Z War One - Lockdown.

Played a game of Robafetts recent acquisition "Z War One" a zombie survival boardgame.

From the producers website -

"Z War One is the world's first episodic, comic book board game. It blends classic survival horror & RPG themes with intense tactical combat & an epic comic book narrative, to provide a cinematic & truly unique gaming experience."

Rob had already played one game and has managed to paint up all the miniatures for the game. We played the second scenario in the comic book, where our heroes have to secure a rescue depot by powering up the generator and putting the doors on lockdown. The problem is that the place is already swarming with Z's and the generator requires fuel, inconveniently located in a far room on the second floor. The heroes need to battle through the Z's, obtain the fuel and secure the generator and security rooms.

We join our heroes (Cole Carter, Victor Dixon, Katrina Petrov and Dr. Sam Morgan) as they enter the building. As they enter, slow shuffling and groans can be heard from deep inside.

Victor immediately forgets the main objective and decides to start searching rooms. He is soon to regret this...

Further along the corridor an open shutter allows Z's to crawl into the building.

Victor opens the door and is confronted with three shambling Z's inside!

He makes short work of them with his shotgun...but ammo is scarce in this game.

Meanwhile, Katrina, Sam and Cole make their way down the main corridor, slow and steady, covering all approaches.

Suddenly, from around the corner ahead of them, a small group of Z's move (surprisingly) quickly towards them!

In the dense confines of the corridor, they soon take care care of the issue, wiping the Z's out, leaving only one (oddly one of many in a Southend United kit) writhing on the floor...

Another two Z's appear but our heroes are ready.

Attracted by the noise (maybe?) another group of Z's on the upper level make their way slowly to the stairs...

Katrina, Cole and Sam continue to methodically make their way towards the stairwell at the end of the corridor, dealing with any Z's on the way.

As they approach, the Z's from upstairs finally begin to arrive on the lower level...

Meanwhile, Victor has become distracted with his searching and dealing with the occasional 'roamer' back near the entrance. At least his search turns up a sledgehammer!

He then sprints up the corridor to join his colleagues who have just hit a snag at the bottom of the stairwell!

The fighting is intense and Cole, in typical Hollywood action hero style, decides to throw himself in between an advancing Z and Katrina...resulting in him missing his shot and the Z grabbing him. In the ensuing melee, the Z is dealt with but Cole is bitten on the arm!

Finally clearing the stairwell, Sam runs upstairs and using his 'stink-spray' becomes practically invisible to the remaining Z's on the upper level. He soon finds the required fuel and easily deals with the lone Z in the room.

Cole and Victor stay at the bottom of the stairs to secure the area. By this point Cole is a little groggy from his bite and has used up all his ammo. Victor has two shots left in his shotgun but hands Cole his 9mm Auto. After a few more Z attacks, Victor hefts his newly found sledgehammer. Cole is starting to look a little worse for wear...

 

Katrina meanwhile, runs upstairs to assist Sam...

Who is apparently doing perfectly okay on his own. Seeing he has the fuel, she decides to secure the Security room.

Katrina has also found another pistol. She also finds a Medical pack, which he quickly hands over to Sam, barking instructions to rush it down to the sickly Cole...it may just save him if he is in time?

Katrina ducks back into the Security room, ready for the boys to kick the generator into action. Cole rushes upstairs when he hears Sam calling for him and the doctor administers the treatment from the Med pack, saving Cole at the last minute!

At this point is was all effectively over bar the odd random Z wandering about. Success for the heroes!*

All in all a great game. Very simple to pick up but you really have to think tactically about your moves and positioning. It reminds me (a little) of the excellent old Aliens boardgame by Leading Edge.

The introductory comic book story for each scenario is a nice touch to give a sense of context to what you are doing in the game. 

A straightforward Action Point system allows you many options and there is enough variety in the characters to make them each valuable for different tasks. The 'AI' for the Z's works well and the 'smell distance' mechanic is great fun and can catch you out with that classic Zombie 'lunge' as they speed up when they are in grabbing distance!

This is very much a co-operative game. Go it alone at you own peril! 

There are a few tense moments in the game too. Being swarmed by the Z's is pretty bad news and being bitten by them is not advised! Cole came dangerously close to succumbing to his bite wound after his stupidly heroic action to put himself between a lunging Z and Katrina. Good job she found a Med pack as another couple of turns may have put him on the Z side...and Rob doesn't have the Z version of the Cole figure yet...

Good game and cannot wait to play the next episode of the story.

*No Chicken Curries were found during this adventure.

Game and figures all by Dice Sports. Owned and painted by Robafett.