Pros

• Shipping
• Classic Aesthetic
• Cooperative

Cons

• The Price
• One vs Many

The Page

CMON knows what they are doing on a page and they show off a lot of stuff. I think that it’s interesting looking and I really like that they are highlighting the artwork as much as the minis in this game. It’s CMON, so there are always going to be a ton of minis, but they are showing off the art to go along with that and not just painted minis. I really think the art works in terms of nostalgia.

I will say one thing that I wish with CMON games is that the player “boards” were nice. They look like a rough 3D printed thing in these pictures, and I know it’s not the final product, but having seeing what comes with Zombicide: Green Horde, and they just feel clunky. I’m used to GameTrayz at this point which feel smooth. While the tokens and minis that CMON provides are great, the player boards definitely could be better.

The Game

This game didn’t interest me too much because it is mainly a one versus many game. The idea that you can be the one and have minions and stuff to use as well as your heroes going up against a team of heroes seems interesting, but it makes the game harder to table in my opinion. I’m guessing that things will work pretty similar on both sides of things, the one and the many, but it probably means that you start playing the one, you might be stuck in that role more so.

And with the cooperative game, there just isn’t information. So while I know about how the main game works, the mode that I’m more interested in isn’t as well covered.

Back or Brick

This game is Brick for me. And that’s more because of me not because of the game itself. I don’t have nostalgia for He-Man and Masters of the Universe. It was just before my time. And while I do want to watch the Netflix show, I haven’t yet. Nor am I rushing to out to watch it. Then the fact that the game is mainly one versus many. It’s just not a type of game I get to the table enough.

Now, I’ll say when I think a game is probably going to be good. I think that this one is likely going to be good. If you like the theme, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. If you like the mechanics from the game play videos, you’ll like the game. It is one that just isn’t for me. And that’s probably a good thing with two big CMON KS’s backed and waiting on right now with Zombicide: Undead or Alive and Marvel United: X-Men.

Is this a back or a brick for you?

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ISS Vanguard

This is a massive exploration adventure game set in space. I have some of those set on Earth or in a fantasy setting, but none in space. Plus this is Awaken Realms. I love the story in the games that I have of theirs, even Lords of Hellas which isn’t a story game. This one also is fully narrated and has an app that helps with some of the book keeping, but not that much. I like that it can help but isn’t needed, just makes it more immersive, like it does with Tainted Grail.

Excitement Level: 9.5/10

Chronicles of Drunagor

There is a chance that I will drop this one, but everything I’ve seen on this game, it looks like one that I’ll love. In fact, you can just read my Back or Brick from Wednesday (link coming) to see why I’m interested. This is a big table hog of a campaign game, but still looks like so much fun. And how you activate abilities is just great, makes it feel like a puzzle, which is like Gloomhaven that way.

Excitement Level: 8/10

Spire’s End: Hildegard

This one drew me in because of the artwork. What got me to back it though was that it’s a solo, mainly, game. But it isn’t a massive minis game, this is just 400 cards or so and you take Hildegard through an adventure, digging through four chapters, reading cards, fighting monsters and doing more things. The concept is fu and the artwork is amazing.

Excitement Level: 9/10

Isle of Cats: Don’t Forget the Kittens

Those cute kitty cats, don’t forget them on the Island. I’ve played Isle of Cats once and I really like it. The game play is a lot of fun, the drafting works well, though I want to try it with more people, and overall, just getting more stuff seems like a lot of fun. Plus a roll and write, plus an organizer to make it easier to get to the table.

Excitement Level: 7.5/10

Marvel United: X-Men

Marvel United has about 80 minis, Marvel United X-Men takes that total up to around 200. But it adds in a lot of cool things. It can take this cooperative game and make it team versus team. You can make it one versus all with one person playing the villain. And some of the villains can also be heroes, so just lots of awesome more stuff. Plus the amazing minis. I really need to start painting them.

Excitement Leve: 7.5/10

Canvas: Reflections

This game has gotten a lot of buzz as a simple but gorgeous game. There is no doubt that it’s gorgeous just looking at that artwork in it. And I like games that give you something pretty in front of you. This is like Sagrada in that you end up with something pretty in front of you when you’re done. I hope that it’s a good simple one for my wife and me to play.

