Game and Show Reviews
Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game
Review by Cameron Rose
Flying Frog Productions brings to the tabletop what we once thought would only be seen in a cheesy B movie; Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game.
Set in the stereotypical town of Woodvale, players take on the role of equally stereotypical survival-horror characters, such as teenage prom queen or the estranged drifter, to do battle against the unholy menace.
What makes this game different and potentially more challenging for the protagonists is the other player who takes control of the zombie threat. Rather than game mechanics or random chance manipulating the actions of the enemy, like Arkham Horror, Last Night on Earth feels like something more akin to a raid battle in the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, with several players teaming up against one severely overpowered opponent. The zombie player controls the difficulty and pace of the game. By their discretion, the undead hordes can be clever and try to outsmart the humans, sneaking a win, or the player can simply throw down their most horrific cards straight from the off and charge in for a terrifying gore-fest. The human element in the game’s antagonist makes for a different experience every time you play (as long as the person in charge of the zombies isn’t boring, of course).
The human players are assigned a mission from the outset to give them and the zombies a victory condition; this can be anything from finding keys and gasoline to escape the town in a pickup truck to searching the area for survivors and protecting them until dawn. To help the humans achieve their goals and battle off the mass of flesh-eaters there is a large variety of items and special abilities that can all be used in interesting and imaginative ways. This ingenuity combined with a very simple battle system makes for a quick and easy game to pick up. The rulebook is tiny, especially in comparison to similar games. There is always the option to expand the game as well, if you have some extra cash by picking up an expansion set. There is only one available in the UK at the moment, Last Night on Earth: Growing Hunger, but there are more on the way.
If you’re out for a laugh but still want a serious challenge in a board game, Last Night on Earth is definitely worth shambling across town for. It even comes with its own soundtrack to really set the mood.
Trust me; you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a member of the clergy fend off zombies through a broken warehouse window with a barbed wire fencepost. Classic stuff.
Days of Steam
Review by Chris Smith
Days of Steam proudly declares upon its box that it’s ‘a tile laying train game’ but is that all you can say of it? Like so many gamers I’ve several games at home sitting upon my shelf that I’ve bought with the best of intentions but they’ve sadly ended up becoming one of those ‘I must get round to playing it one day’ games. Well Days of Steam was coming perilously close to becoming one of those until last week when it was spared that particular fate.
So what did I make of this rather quaint looking little ‘tile laying game’? Well firstly let’s look at the objective of the game, which is to gain points by building railway tracks between towns so that you can move your train to pick up and drop off goods between them. Simple enough, but when you add in the fact that both towns and goods come in four different colours meaning that you only gain points for dropping off goods at towns of a corresponding colour things get a little more interesting. This interest gains momentum when you realise that movement is not as straight forward as one would first think with special rules for moving over points and junctions as well as the risk of de-railing should your train take a bend too quickly, and let’s not forget the constant need for your train to build up steam before it can even move. So when all these elements are combined along with its brief playing time you may not have a classic but you do have a nice little playable game that won’t spend its entire life on the shelf.
Derby Wargaming World Championships - 3rd and 4th
October 2009
Review by Chris Smith
It doesn’t seem that long ago but here we are again at Derby, the traditional home of the Wargaming World Championships.
This is the show that for us marks the beginning of our year, show wise, and as such it’s at this show that we decide to make a few much needed changes to the stand and the company’s image. Darwin is all buffed up and ready to go with his stovepipe hat, bow tie and cane whilst I’m kitted out, head to foot, as a zombie. Somehow I feel that bird’s got the better end of this deal. And as every zombie needs a victim we have our newest team member Ed covered in fake blood and decked out in his best ripped tee-shirt. I still think that bird’s…. Anyway why, you may ask, are two of the team dressed as a zombie and his lunch? Well the answer is simply to promote our game of the year ‘Last Night on Earth’ which we are running as a demonstration at this years show, another innovation for us.
Despite the recession, and the extremely windy weather, the turn out is good and Ed and I are soon causing a stir as we mingle with the attendees. Though life in a zombie mask is far from comfortable and having no peripheral vision a bit of a nightmare, but as zombies are meant to blunder about I don’t think anyone noticed too much.
