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Zombicide: 2nd Edition

Zombicide: 2nd Edition

Zombicide: 2nd Edition

Zombicide, the board game, has taken the world by storm with over two million copies sold since its release in 2012 and spawning a cult franchise of cooperative zombie slaying all over the world. In Zombicide, zombies are controlled by the game, while players take on the role of survivors who must co-operate in order to survive and thrive in a world overrun by the bloodthirsty undead. Find guns and gear to take the fight to the zombies through 25 different scenarios linked by a branching story as you pick your way through an infested city.

Zombicide (2nd Edition) features refined and streamlined rules, including updates to target priority for ranged attacks, interactions with doors, and vehicle mechanisms. A new dark zone feature, a zone that hides zombies from survivor’s attacks, has been added as well. Zombicide (2nd Edition) will include new components and miniatures as well, including plastic dashboards and new child survivors. Returning players will be able to use their existing collection from previous Zombicide releases as well.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.46

Zombicide

Zombicide

Zombicide

Zombicide is a collaborative game in which players take the role of a survivor – each with unique abilities – and harness both their skills and the power of teamwork against the hordes of unthinking undead! Zombies are predictable, stupid but deadly, controlled by simple rules and a deck of cards. Unfortunately for you, there are a LOT more zombies than you have bullets.

Find weapons, kill zombies. The more zombies you kill, the more skilled you get; the more skilled you get, the more zombies appear. The only way out is zombicide!

Play ten scenarios on different maps made from the included modular map tiles, download new scenarios from the designer’s website, or create your own!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Managment
  • Player Elimination

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.54

X-Men Mutant Insurrection

X-Men Mutant Insurrection

X-Men Mutant Insurrection

Though the world may despise them, the team of heroic mutants known as X-Men fight tirelessly to protect humanity from the sinister machinations of evildoers. Leap into the action with X-Men: Mutant Insurrection, a fast-paced, co-operative, dice-driven card game for one to six players! You’ll build a team of iconic heroes such as Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, and Jubilee from the sixteen heroes included, embark on dangerous missions around the world, and accelerate toward a thrilling showdown with a villain such as Dark Phoenix, Magneto, or the Hellfire Club.

X-Men: Mutant Insurrection invites you to travel the globe on death-defying missions to recruit new mutants, capture criminals, protect innocent lives, and battle some of the most memorable X-Men supervillains. Eight distinct scenarios await you and your X-Men, each with their own challenges and each leading to a no-holds-barred showdown against the villain. The Blackbird is ready to launch — join your team and fight for the future!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.18

Wrathborne Champions

Wrathborne Champions

Wrathborne Champions

You and your friends have been chosen by the gods to become Wrathborne; the strongest fighters the world has ever known! Using special class skills, unique weapons, and a few items, you must work together to defeat monsters intent on destroying the civilized world. This fully cooperative game will require your party to tactically dismantle each enemy in a different way before all of you are out of options. Whether casual or hardcore, Wrathborne Champions is the perfect game for all those brave enough to face the monsters’ wrath.

Each player is assigned a deck of cards comprised of their specific class abilities, a series of attacks specific to the weapon they are using this game, and a few personally selected items. These decks control not only the moves available to players, but also their life total, with damage being applied directly to the deck itself.

Player fight against one or more giant monsters printed on 10×10 miniboards placed in the center of the play area. Unlike most “big bad” games, the Monster Cards in Wrathborne Champions have set attacks and actions performed each round. This “AI code” lets players predict a great deal of how the monsters will act, allowing them to make tactical choices during their turns to increase the likelihood of success.

Monster Card life is tracked via Life Cards in a similar fashion to player decks. Most of these life cards are benign, but some alter the state of play dynamically, sometimes twisting the control out of the player’s hands. Players defeat a Monster Card when all Life Cards are removed from the sectors of the Monster Card that can attack. The game ends when the last Monster Card is defeated, or the final player is killed.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building
  • Pattern Recognition

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.14

World-Z-League

World-Z-League

World-Z-League

Zombies are taking over your town… it’s time to start shooting! (with rubber bands, that is).

Players set up zombie meeples in their player colors in and around chipboard buildings, then take turns trying to shoot down opposing zombies with rubber bands. Score points for opposing ones, but be careful not to knock over your own in the process!

Game Mechanics:

  • Dexterity

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 30 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

World’s Fair 1893

World’s Fair 1893

World’s Fair 1893

The World’s Fair of 1893 in Chicago was a spectacular international exhibition that showcased many great achievements in science, technology, culture, and entertainment. Acting as organizers of the fair, players work diligently to increase their influence throughout the fair and obtain the grand exhibits that will be put on display. The organizer who has earned the best reputation when the fair begins will emerge the victor.

