Monty Python - a day out with Zombicide Black Plague

A day of fun and frolics and all in the name of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. A little light background information for those that need some prompting. 'Run away' goes the cry. Myself and the Dark Templar paid a visit to Michael Awdry of 28mm Victorian Warfare fame.

I played 'lucky' Tim the Enchanter and Sir Galahad.

Tim the Enchanter and Sir Galahad

The models are Michael's pride and joy and it was his idea to substitute for the Black Plague models. What things of beauty they are. We partnered them with the appropriate cards from Zombicide Black Plague and we were good to go.

The rest of the crew

For those with a good eye you might want to check out Michael's post when they were shown to the world. Some lovely pictures of each model that really does his paint job justice. Arthur king of britons and One, Two ... Five.

Back to back

The models were a joy to play with and soon we were taking down zombies, runners and everything that the game could throw at us.

Sir Galahad standing tall

We blew the first game. Entirely too confident and full of mirth and risk takings we hit the reset button started again. This time we proceeded with a little more caution and began to 'tool up'. We laughed and joked and got stuck in.

A line of Abominations

We were playing multiple abominations and multiple necromancers and they just seemed to come all at once. Truly amazing.

We stuck to our task racking up the kills. Tim managed to get the Earthquake spell, which was new to me. The spell allows you to knock over all actors in a square such that they lose their next activation. Huge impact! I loved it. 

Sir Lancelot at work

Sir Lancelot was the hero though. He ventured out to take on the abominations which were worth 5 points each and so he soared towards Ultra Red.

By the end we were just having so much fun and when we did hit Ultra Red it was like someone had turned on a fire hose of zombies. We even thought we were going to run out of models at one stage. We didn't and finally we completed the mission.

A fabulous day out. A huge thank you to Michael. 

The Dark Templar has got a load more survivors that arrived in the post and I can't wait to try them out. But that is for next time....

Quest 7 - Blood Red - AGAIN

Yes its true we appeared to have met our match. Last week we played this quest and failed. We just couldn't figure out how it was possible to achieve a win. So the DT retired to the rule book. We had been playing with all 36 Necromancers instead of just 6! Whilst this may have made us 'hardcore' it definitely explained the loss.

So this week would be different! Now we know the rules and have discussed the quest and examined our options. This week would be different. We dealt the survivors randomly only accepting ones that we had not played recently. The aim of the game is to get all the survivors to Ultra Red! Thats a lot of killing.

Things started well. We moved forward and opened a building and started searching. Some decent weapons began to appear. We even got a torch and passed it around, as you do. Then for the first time ever the Abominarat appeared. When it enters the game it is one zone away from the noisiest square. Big surprise for Gregoire and Lord Bazak!!!

Abominarat appears

Luckily, we were up to the task and really felt like we had dodged a bullet. We pushed on and then the Ablobination made a return. His long reach makes him dangerous.

Ablobiation enters the fray

Armed with the Vampiric Crossbow Lord Bazak dealt with the threat from range. This was quickly followed by the first entry of the Abominotaur. We were afraid of this guy. He can crash through buildings. Gregoire and Dr Stormcrow were very close. We had a quick read of the rules to make sure we understood how he plays.

Abominotaur says Hi

We were lucky because he does not smash ramparts and he was penned in. Scowl was dispatched to help. The Abominotour was a distraction though and soon we had a couple of Necromancers on the table. Grin managed to make it off the board (five entry points) but we finally dealt with the beast that is the Abominotour.

Then low and behold the Abominatroll paid us a visit! He gets three activations if he has line of sight so it is important to stay hidden.

Abominatroll joins in the fun

Evil Troy was also on the board and heading for an exit. We couldn't just charge out into the open or the Abominatroll would be on us. Things were certainly hotting up. We exited Yellow and entered Orange. The pressure was building. Steady, steady.

Its getting interesting

Evil Troy makes it off the board under cover of a hordes of zombies (six entry points). If another necromancer makes it off the board, its over. Enter the Queen. 

Gregoire heroically took down the Abominatroll and we took a breath. Fallstaff and Meriell took out the Queen. Sigh of relief.

This was it, the next couple of turns would decide it. We took a step back in case the zombies got an extra turn and drew the zombie cards.