Saturday is a blur of activity and the participation game is well received. This said it’s Sunday were we see our best turn out, and at one point Tru, Ed and I are so busy we nearly get Darwin involved, but then again maybe not. All in all, this year Derby has been a great success for us, as well as being a very tiring experience. We’ve learnt quite a lot from it, so expect more participation games, and we’ve been able to touch bases with lots of old friends and got to know many new ones. Well that’s all for this years show and that’s the last box in the back of the Galaxy, though I’m sure we’ve forgotten something. Oh well! Better be on our way, it’s a long drive back to Shrewsbury. Now where’s Darwin with the keys? Darwin? Darwin! That bird!
REVISITING THE FINAL FRONTIER
Review by Ed Brown
For well over 40 years, Science Fiction fans have been exploring space to seek new life and new civilizations through their TV screens , wishing that they could take their place in the Star Trek universe. Emotions stirred like tides as iconic moments were painted into the annals of Gene Roddenberry’s universe. Captain Kirk fighting the Gorn. Jean-Luc Picard becoming a counterpart to the Borg Queen. Benjamin Sisko standing amongst the ashen ruins of a conquered Cardassia. Kathryn Janeway refusing to listen to her first officer’s advice and ploughing the ship and crew headlong into yet another...shuttle accident. How often have fans wished that they could stand alongside their favourite cast members aboard the Enterprise, or even dreamed of having a crew of their own?
Such things are possible in the world of roleplay, and the Star Trek Roleplaying Game provides an immersive experience for fans of any series. Geared up as it is to recreate any of the five television series, it can take any ship and crew through any number of situations. How will you react to a Romulan Warbird decloaking directly in front of the ship? Could you negotiate peace with the Klingons?
The best part about the game is its relative simplicity. For those of you who are new to roleplaying, players are often needed to roll dice to find out if actions that they take are successful. In other words, you can’t phaser a borg right between the eyes unless you can make a good enough dice roll. Star Trek handles this in an unintimidating manner – everything is based on the roll of two six-sided dice, with a comprehensive list of skills that you will have chosen during your character’s creation adding bonuses to things that you would naturally be good at. This also lends itself well to players acting out their duty post – you’d never find Deanna Troi taking on a Jem’Hadar warrior in hand-to-hand combat for example (and if you did there’d be a greasy Betazoid-shaped smear on the floor shortly afterwards)...
Even if you don’t have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Star Trek universe you’ll find that the game caters for you – there are many different sourcebooks explaining the background and mechanics of alien races, starships, technology, worlds and even B-movie quality creatures that are poised and ready to eat any red-shirted crewmen who join your Away Team! All in all, the Star Trek Roleplaying Game is a must have for Science Fiction fans!
If you’re not keen on dice-rolls and more into writing with other people then you might also try roleplaying online: ‘UFOP: Starbase 118’ is a friendly group that provides a similar experience, allowing you to join a crew of other officers and boldly go where you have never gone before. If something more literary better suits your taste, take a look at http://www.starbase118.net
Revenge of the B-Movie
Review by Chris Smith
It was a dark and stormy night. I was in the mood for playing a game that I could just take out of the packet and get started. Suddenly, in a flash of light and with a peal of thunder, Revenge of the B-Movie appeared before me, and it took only seconds for the hilarity to begin.
B-Movie is a 3-6 player game that is based on the premise of using cards to create outlandish horror movie titles, and then trying your luck at getting them to the big screen. Each player takes on the role of a director trying to make the big-time by creating the best B-Movie possible before their opponents beat them to it, resorting to sabotage where necessary! Different types of card allow you to start a movie off, add a horrendous antagonist, set the scene, create conflict, or put something ridiculously cute into an opponent’s movie to lose them points. The higher your score, the more likely your film will be bought by the bigwigs at the production company, earning you megabucks.
The most remarkable thing about B-Movie is its ability to turn even the most mundane of evenings into a laughter-fuelled evening of euphoria. While some of the cards include elements of more well-known movie franchises such as “Day of the...” or “...from the Black Lagoon”, others include more comedic ideas. Hence, as the cards are laid down, “Invasion of the 50 foot undead” may become “Invasion of the 50 foot undead Mime Artists” before the director has a chance to close production. Each of the cards has a points value; positive for a seriously scary selection and negative for something more friendly, funny or fluffy. Once production has been closed by the director or a maximum of seven cards has been reached, an attempt can be made at the end of the round to sell the film by rolling equal to or less than the number of points the film has scored.