Excitement Level: 8/10

Super Fantasy Brawl: Round 2

More characters for Super Fantasy Brawl, yes please. I love this game as a skirmish game where if you don’t fight, you’re probably going to lose, but if you only fight, you’re probably going to lose. It gives you enough to go for as you play to make it a blast to get to the table. And drafting teams is fun, this gives me more to draft from. If only the insert wasn’t horrible.

Excitement Level: 8/10

Zombicide: Undead or Alive

So, early this year I believe I traded in Zombicide Green Horde, why did I get more Zombicide? Well because zombies and the wild west, that’s way more interesting. Honestly, if it weren’t for the Wild West theme I’d have ignored it and passed on for another game. But I like a scenario big game. It reminds me kind of something like Village Attacks, which I’m still waiting on, where I can pull it out play a scenario and then be done.

Excitement Level: 7/10

Aeon’s End Legacy of Gravehold

It helps that I’m playing through Aeon’s End Legacy right now, but I’m super excited for this game. But I really like Aeon’s End. I like the deck building of it and I just want more of it. Especially something that’s a bit more story driven like Aeon’s End Legacy is.

Excitement Level: 9/10

Tiny Turbo Cars

Horrible Guild makes amazing games, and they make games with amazing toy factor. Tiny Turbo Cars looks to have that as well. Programming how your cars go as fast as possible each time. I think it’ll be good hectic fun and a good light game. There isn’t much to learn so once I’ve played it a few times it’ll be fast to get to the table. And maybe you’ll just get lucky and do well with a random pick.

Excitement Level: 9/10

Vault Wars: Relic Roadshow

This one is actually almost here. It’s a smaller game and actually a reprint of a game, Vault Wars. It just now has an expansion as well. It’s basically fantasy Storage Wars. Now, I hope it’s a good game, but the theme was fun for me, and it looks like a pretty light and easy game to get to the table. And like I said, it should be here in a day or so.

Excitement Level: 6/10

Alba

This one is actually a book, but it’s a game book. It’s not a book about games, it’s a game in a book. I tend to like these types of books where you have to puzzle through them. I mainly just need to find the time to play them. Between reading comics and Dresden Files books, I need to do better about just picking up the one I have.

Excitement Leve: 7.5/10

Primal

This was one of the first ones I backed this year. It is kind of a campaign game, but really a big boss battling game. What drew me in was the minis, but also how for a big game with massive minis, it wasn’t a game that had a million tokens. You just have health and you play out some cards. Plus it has a campaign, but you can just face off against a monster if you want to. Like Zombicide: Undead or Alive and Village Attacks, those big games you can get to the table that feel epic still are what I’m kind of looking for some right now.

Excitement Level: 8/10

For $1

• Deliverance
  Love the theme, but the base pledge level missed out on so many extras that it doesn’t feel worth it to back for me. But just in case I want to bump it higher, I kept it.
• The Witcher: Old World
  A friend is backing this one, so I can play their copy. I’ll wait on it because I didn’t want all the minis anyways.
• Valor and Villainy: Lludwick’s Labyrinth
  The original game looked interesting, this one has campaign and is fully cooperative and legacy, all stuff I love, but I’d love to try it before I commit the money.
• Mythic Battles: Ragnarok
  Deities fighting it out, wielding trees as weapons, that sounds amazing, but price is so high, right now I’m waiting on it.

What have you backed this year?

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Marvel Champions: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch

These did come out a few weeks apart, but just with how things lined up, not that far apart from when I went into the FLGS, All Systems Go, which sets them aside for me. Haven’t gotten either of them to the table yet, but I’m excited for them. Like I said, this was perfect timing with Scarlet Witch/Wanda coming out at the very end of WandaVision, same day in the United States. Accidentally great timing, though it was because it was pushed back a month. Excited for both of them, and they are a pair that can team up with each other, which is awesome, I like anything that can give me that super hero team-up feel, and while Marvel Champions does feel some like that, this bakes it into those two characters, like they did for Ant-Man and Wasp.

Deep Madness Expansions

Again from All Systems Go, they had a Deep Madness Kickstarter traded in. Now, there was a bundle of the core and a few core expansions that they sold, but I’d already gotten a previous trade in of those. So now they have some of the other Kickstarter expansions. I picked up two of them. One was Spawn of the Sleeper and epic monster that can be added into the game. I liked this one because it has weird little eggs or spawn or tentacles, something for this deep sea base that is just horrifying. And the Faces of the Sphere expansion, which I thought looked cool, and interestingly enough, ties into their next game, which I missed on Kickstarter, whoops.