'All standard walkers get an extra turn'

Phew we were glad we had taken that step back.

'All standard walkers get an extra turn'

Damn, damn and double damn. They were on us.

Incoming

Falstaff and Merrill were first to roll and phew they survived. Having armour and deflecting dagger proved helpful.

Scowl, Gregoire and Dr Stormcrow

However our second group was overcome. We took one more wound that than we had available and that was it. We were undone.

It had been a spectacular game. Truly, we had so many abominations to deal with and in the end it was the zombies that got us.

A little read of the rules in relation to abominations showed us that we had been playing them wrong. As with the necromancers we had all the cards in the deck and we should only be adding a select few.
We have been making this game a lot harder than it was supposed to be.

Adjustments will be made for the next game, but what fun we had. Spectacular. I have got to say that Zombicide Black Plague is just one of the best games ever invented!

Abominatroll - Arrrgh!

Gaming has been getting into a weekly routine which is just brilliant. We are playing Zombicide Black Plague. The Dark Templar has been keeping the blog alive with tales of some of our exploits. We have been enjoying the different abominations that visit and the scale of some of the models is just fantastic.

A couple of weeks back the Abominatroll visited us not once but twice in the same game. He can only be killed by Dragonfire and has 3 activations if he has line of sight. Scary!

To honour his enthusiasm I got the paints out.

Arrrgh!

He is one big dude. And when you start to work up close you find that there is incredible detail. CoolMiniOrNot have excelled themselves. A really enjoyable project.

On the board

Looks better on the tiles. Love the scale. The sword looks like a pin that could do no damage.

Over the shoulder

James

An enjoyable project and I wasn't sure how the man would turn out.

James

But here he is in all his glory. He is brimming over with annoyance and attitude. 'Here zombie, zombie. I've got a surprise for you' As he waves his torch into the dark recesses and brandishes his trusty axe ready to mutilate whatever scurrying mess happens to cross his path.

I can almost hear that Sean Connery, Scottish accent from here.

A welcome addition to the growing band of painted Survivors. I did consider giving him a liberal splattering of blood. His role in the last game seemed to warrant that but then the thought of the mess I might make if it went wrong deterred me. I have let a little blood dribble onto his robe and foot though ;-)

The Ambush

This week we had another game of Zombicide Black Plague. We played the next scenario - The Ambush. There are only six tiles and it all looked pretty straight forward. In fact there only needed to be two survivors remaining alive to win. Capture the four objectives and scoot off the board through the two towers. As we discussed things at the start I joked that it seemed really easy and I didn't understand why we only had to get two survivors off the board, when it is usually six. Over confident, we started the game.

We played the same rules with regards to survivors. We choose one each and then the rest were random. I took Recap Rodney and was dealt James and Lucas. James comes with an search function. I really like him and had considered him for one of my starting characters when the game first arrived. Lucas has Born Leader and we made great use of that in this game.

The Dark Templar choose Cadence and was dealt Mizar and Ostokar. Cadence has Marksman and can choose her target from range, which can be very handy. Mizar gets a free magic action, which I love and is the reason that I have him in my survivor groups. He is painted too which is always nice. Ostokar has Zombie link.

So the thing about this board is that it is small and therefore the distance to the survivors is small. Factor in opening a couple of doors and suddenly you are swamped. Also two of the spawn points are within 4 squares of one another so that can be real Necromancer trouble. A necromancer arrived and we had to send a poorly armed group to deal with him.

We got into immediate trouble. We just couldn't deal with everything and perform search actions to find better weapons.

A fatty and a few wolves really put us in a bad place and then Redcap Rodney was down - noooooooo!

Finally James got a couple of searches and began to hand out better weapons. We used Born Leader to give the best positioned and best armed survivor the max chance of dealing death. Cadence was in good form and Ostokar was fantastic. We picked the Speed spell which was cool.

But then poor old Lucas got isolated and things were not looking good for him. He had one more turn and then he would be toast. In fact we were struggling to identify a path to the final objective. Then we found an invisibility spell. Hurray! Lucas disappeared. Beautiful. And he snuck towards the final objective. It was just brilliant. There was light at the end of the tunnel.

