Zombies plague the modern age. The success of the TV show Walking Dead has meant that shambling corpses are everywhere. The number of zombie related comics, books, shows and games seems relentless and unkillable. So much so that a zombie-themed game has to be pretty remarkable in order to do well in today’s over-crowded market.
Mantic’s The Walking Dead: All Out War Miniatures Game is an interesting take on the genre. Firstly, it’s a small team miniatures skirmish game, in which both sides play human factions. The titular walking dead are a central hazard. The more noise and nonsense you get up to on your turn, the more likely it is for things to escalate with the walking dead. Toward the end of each turn you draw a card and that tells you how much of a threat the zombies are. Various characters can make matters better or worse, depending on your strategy.
The main goal of the survivors is to get through the day without being killed and also scavenge equipment. Unluckily, all the places worth searching are crawling with the walking dead. In the two-player mode, you are racing against the other faction to get the most loot and run away. Specific scenarios are also available, and the game has a solo mode for those of you with no friends.
The rules are quite simple, and the components (dice, cards, counters) make it easy to keep track of the few rules the game has. The ‘threat dial’ is particularly handy as it helps you track how scary the zombies are getting.
The models are of the high standard we’ve come to expect from Mantic and the dead themselves look great. The license is based on the comic book (rather than the TV series) so the survivors look more like characters from the comics. The rulebook (and general game art) also draws from the comics, so it looks appropriately scary and pretty lovely. The counters and cards look great. The game does come with a ‘playmat’, which doesn’t look great but it is meant to be a freebie; you don’t need the mat to play the game. The models are easy to assemble and you can play the game pretty much out of the box.
This is a slick, fast to play games that will appeal to those who love games like Necromunda and Zombicide. It’s very re-playable, it’s easy to pick up and it lets you re-enact bits from an iconic comic book and TV show. In short, it’s a lot of fun.
THE WALKING DEAD: ALL OUT WAR MINIATURES GAME / PUBLISHER: MANTIC / DESIGNER: MARK LATHAM / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