Lost Ruins of Arnak

Now, this is a hot game. In fact it’s so hot that it’s basically sold out everywhere. You look online at Amazon, Cool Stuff Inc, and Miniature Market, all sold out. Checked with my FLGS, they have a call list going for when it comes in. But I was able to find it online and not at a massive marked up price. I found it over on Barnes and Nobles’ site. Now, I didn’t pick it up from my local one, but I had to order it in. I am interested in this one because it looks like a Euro game where they gave it more of a theme and more to do. I also really like the theme and deck building, though the deck building might not be the biggest part of it. Exploring lost ruins and having that Indiana Jones sort of feel, that’s really interesting to me.

Tiny Turbo Cars

I talked about this one a couple of weeks back in a Back or Brick. In that one I said it was a back for me, and I’ve still kept the pledge. Tiny Turbo Cars just looks f un to me, and I like supporting a good board game company that has made a bunch of games that I enjoy. They really do nail the toy factor in the game, the little controller looks almost like it’s going to be some sort of technology. I know I won’t see this for a while, but I think it’ll be a fun one for certain groups of people. I know that the real time aspect will probably be a bit to hectic for some players, but it’ll be a big success for others, and I’m hoping it’ll work for most people.

Aeon’s End: Legacy of Gravehold

I love Aeon’s End, that’s all there is too it. And the fact it’s another Legacy game in the series, that’s awesome. I will have all the big boxes for Aeon’s End when this arrives, and I need to dive into that first legacy box soon. I just need to figure out if I play it solo or not. If I do, I can get to it sooner, otherwise I might have to wait or find a person to play semi-regularly with. I think it might be one that I play solo, because I had fun playing Aeon’s End: War Eternal solo on Malts and Meeples. This just gives me more Legacy goodness, and I’m very cool with that.

Zombicide: Undead or Alive

This one I did my Back or Brick on last week. What had me on the fence with it last week was the price. But I’ve now backed it because I think it’s going to be really fun. I love the theme, I think that zombies in the Wild West is cool. I love CMON’s minis, I mean they were known as Cool Mini Or Not for a while. And while I did just sell Zombicide: Green Horde, some of that was because I have a lot of fantasy games already. I guess zombies in the Wild West is technically a form of fantasy, but not the standard middle ages fantasy. So this felt different than things I have my collection so I wanted to pick it up.

Which of these games sounds the most interesting to you? Have you backed any of the Kickstarters? Let me know in the comments below.

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Zombicide: Green Horde

Now, I won this game a couple of years ago, or around that. I unboxed it over on the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. But Zombicide: Green Horde never hit my table. I considered playing it, but I know that I have another big defend against a horde and complete objectives game coming that I was more interested in, Village Attacks. Now, I’m still waiting on that game with hopefully a timeline that suggests maybe this year I’ll get it, but right now I’m also not playing that type of game. I also felt like it it would be a lot of work for me to get it to the table anytime soon. And there are more interesting themes, Reichbusters and Deep Madness and eventually Village Attacks that I’d prefer to get to the table for a big game.

Conan

Another big box game, this time from Monolith Games. I picked this one up on sale three years ago now, or so. Conan is a game that I heard great things about and bad things about. The great was the system for activating bad guys and how you could activate one group but then they’d move back in the line and you could activate them again, but it’d cost more. That mechanic seemed really interesting. It also seemed thematic, but the player count, or one player controlling multiple heroes versus one person controlling the bad guy made it hard to get to the table. Add in the rule book which was probably good enough to get you close to being able to play the game, it just never hit my table. And it, again, is one of those, when would it hit my table. I don’t think it’s going to hit my table over a lot of the big games that I mentioned, so I might as well trade it in, get store credit and get a game I’m more apt to play, and let someone else buy it used who will play it.

There’s always a challenge to selling a board game, especially one that I haven’t played. With these two, I knew that they’d be on my shelf for at least another 5-6 months before I’d play them if not much longer than that. And with games coming in from Kickstarter that are also big and epic, it made it much easier to sell. Would you have kept either in my case? Do you have either on your shelf?