Overall the game was tense. James became a hand to hand master and mowed down the zombies buying precious time. He became a legend in his own time, rushing into Orange level which just increased the volume of zombies descending on us.

James - 'I got this'

It was great fun and there was a huge sigh of relief when we finally crawled off the board. Whew!

The stars of the night were James and Ostokar and so they have pushed their way onto the painting table.

You have got to love this game.  It plays so differently depending on the items you find. You have to adjust your playing style to suit. Be wary of this scenario.

Ablobination in da house

So last night saw the first game of Zombicide Black Plague using all the cards I have available. We had wolves, new bosses and lots of Necromancer options. We were really looking forward to it. We decided to play the Evil Twins scenario. There were four objectives and two of them are Abominations. The aim was to claim the objectives, kill the abominations and get off the board.

We decided that the two of us playing would have six survivors in total. We could choose one each and the remaining four were random. I choose Genevieve and the DT choose Morgan. This added something to the game as we had to alter our play style to the skills of the survivors and the weapons we discovered.

We also played the NCP's and as such we had a vault deck. Anyone killing all five types of zombie was entitled to a card from that deck.

There are two vaults in the scenario and each has a random vault weapon.

So the big question was - which, if any, of the big boys would turn up.

Actually the first thing that we discovered that with all the new Necromancer cards in the game there are lots and lots of free moves for the Necromancer. Its like they are sprinting. This took us by surprise and it wasn't long before one made it off the board. We now had five spawn points and the pressure was on.

We discovered one of the Evil Twins and killed him. Hurray. But then the Ablobination showed himself. He has a reach of one square and will make short work of any survivor. Montalbon (below) beat a fast retreat from the open door in front of him.

Blobination

The game proved to be great fun. All is good once you stay at Blue level. After that it all kicks off. We made a slow start but finally discovered some decent weapons. There were volumes of zombies by this stage and it wasn't long before we sailed through Yellow and into Orange level.

Magic was not a big factor as we didn't discover and good weaponry. We had Morgan and Milo. Both did very little damage, intact Morgan spent most of his time shooting his long bow.

Glynda proved to be great fun and did Gilbert. Genevieve did really well as she got a good bow early and Montalbon was using his Hit & Run ability to great effect.

We ran out winners in the end of what proved to be a fun evening. I felt that the Blob had earned some paint and so he will ooze his was in games in the future in full technicolour!

Some paint for the Blob

And from the back

The zombies are definitely more intimidating when they have got paint on them.

Look out behind you

Mizar had been busy mowing down zombies with his magical spells. There had been rumours of huge zombies in the area but so far he had not seen any.

Look out behind you

The Gathering - Zombicide Black Plague

So next weekend is the first proper 'games day' for a while and Zombicide Black Plague is on the menu. A mouth watering adventure and we plan to play the newly released electronic scenarios. There will be three of us and plan is for each member to bring at least two painted survivors. Michael at 28mm Victorian Warfare is generously opening 'Awdry Towers' for the event and has been busily preparing Klom the Barbarian as his first survivor. He has done a stunning job on this amazing miniature. Well done sir!

My initial thoughts were to bring Redcap Rodney and Nelly the barmaid.

Redcap Rodney

Redcap Rodney is a Fatty killer for sure with his +1 damage and has proved to be a great addition early in the game. I have been trying to open at least two doors in the first turn and this reveals many rooms worth of zombies. All will be moving towards the survivors who are poorly equipped until they start searching. The first aim is to clear a square that will allow others to search and pray for some decent weapons. Redcap can handle a fatty even with his starting weaponry and this has been required on more than one occasion.

Nelly the Barmaid

Nelly is a speed merchant and I have been using her to open the more distant door. She can retreat to join the others. Her added mobility can often be needed to give much needed support or to hold a position and then run when required.

All in all I think that they should play well together and I am looking forward to giving them a try.

Ba Boom

Mizar was nervous. They had come a long way and were getting close to the exit. The day had started badly with the death of Lord Falstaff. Yes, yes a lack of concentration and a wayward Inferno Blast, but these things happen. Mizar steadied the group. He sensed danger behind the closed door.