B-Movie is a game with endless possibilities, and now that the second instalment in the series is available an extra dimension to the silliness is ready and willing to be incorporated into the mayhem! I think tonight might be a good time to play this game again, but until then I’m off to watch Invasion of the Pillow-Wielding Robots vs. the Biker Moths from Down the Road...
World Cup 2010card Game
Review by Chris Smith
Ere we go, ‘ere we go, ere we go
“Can’t afford to get to South Africa this year? Well worry not because Games of the World brings you the chance to play out the world’s most prestigious sporting event on your own dinning room table, or indeed any table, with their World Cup 2010 card game. Let’s go over to our dodo on the spot Darwin for the stats.”
“Well Chris to quote the Games of the World website ‘the WCCG has 64 cards divided into 32 Team cards and 32 Action cards. Each group match is played individually but this takes seconds to resolve, then the KO stages are played in a similar way to the Board Game’ Truly a game of two halves. And now back to Chris in the studio.”
“Thank you Darwin. I must admit I was as ‘sick as a parrot’ and ‘gutted’ at first that this latest instalment of GotW’s World Cup Game series didn’t come as an expansion for its World Cup board game. The reason for this, it was explained to me by its creator, is due to the WCG’s expansions stats being based on the actual performance of teams in any of the given World Cups. And as the 2010 tournament has yet to be played the ‘actual’ performance of its competitors is, as yet, unknown.
So how does the card game fair? Well after having played it several times with 2, 4 and 8 players I have come to the conclusion that this is a very enjoyable and highly playable addition to the WCG franchise. On the down side some questions were raised by those playing it about the stats of one or two of the teams and I’ve yet to have a game were more than one, if any, of the top teams made it to the last four, winners have included Switzerland, Chile and Portugal. But this has been due more to the players deliberately sabotaging the big teams during the knockout rounds than any fault with the games mechanics. Also the non gamers who played it found the rule changes between the opening group stages, knockout and semi final/final phases a little throwing. But at the end of the day if you want a cheap, portable game you can play anywhere this could just be the one for you. Back of the net!”
Duck! Duck! Go!
Review by Chris Smith
Syracuse, the mid 3rd century BC, around tea time. A lone naked figure of a man can be seen running through the streets shouting Eureka, or so the legend goes. But what isn’t known is that Archimedes wasn’t rushing through the streets, fresh from his bathtub, because he’d discovered the relationship between volume and displacement, though this is what his later chroniclers would claim, no his excitement was due to his discovering the answer to the ages old question of how to get more fun out of your rubber duck. Well some 2,250 years or so later the good people at APE Games bring you their answer in the form of Duck! Duck! Go! Duck! Duck! Go! Or DDG as we shall call it here. What you won’t be surprised about is that DDG is a game about ducks, but what may surprise you is that they’re of the rubber variety and that they are competitors in the yearly Kenducky Derby bathtub races.
DDG is a game for 2 to 4 players aged 8 and up, and uses 10 double sided hexagonal tiles to create the bathtub in which your ducks will race. Movement is akin to Robo Rally in as much as you use numbered movement cards to move your ducks around the tub, with your objective being to land upon each of the boards three marker buoys before heading for the finish at the plug hole. You can aid yourself or hinder your opponent by using the games teleporting ‘life saver’ spaces or by ‘bonking’ your opponent, ooh err matron! Whilst in the advanced game tactical use of ‘action tokens’ and the ‘bird dog’ are key to victory.
As a product the array and quality of the ducks, of which you get 5 including the bird dog duck, is great, add this to thick card hex tiles that sport excellent artwork and at £19.99 it’s good value for money. If I have one complaint it would be that the movement cards are a bit on the flimsy side, I laminated mine just to give them a bit more rigidity.
On the whole this offering from APE Games isn’t in the class of Robo Rally but for all that is still a fun family game that the kids will love and isn’t going to burn a hole in your pocket, as so many board games do these days, and let’s face it you can’t go wrong with rubber ducks.
Darwin get out of the tub you’re not fooling anybody !