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The Collection

Numbers

A’s – B’s – C’s – D’s – E and F’s – G and H’s – I, J and K’s – L’s – M’s – N, O, and P’s – Q and R’s – S’s – T’s – U, V, and W’s

X, Y, and Z’s

XenoShyft: Onslaught

When I look at my collection there are certain types of games that I tend to have more of. I’ve talked about roll and write games, but I also have a lot of deck building games. I like the puzzle of trying to dynamically create the best deck possible but generally I don’t just want to be doing that. XenoShyft: Onslaught adds in tower defense with a fun theme that reminds me of Starship Troopers as you are fighting off wave after wave of bugs. What makes this game stand apart is the passing of cards to other players. Normally you just build your deck, but in XenoShyft, you can give other players weapons, troops, armor, etc that you buy which will then go into their decks. It’s a clever twist and a very hard game.

Status: Played

Yahtzee

The classic roll and write game, Yahtzee. I still play this game fairly often with my parents, though I did introduce my dad to Ganz Schon Clever over the holidays. Yahtzee is a pretty simple puzzle to figure out as you just roll the dice three times and you need to maximize your score. I don’t mind that I haven’t played it as much recently, though I do still enjoy it, because I don’t think about it much when playing now. But it’s still the granddaddy of the roll and write genre and a good game to play and chat while you play.

Status: Played

Yggdrasil Chronicles

I picked up Yggdrasil Chronicles partly because it looked amazing on the table. This game has a 3D tree element that is your playing board that just looks great on the table. Plus the game has pedigree being based off of a previous game called Yggdrasil. In this game you take on the roles of gods from Norse Mythology, makes sense given the name, and you are trying to defeat and stop certain scenarios from happening. Oh, and there’s the life tree, Yggdrasil and it rotates, really excited to try this one.

Status: To Be Played

Zombicide: Green Horde

I never thought that I’d pick up a Zombicide game. They look good, but I prefer my dungeon crawler style games to be more fantasy focused and less zombie focused. But when I won the game, I won’t say no to it, so it got added to my game shelf. The minis in this game look amazing, as you’d expect from CMON. I do want to get it to the table still, as I haven’t sold the game yet, because it’s such a well known game series, I feel like I should try it. And I think it’s the type of game that I’ll enjoy, even if it doesn’t get to the table all that often.

Status: To Be Played

Zombie Dice

Zombie Dice is another one of those filler games that I’ve played a lot. I don’t mind it too much though. Zombie Dice is a simple push your luck dice game where you are trying to get as many brains as possible before you’re taken out by a shotgun. If you get hit three times, you’re done and you can’t bank the brains that you got, but if you push your luck, maybe you’ll roll more brains and be faster as the first person to 15 brains. This game is so much like Farkle, but it’s way faster and less strategy, which is fine for a game that is only about pushing your luck.

Status: Played

Zona: The Secret of Chernobyl

Final game on the list is one that I got to demo at GenCon in 2019. It was an interesting demo because while we got a very good feel for the game, it wasn’t a full demo and some of the rules were lost in translation, mainly because the rules weren’t in English yet, so the demoer was teaching it based off of the demo that they got from the Polish game designer. Zona works really well, though, for me, because it has a lot of elements that I like. You have a unique character, there is interesting combat, and there is exploration. Chernobyl happened like in our world, but in this game there is magic and mutated monsters and more which is always a good selling point. Can you get to the secret vault inside the power plant before time runs out? That is another thing, this game is competitive, but it’s very possible for the game to just win if players don’t move fast enough.

Status: Played

There’s the list, later today we’ll look back, run some numbers, and do my favorite game for each letter, like I’ve been asking you guys to do over on Twitter and Facebook. But before I do that, what are your favorite game starting with X, Y and Z? What games do I need in my collection?

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But we’re all familiar with zombies in popular culture. The Walking Dead both as a comic and a TV show really brought them into the limelight and turned what was just a bunch of shambling monsters into something more terrifying where the humans might be the monsters. But we still kept getting the more standard zombies as well with movies like Shaun of the Dead. But The Walking Dead was really the show that let zombies expand. And even hit board games where the popular Dead of Winter gives you a potential traitor in your midst and everyone being selfish to some extent.

There has to be a lot beyond that, so what are some other things you can check out?