"Now can we be clear - who has the Dragon Bile and who has the Torch? We will only get one shot at this"

The gathering menace

"One, two, three". Boom, and the door shattered. The Dragon Bile was tossed forward and Mizar lit it up with his Flaming Great Sword before diving for cover. Whoosh, and the very air seemed to burn.

Clearance

Mizar peeked his head around the corner. It had worked. The way was clear and the exit in sight.

Ultrared

Mizar has become my first Ultrared Survivor. He levelled into he orange twice, thereby picking up the second upgrade. That is 43 + 20 kills in one game!

Wulfsburg - the beginning

Yes, I finally got myself into a position to play. I didn't want to use unpainted Survivor models so I set myself the task of researching and painting a survivor crew.

First Wulfsburg Crew

As I have been discussing earlier in this blog, my first choices were Mizar, Redcap Rodney, Genevieve, Nelly and Lord Arnaud. This left me with one spot to fill. In the end I went for Lord Falstaff. He is very much Melee oriented and I liked the movement benefit granted by Bloodlust: Melee in that he can charge up to two zones to end up in a zone with zombies. He then has a free combat action.

My group had a free Search thanks to Arnaud, additional Movement through Nelly, heavy hitting with Redcap Rodney and Genevieve both of whom have +1 damage, a free +1 magic action with Mizar and a crazed charging zombie killer in Falstaff.

The opening quest is Welcome to Wulfsburgh. A six tile encounter that also uses the new Tower tile. Survivors on this tile have additional visibility. Good to give cover fire to other Survivors. Its like a bit of sniper overwatch.

The new weapons look cool and do a lot more damage. I was looking forward to trying them out.

Welcome to Wulfsburg

It had been a while and I really enjoyed getting back into Zombicide. My crew proved to be very effective indeed. The first Necromancer spawned and was trapped behind a closed door. He was therefore one of the last models to be dealt with and so took the Necromancer rule out of game 1. The Fatties were no match for my Survivors. Even with basic weapons I was able to handle them with the +1 damage benefit from Redcap Rodney and Genevieve. I just love Redcap Rodney. Looks cool on the board and dishes out serious amounts of damage.

The new Wolfz are a menace. They have three Actions and as such they can be awkward when coming at you through a crowd. They also tend to arrive in packs of 3-4.

The new weapons are amazing and it wasn't long before I felt properly 'tooled up' and invincible.

I didn't use the Tower at all, I just blasted my way through the board. High death rates had me in the Orange level and heading quickly towards Red. It was fine though. I felt able to handle the pressure.

The game feels very different. Lots more weapons and much higher levels of damage.

This is the introductory game and is probably giving me a false sense of security. I intend to run it a few more times just so that I become familiar with all the new weapons and stuff. Very enjoyable though.

Looking forward to meeting some of the new big bad boys. But that will be further down the line.

Search options for Zombicide Black Plague

As any who play Zombicide will know, the Survivors start the game with a low amount of pretty poor gear. It is imperative to improve this situation as soon as possible. The way this is done is to perform a Search action in rooms. This provides you with random equipment. The main issue is that in order to get inside a building you have to open a door. When this is done it activates all the zombies in the building who then start to move in your direction. You can only Search an empty room. So the first Survivors need to clear an area so that the remaining Survivors can enter the room and Search.

Its a dilemma alright. At the very point in the game when are poorly equipped you just have to open a door. This makes early searching very important indeed. It is good to have at least one character with the Search ability. This is a free Search action. This Survivor can help with the killing and still Search.

Also if you are lucky enough to find a Torch the Survivor can take two cards instead of one for each search thereby improving the likelihood of finding decent weapons. The issue is that the Torch takes up one of your two equipment options when you really want to have a weapon in each hand.

There are two Survivors that seem to be tailored for Searching. Both start with a free Search action and have the option to hold a torch as their third piece of equipment. So ideal for what is needed. I give you James and Lord Arnaud.

James

Lord Arnaud

A quick comparison reveals distinctly different characters for later in the game.

James has the option of +1 max Range or Spellcaster for his orange upgrade and then has two combat abilities or Spellbook for the Red upgrade. I suppose that this makes him a Magician as the Range and Combat upgrades are not exactly complimentary. But not particularly potent.

