Board Game: Zombie RISK!
Adrian, Matthew and I played Zombie RISK last Sunday. We tweaked it from the original source to fix some potential play problems. Our rules:
Overall, the game was very interesting. While we did have the requisite Matthew Plots Against Adrian (which, I swear, we should really start discussing as a situation that can be strategized around), our gameplay went like this:
The end of the game was a nailbiter, with Matthew holding a single territory surrounded by the living (Adrian and myself). In the final few turns the zombies overtook Matthew's territory and my own, and left Adrian the winner with only two territories (of one army each). Looking across the board showed a terrible worldwide takeover.
I will sum up the feel of this game in one word: Inevitable.
I'm looking forward to playing Zombie RISK in the future, with these changes:
1The original rules held that the current player takes a regular turn, then a zombie turn. This would hardly be fair, allowing each player two rounds of attack in a row.
- Setup: Random setup, dealing out territories to everyone, including the Zombies.
- Play: Player takes a regular turn, only able to attack zombies. The previous player1 then takes a zombie turn, earning 1 army/3 terriroteries (3 minimum) as normal. Zombies are able to invade up to 3 territories. Any human army lost has a 50% chance of becoming a zombie army in the opposing territory.
- Victory: Simple. Remain the last living player on the board.
Overall, the game was very interesting. While we did have the requisite Matthew Plots Against Adrian (which, I swear, we should really start discussing as a situation that can be strategized around), our gameplay went like this:
- Exploration, where we experiment with giving zombies some ground to thin them out, and using them against our allies.
- Consternation, where even a single zombie army can unexpectedly suck up a large portion of your attacking army.
- Panic, where the zombies take over half the globe and show no sign of relenting.
- Realpolitik, where we betray our erstwhile allies in order to remain the last one standing.
The end of the game was a nailbiter, with Matthew holding a single territory surrounded by the living (Adrian and myself). In the final few turns the zombies overtook Matthew's territory and my own, and left Adrian the winner with only two territories (of one army each). Looking across the board showed a terrible worldwide takeover.
I will sum up the feel of this game in one word: Inevitable.
I'm looking forward to playing Zombie RISK in the future, with these changes:
- Setup: Each player places one army on the board at a time. The leftover territories are given to the zombies.
- Play: Clarify that zombies do NOT receive bonus armies for owning a continent. Clarify what exactly an "invasion" means in zombie turns. They only receive three, so does attacking a living territory from multiple zombie territories qualify as one invasion? Or several? I consider a zombie invasion ONE territory attacking ONE other territory. If the zombies give up or lose entirely, it is still considered an invasion.
1The original rules held that the current player takes a regular turn, then a zombie turn. This would hardly be fair, allowing each player two rounds of attack in a row.