Book/Movie – Pride, Prejudice and Zombies
This one people might be more familiar with. It did have a movie come out and while it wasn’t an extremely successful movie to pick up on the zombie theme, it was advertised. But I think that the movie and book are worth checking out. Pride, Prejudice and Zombies is a lot of fun because while it twists the story from Pride and Prejudice, it stays true to many of the themes. It still has the sarcasm and it takes itself seriously. Even though the world is in the midst of a zombie apocalypse (or at least England is), there are certain principles of being a lady and a gentleman that can never truly be done away with. It’s a funny juxtaposition of those two things, and is something that Jane Austen did in her own work.

Game – Zombicide Black Plague
While this isn’t a unheard of game in the board gaming world, it does take on more of a classic zombie feel. You’re fighting off endless hordes of zombies in various scenarios that might just be about killing zombies but might have more going on as well. I have the Green Horde stand alone expansion for the game where you can get some orcs into the world as well, so there’s magic as well as zombies. There’s also Zombicide and Zombicide 2nd Edition that put it in a more modern setting, I went with Black Plague for the list because Zombicide, the original, has some issues with it, and the 2nd Edition I don’t believe is out yet. But if you want to be in one of those movies where you’re dealing with wave after wave of zombie trying to survive, but you’re not worried about the people as much as the zombies, this one’s worth a look.

TV Series – iZombie
Obviously the big TV show is The Walking Dead, but this show based off of a Vertigo comic by the same name and produced by the producer of Veronica Mars is a lot of fun. Liv Moore, get it, is turned into a zombie and now her perfect life of planning to become a doctor and getting married has to be put on hold. Not only is she a zombie, she realizes that she gains memories and knowledge that the person whose brain she eats at last, so she goes to work for the police, in their morgue, and can get access to brains to help solve cases. It has a bit of a procedural nature to it, but a lot more fun. And there’s a good supporting cast of characters around her. The villain of the show is really good. CW also didn’t mess with this show like they did with Veronica Mars, which keeps the show stronger throughout.

Movie – Cockneys vs Zombies
So the first time I went to a con, CONvergence in Minneapolis/St. Paul area, I went at the last minute because they were screening Cockneys vs Zombies and I was following the writer of it on Twitter since he’d also worked on Doctor Who. This is a good, absurd, and British zombie movie. I really highly recommend this one as it just has some wonderful moments in it. While I wouldn’t call the story anything amazing, I think that they did a great job of adding in a few expected jokes, but is clever ways. Possibly the best moment, and spoilers so you can skim ahead to the next heading if you want, is there is a nursing home/assisted living home, and when the zombies come there, one of the residents is outside. Of course that resident is slow and has a walker, so we get a great slow speed, high intensity chase as a zombie slowly shambles after the resident who is slowly walking using his walker. And that’s not the only joke that works well, definitely a zombie comedy worth checking out.

Game – Zombie Dice
When you want a faster game to play, Zombie Dice is a simple game in the style of Farkle or other dice games. You’re rolling dice, pushing your luck to see how many brains you can get, but if you push your luck too much, you can get shot, and if you get shot you don’t collect the brains you’ve gathered this round. The game is very simple but it works well in decent sized groups because turns take a few seconds and you just need to remember your total of brains. It’s one that works well with families as well, again because of the simplicity.

Book – Chemistry
Now, I don’t know much about this series, Kristen is the one who has read it and loves it. I’m just hearing about it through her. From what it sounds like, it has elements of being a Twilight Parody but with zombies instead of vampires. And that the writing and characters are more interesting and better. And that’s coming from Kristen who still enjoys the Twilight Saga for the cheesiness that it is. This book, and series, just do have a similar story but in a more interesting way with more developed characters. So if that sort of fiction interests you, I know that Kristen and other she’s read it with, have enjoyed the books a lot.

Now, there are a whole lot more zombie themed things out there. Some of them are more serious and plenty of them are pretty silly. I wanted to highlight some that are maybe a bit more well known while others that are a bit more out there, that is you’re a zombie fan you could checkout. What are some of your favorite zombie things?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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No game tonight, but I open up my copy of Zombicide Green Horde from CMON. I won the game from All Systems Go in Minneapolis, Minnesota with their 1 year anniversary sale. I plan on playing through the intro scenario in an upcoming stream.

Tonight’s beer is from Founders, their Dark, Rich, and Sexy Porter. It has a good robust taste to it and isn’t too sweet, which too many porters are. I don’t know that it’s one of my favorite dark beers, but I an many ways really look for those high ABV or barrel aged dark beers that help you feel warm in the winter.

Bottoms up!