Arnaud on the other hand has +1 die Melee or +1 free Move Action and this is supported by +1 free Combat Action, Iron Hide or Reaper Combat. I think this gives a good range of choices depending on what the game needs. It is easy to see his Melee potential but if the game requires a little more movement then that option is present. When in the red phase you might also need Iron Hide just to survive another turn. I like the balance of options so Arnaud is in!

Slippery examined

We have played a few games and Nelly has been an important character because of her Slippery ability. This allows her to move out of squares occupied by zombies with no penalty. Very handy when the board is crowded.

She also starts with a +1 free Move Action meaning she is quick from the start and she can really get out of trouble when needs must. She is also good in Melee even packing a dagger as third hand held item.

Nelly

I had a look through the various Survivors to see who else offers this option and the results are: -

Hitch - who starts with Slippery and picks up +1 free Move or +1 free Melee at orange level. I am not sure about the Slippery at the start. In my experience this version of Zombicide is much more forgiving during the early stages. I do love the Bowie inspired model though. I think that the +1 free Move Action would be more advantageous to have in the first slot.  The effect is that Nelly is probably a better choice.

Inspired Hitch

Milo - he is an interesting choice as he starts with +1 Damage: Magic and has Slippery or Spellcaster for the orange upgrade. He has the option for Hit & Run, a +1 free Move Action or +1 die: Magic as his red upgrade. He can also carry a speed scroll as his additional hand held item.

This gives two clear options.  He starts as a heavy hitting Mage and this can be supported with Spellcaster and +1 die: Magic or Slippery with +1 free Move Action to increase mobility.

Apprentice Milo

I really like this little guy. He would be a great addition to the team. If I did choose him then I would need to get initial movement benefit from elsewhere.

Beauregard - He has Slippery as a choice but only at the Red upgrade, so probably too late.

Beauregard

Summary - I am liking both Nelly and Milo.  I might even take them as a combo and drop Lady Faye. Emmmmm much to contemplate.

Building my Survivor group

I have been building a group of Survivors to take on the Zombicide, Black Plague, Wulfsburg challenge. My first three have been Lady Faye for her +1 free Move action, Mizar for his +1 free Magic Action and Redcap Rodney for his +1 Damage: Melee.

Starting Wulfsburg Survivor group

My next addition needs to be able to deal some damage  from Range. There are not a lot of options really and I think that Genevieve is the stand out candidate. She starts with +1 Damage: Ranged and has good options for orange and red upgrades. I am liking +1 free Ranged Action and +1 to dice roll: Ranged.

Genevieve joins the party

So I feel that this has a nice balance to it and also can dish out proper damage from the start. Two of the guys have +1 damage.

Now I need to compliment these four.  I am thinking that a Search benefit would be good, maybe someone starting with a good weapon or maybe some more mobility. Born Leader has also been a great benefit in the past.There are lots of options to consider.

Of course, it would also be nice to include  one or two of the more magnificent survivor models.

A little magic - Mizar

Having had a good look at the models I really like the look of Inquisitor Mizar. I am loving the scythe and that tall 'dead pan' look. I plan to play him as my spell casting Magician.

Mizar

There are lots of interesting details to him. He is wearing plate armour and has the skull and bones hanging from his wait and there are lots of other nic-nacs. I even like his hair but  the scythe is the over-arching thing to like.

Statistics

He has a free Magic action to start with and then has Spellbook, all spells in the inventory are considered to be in the hand. This is cool because it saves actions swapping spells in and out of the inventory. And the final upgrade is Spellcaster which gives another free Action for Magic. Yip he is pretty cool. He can even have a Death Stike spell as his extra bit of equipment.

Can't wait to get him on the board.

Zombicide Black Plague - Redcap

I had a good look at the many new characters and some of the models are just sweet. I know from the games played so far that some of the weaponry favours the magician's and marksmen. There are some good spells and bows that really do allow damage to be handed out.

I thought that it would be nice to have some other options so I have selected a melee monster in Redcap Rodney and Lady Faye for her movement and Luck.

