Polygon A&A&Z article, June 6, 2018

[thethedew]

I dunno, I think the adjustments to play will make this game an interesting variant.

-does it look to you all like zombie units can’t move from territory to territory?  Seems like it to me.  Also, since the Zombies go first on every player’s turn, does that mean zombies go first wherever that particular player is facing them, or worldwide, against everyone, wherever there’s zombies present?  That gives the Zombie Hordes five worldwide shots against the living for every round of play.  Might be too powerful, unless zombies attack at 1 (which they presumably do).  Might be too powerful anyway.

-it seems like most of the nations would probably avoid purchasing Infantry if they can help it.  Except that leaves the Russian player in quite a pickle, as Infantry has always been the lynchpin of Russian defense.  Can he afford (both strategically and financially) to purchase all tanks and artillery?  I doubt it.

-The Infantry Bite-Proof Armor and the Zombie Mind-Control Rays might be the ‘Heavy Bomber’ of this game.

• the Zombie Capture Transport sounds hilarious.  Don’t have units of your own to transport into battle?  Snatch up a couple of coastal Zombies and dump them on an enemy coastline to rob him of IPC’s.  I wonder if you can Battleship Bombard along with a zombie drop-off.

Can’t wait to see what other wrinkles are in store when this hits the shelves!

[Midnight_Reaper]

I was looking at the zombie cards when I noticed two more things about this game:

1. I think that they will have custom dice. If you look at the zombie card on the right, the one about adding zombies to Spain, there’s some interesting text at the bottom:
   
   “On a roll of 1-3, get 1 arty; on a roll of 4-5, get 1 tank; on a roll of {special symbol}, get 1 fighter.”
   That tells me that the dice will go from 1-6, with the 6s replaced with a special symbol…

2. I think there will be limited ways to move zombies around. If you look at the zombie card on the left, the one about adding zombies to Hawaii, there’s some interesting text at the bottom:
   
   “Choose a zombie occupied territory. Move half of the zombies in that territory (rounded up) into an adjacent territory.”
   I bet the “Zombie Mind Control Ray” will work in a similar fashion, for one territory of a player’s choice per turn.

-Midnight_Reaper

[robert t]

I assumed the dice would be normal D-6 with a symbol instead of the 6 pips.

Zombies look to be static and movement is card driven. Otherwise it would be more of a world against zombies game.

I don’t know if zombies will be a 1 to 1 replacement in battle though.
There are only 30 zombie minis. I guess they will be chipped up high on the Russian front.

[lozmoid]

This game is starting to look cool now we’re seeing more of the art and mechanics!  :-)

[CWO Marc]

I don’t imagine it will take very long, after the game gets published, for someone to develop a set of house rules in which the zombies can get captured by a player and weaponized for use against other players – say, for instance, by dropping them from a bomber onto an opponent’s capital.  And since they’re already dead, they wouldn’t even need parachutes, so in their case there would be no need for a paratrooper tech upgrade.

[DoManMacgee]

Those card images just gave me a thought. Both of them are divided into a “desperate times” (spawns a Zombie(s)) and a “desperate measures” (provides some other bonus to the turn player). I wonder if we’ll get differently named cards…

Additionally, one of the cards mentions something about a “Infantry Reward” for “liberating a Zombie controlled territory.” Interested to know more details on that.

And another point. If a Territory is “Zombie-controlled,” does that mean neither player collects IPCs from it?

Side-note: I thought of an even more devious use of the Zombies’ spawning conditions.

Scenario: My Soviet Stack is next to my opponent’s Nazi Stack. At least one of our stacks is heavy in INF.

1. I attack the Nazi Stack.
2. After I’ve either lost all my INF or have dealt sufficient damage to the Germans, I withdraw the Soviets.
3. Zombies spawn in the territory where the battle took place.
4. I pass turn.
5. The rest of the Nazi Stack is wiped out by Zombies.

Might totally change the dynamics of when it’s considered “safe” to have your stack adjacent to an enemy stack.

[robert t]

I believe once a zombie territory is formed, the IPCs are dead. It now falls on you to clear the territory so as to collect those IPCs.
This is another way to keep forces fighting both each other and the zombies.

Strategic retreats are an interesting new twist though.

The down side is both Russia and the Germans need IPCs to continue to fight, fuel the war effort.

Landing zombies in Canada or Africa could really hurt the UK player as well.

Interesting game gimmick. I could see some really wild games with zombies being shipped all over the board.

Needs the right group of friends and a lot of beer and pretzels though.

[thethedew]

@robert:

Strategic retreats are an interesting new twist though.

I concur, that’s some out-of-the-(zombie)-box thinkin’

[smo63]

@robert:

I believe once a zombie territory is formed, the IPCs are dead. It now falls on you to clear the territory so as to collect those IPCs.
This is another way to keep forces fighting both each other and the zombies.

No if Zombies take a territory where there is nothing but Zombies it retains its IPC value and when the zombies have 25 IPC’s of territories, it is considered a Zombie Apocolypse and they win.

Also there are dice with a Zombie head on it as a 1 then there are the zombie dice when they attack.  They are special die with 2 attacker symbols and 1 defender symbol and then 3 blank sides.  the Zombies attack first each round in territories they are present with enemy units.

[innohub]

Thanks for article sharing!–- It seems the benefit of zombies is:

1.  Break down the original repeated game flow pattern
2.  Activate lands in map that user seldom would go in traditional AA game
3.  Introduce  possibilities of riot/rebellion near each country’s own homeland due to the card events like asian time
4.  A faster paced game (cheaper armor, a new victory condition by zombie victory…)

All these seems pretty cool in game play perspective to me.  Not sure how much the the random factor compared to strategy/tactics.  It would be great if luck factor is still under considerable control and then it could be my next AA collection!..

[zooooma]

@smo63:

No if Zombies take a territory where there is nothing but Zombies it retains its IPC value and when the zombies have 25 IPC’s of territories, it is considered a Zombie Apocolypse and they win.

Zombies can’t win.  ZA goes to VPs between players.

@innohub:

Thanks for article sharing!–- It seems the benefit of zombies is:

1.  Break down the original repeated game flow pattern
2.  Activate lands in map that user seldom would go in traditional AA game
3.  Introduce  possibilities of riot/rebellion near each country’s own homeland due to the card events like asian time
4.  A faster paced game (cheaper armor, a new victory condition by zombie victory…)

Also thematic Hallowe’en games and a gateway game for the mainstream.