another encounter card.  It's because the sound of your shotgun drew more zombies!  You also must discard the scrounge card after the first encounter unless one of them states it's good until the next players turn.   You discard all the used scrounge cards.  Once you are out of scrounge cards, you must survive on your own.. The deck does not regenerate and the more people you have, the quicker it goes.  Choose wisely young grasshoppers..

So you lost an encounter?  Don't worry, you aren't a zombie yet!  Each player starts with 2 allies.  There is also a small ally pool in which you may be able to gain allies from.  You lose an encounter, you give up one of your allies.  This ally however, is dead..  You do not place it back into the ally pool.. If you lose an encounter and have no allies left, you turn into a zombie and start the game as a walker..  Your goal now is to kill the humans.  Zombie Walkers hold a few perks..  Like now you will be able to access the sewage pipes for shortcutting.. Totally worth being a zombie, right?  Like I said I didn't really play as a walker, so I'm not sure how it works.  All I know is that they have a special hand and deck that is aimed for killing the humans.  I'm guessing it's pretty much the same game play. 

The 4 location tile cards you need to collect!

When you land on one of the 4 location tiles that you are trying to win, you must survive 2 zombie encounters in order to collect the tile.  If it's a success, you pick up the location card and add it to your player card.  Each of the 4 location cards has an added perk you use to better your chances in a zombie encounter.  Once you are in possession of the 4 tiles, you must head back to camp in order to win.

A few other little things that I like about the game..  It doesn't make you roll the exact amount of spaces to land on the location tiles.  You stop on them any time you pass them.  You can also return to camp the same way.  Anytime you pass camp you can stop for "No encounter".  The perks and penalties really add to the game.  Makes it more realistic.   The cards are beautifully designed with stills from the series..  I honestly look forward to playing this game with 4 people.  For being a money maker for the series, I didn't expect too much out of it.  It turned out to be a pretty fun game.  

Encounter and Scrounge card battle.

Only problem I had with it was when I landed on a scrounge card space that required me to draw a scrounge card and then use it on an encounter card.  My encounter card that I drew said I couldn't use a scrounge card.  The two cards kind of clashed and the directions didn't state whether or not I was allowed to use it still, so I used it anyways.  Not really a big deal, but I hope more cards don't clash with each other.  All in all I really like the game.  For me not being too into board games, I like this one.