Axis & Allies & Zombies

As if World War II needed some extra violence and mayhem, Avalon Hill added zombies to their classic game. It’s for two to five players, controlling one of the same powers as the original game, with the wild card of zombies for good measure.

I’ve been playing the original version of this game for many years; I find it a fun, lengthy wargame and my 10 year old son enjoys it very much. He could see after a few games, and after playing some more recent kinds of wargames, that the combat mechanics, while involved, are fairly standard, and when he saw this version with monsters in it he wanted it badly.

We’ve played it a number of times now, and it is always fun. The story is that some sort of noxious smoke, unleashed by a Nazi archaeological dig, circulates around the globe creating zombies. The zombies can end up overtaking you before your opponent, which can be funny. You draw a zombie card before your turn, and add a zombie to a territory. You also have a chance to drive them out of your territories, but beware! If you lose, your soldiers end up zombified, which can be disastrous for your chances to win, even while being quite hilarious. You also have a chance to roll for tech advances that will help you fight the zombies, similar to your ability to advance your technology in the original game. Who doesn’t want a chainsaw tank or zombie mind control ray in their arsenal? No one, that’s who.

The pieces are high quality, and in line with what you would expect from an Axis & Allies game. It’s a worthy addition to this series. I have been thinking of picking up one of the other versions of the game, as there are now editions focused on WWI, the Pacific theater, and so on. But two games of this sort are enough for now. One of the fun things about these enormous wargames is the epic feel of them. It can sometimes take numerous sessions over several days to finish. We have a number of these types of big games in our collection, and adding to that seems unwise. The most disastrous thing that has happened while playing one of these occurred when our cat, in her nocturnal roamings, destroyed a game of War of the Ring after two solid days of play. We tried to soldier on, but the feline monster won the day.

If you like Axis and Allies, I’d rate this one 4.5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended!

One Roll Quest!

In our family travels this summer, I brought along some quick, portable games to play with my eight and ten year old. A couple of them were real hits with the kids that we will continue to play.

One Roll Quest plays just like it sounds. There’s a big clear die with 5 tiny colored die inside. You roll it, and that roll immediately determines whether you live or die, gain fame and fortune or experience points. The inner, colored dice determine some more specific consequences for your character–i.e. Everyone gains fame and fortune, except you–you die! It’s a very fast paced and funny game that my kids and I played numerous times. We also played One Roll Chronicles, which is a book with a brief story, in which you start out drinking in a tavern (like all good adventurers) and wind up, of course, looking for fame and glory. I’d rate this one 10 out of five stars for the number of laughs we had over it. It even includes some one off jokes like ‘One roll pizza,’ in which the die roll determines what pie you’ll order and which toppings. (we ended up with pepperoni and cheese, but my daughter cheated). 🙂

“Gelatinous” is another humorous dice game from Steve Jackson, in which each player gets 7 dice and tries to roll enough threes to create a gelatinous cube to win. Everyone can also lose and get eaten by a cube, which is a very amusing way to end this game. My kids found this one fun, as well.

We also played Catan dice, a shortened version of the game, in which all the dice have different resources on them, and you roll to create towns, cities, and roads. This was another fun and fast paced game, though it was less funny that the first two.

Finally, on a rainy day during our vacation, we played ‘Undead,’ a pocket box from Steve Jackson Games. This is a fun one, a bit more complicated than the others that will take an hour or two to complete. One player controls vampire hunters, the other is Dracula, and there is an option for a GM. It takes place in London in 1890, and is a hidden movement game that we found fun and thematically pleasing.

You can’t go wrong with any of these games. Steve Jackson Games has always done a great job with affordable, light games like these, and they keep creating great new ones all the time. I highly recommend supporting their kickstarters, or just checking out one of their many pocket or travel games if you’re looking for something to take with you on your vacation. They also make great diversions on game night with your friends.

Our trip was fun, as well. But games make everything better.