Lady Faye & Redcar Rodney

Lady Faye starts with a +1 free Move Action in the blue, the first upgrade is +1 Action and this is followed in the orange by +1 free Melee Action or Lucky (re-roll all the dice for an action) and then in red +1 Damage: Melee, Iron Hide or Reaper Combat (Can allocate an additional hit to a zombie in an adjacent square)

Redcap Rodney on the other hand starts with +1 damage: Melee, first upgrade is +1 Action. The orange upgrade is +1 free Melee Action or Reaper: Melee (Can allocate an additional hit to a zombie in the same square) then the red upgrade is +1 free Combat Action, +1 to dice roll: Melee or Zombie link.

I really like the Redcap Rodney model so he is first up to the painting table. He will be unique on the playing surface and he should really stand out. Got to love that axe!

Redcap Rodney

I think he will be great to have because of the +1 Damage: Melee. This will be good to handle some of the Fatties early in the game.

Zombicide Black Plague

It has arrived. My first ever Kickstarter and I am so excited that I am beside myself. So much stuff!

Zombicide

Some of the models are just enormous. I just can't see how they play practically. No doubt it will all be in the rules. Lots of interest and I have started the unwrapping already.

I think that my plan will be to have a read of the rules for each character. Pick the one that I really fancy playing and then spend some time with the paint brush to get to a playable standard and then - GAME!!!

Easter fun

This easter we had my sisters family over from Ireland. Three kids ranging from 6 - 12. The house  is filled with games and it was the perfect excuse to make some introductions.

First up was Warhammer 40k. I set up the table with my Orks and Dark Angels. A jaw dropping spectacle and some very excited youngsters. Nothing got broken which was nothing short of a miracle. I had expected casualties. Well you have to play with the models. Handfuls of dice great fun.

Next up was Zombicide. We played everyday before breakfast.

I had bought Ciaran the game for Christmas but he hadn't played it. Well they loved it. The nice thing here is that we are all playing on the same side so everyone helps everyone else. Things did get a little competitive when it came to head count - who had killed more zombies than anyone else. In fact there were totals for the entire holiday. Very funny.

I had spent most of November painting zombies and it was great to get so many games. It does make a difference when there is a bit of paint around.

Finally yesterday we had a long awaited Games Day and a few games of Zombicide Black Plague. This was hosted by the Dark Templar and we had Michael Awdry of 28mm Victorian Warfare fame and two new additions to our gaming crew Chris and Ryan. A fabulous fun day.

I had painted (well nearly) the survivors so we used them on the day. Above is Baldric and Nelly fighting for their lives. You know things are going be tough when the Abomination turns up on turn one. Search, search, search ..... We got him in the end!

We played three and won two. The final game was very close though and we nearly went down but  survived to fight again another day as we successfully limped to the exit.

Fantastic fun! I look forward to the next outing with much excitement.

Zombicide - Black Plague

I have finally given in and opened the Zombicide Black Plague game, properly. I read the rules and did a bit of play testing. Took me a while to get things right. There are a fair fews differences to the Zombicide that I love so much.

The tutorial scenario is good and it is an opportunity to get used to the new weapons, spells, armour, enhancements and the vaults. You have to see the board differently and the noise tokens are good for keeping track of exactly which room is making noise. I played it three times.

I love the new character trays and counters. I think they work really well. A great way of keeping everything neat and tidy. The colour co-ordinated plastic also works. It ties the model base visually to its tray. Good thinking.

There are also a few quirks to get used to in the zombie phase with double activations on the second spawning point.

Anyway I like it.

It does seem to be less threatening in the early phases. Maybe this is because you have 3 wounds instead of 2 and there is the opportunity to use armour to save hits and there is also healing. I missed the sense of dread and manic searching that accompanied so many of the Zombicide games. There also appears to be less useless stuff. Most of the cards are useful weapons so that the team gets 'tooled up' early.

I moved into the first scenario confidently.

I hadn't read the rules properly and it was so funny. I miss read the Necromancer rules such that I had 5 of them in the game each with its own spawning point. I was soon completely over whelmed. It was a hoot. But then I read that you could only have one in the game at any time. Life became a lot easier after that revelation!

Always fun learning a new game and can't wait to play this with a group. Very worthwhile so far.