On each turn of World’s Fair 1893, the active player sends a supporter to one of the five areas and gathers all of the cards in it. New cards are then added to some of the areas, and the next player takes a turn.

The five areas represent sections of exhibits, like Fine Arts and Electricity. Cards may represent exhibit proposals in one of those five areas, influential people who provide bonus supporters, or tickets for attractions and concessions along the Midway.

The game consists of three scoring rounds, each triggered when players collectively gather a certain number of Midway tickets. Players gain reputation points for leading in number of supporters in an area and for gathering the most tickets in each round. The leaders in an area also receive approval for exhibit proposals they have gathered that match the area. Players gain reputation points at the end of the game based on the breadth and diversity of their approved exhibits.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Control
  • Open Drafting
  • Set Collection

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 4 Players
  • 35 – 45 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, players journey to the frozen continent of Northrend to face the armies of the Lich King. This “Pandemic System” game showcases familiar mechanisms and gameplay, now tweaked to embrace the setting of the Wrath of the Lich King. Forts, temples, battlegrounds, and more populate the game board as you and your fellow heroes journey across the cold landscape. Along the way, you’ll set up strongholds, complete quests, and do battle with legions of undead.

In more detail, players team up as legendary heroes from across Azeroth, each with their own unique abilities to help in and out of combat. Heroes such as Thrall, Warchief of the Horde; Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwind; Sylvanas Windrunner, Banshee Queen of the Forsaken; and many more are at your fingertips. As the Scourge grows, more undead will populate the board. Throw dice as you enter into battle against the hordes of ghouls and ferocious abominations, using hero cards to add power to your attacks, block incoming assaults, heal wounds, take mounts to far off spaces, and so much more.

As you fight your way to the Lich King, all manner of dark magic and terrible creatures under his control need to be neutralized. This comes in the form of quests, a brand-new mechanism that can be completed as a team through a combination of dice rolls and the hero cards at your disposal. However, each quest comes with its own dangers and hindrances. Complete these quests to move closer to the final assault on Icecrown Citadel, where the Lich King himself resides.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Cooperative
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.18

Wonder Book

Wonder Book

Wonder Book

Oniria — the world of an ancient dragon civilization. Tales describe the land as an idyllic paradise filled with marvelous dragon-made wonders and surrounded by a flourishing wilderness. The only portal to that world is the Wonder Book, an ancient tome locked away in an abandoned tower. It sleeps, covered in dust, awaiting the one thing it desires most: you.

Wonder Book is a pop-up game for 1-4 players in which each player takes the role of a teenage kid in a group of adventurous friends. This is a co-operative game in which you all win or lose as a team.

The game is split into six consecutive scenarios (“chapters”), each composed of a specific deck of pre-sorted cards that contain the rules, the story, and the challenges you have to face. Each chapter has you explore a new part of the interactive 3D cardboard pop-up book and reveals more about the world in which your adventure is set.

Starting with the first card of the chapter deck, the story unfolds until you reach a goal card. These cards show a goal that must be achieved to proceed and explain how the players’ and enemies’ turns take place. Each hero can perform three actions per turn, including moving and fighting, using their individual skills, collecting sparks of magic (used to perform special actions), and interacting with cards and pop-ups. Once all heroes have taken their turn, a Wyrm card determines how the enemies will respond by moving, attacking, spawning, or doing something unexpected.

The basic mechanisms are easy to grasp, but the game keeps changing as each scenario offers different things to do. You will find yourself exploring, fighting bosses, solving riddles, playing little minigames, looking for clues…anything is possible during the story!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Move Through Deck
  • Narrative Choice

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.11

Wise Guys

Wise Guys

Wise Guys

Wise Guys is a quick-to-learn, cutthroat, area-control board game in which you play as one of four rival gangs seeking to strike it rich as “Rum Runners” on the rough streets of Chicago at the height of the roaring 20s.

Each turn, players wheel, deal, talk, and fight to control locations where they buy and sell alcohol, help politicians get elected, and get help in return or double-cross rival gangs. Negotiate, threaten, and ally with rival gangs when it serves your needs, but be wary of the inevitable knife in the back…

Over six rounds, players take turns driving to locations in the city represented by the grid of cards at the center of the board. Different locations provide access to materials, cash, or clout that the player’s gang members can “acquire” through trade, earning profit from property within their territory or by exploiting parts of the city under the control of a rival gang. All players must maintain a certain discretion as selling too much in one round will draw unwanted attention or else saturate the city in liquor — and your fellow mafioso won’t be too happy about lost profits.

The gang with the most cash at the end of the game wins.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Area Control
  • Dice Rolling
  • Negotiation
  • Trading
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 3 – 4 Players
  • ~90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00