If you're looking for a zombie game then you can't go too far wrong when it comes to Greenbrier Games' Zpocalypse. They had major success with their original game and Defend The Burbs brings more characters, action, scenarios and of course zombie slaying weapons into the mix...

The Game

So what is Zpocalypse and what's different when it comes to this expansion for the game?

"Zpocalypse is a cooperative play, zombie survival game in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Two to four players play squads of survivors, managing their stats on a squad board. To be the best team spend one to four days in the nuclear zombified wasteland. Start in a basement/fallout shelter that leads to several base locations, or even through the sewers.

Scavenge for food and supplies, which expands the transformable board. Feed your survivors and add their skills to your squad board, then use your squad to fortify your base. An event card adds additional challenges and gives zombie movement.

Combat adds the adrenaline rush of moving around the board trying to combat zombies before they consume you. Every fortification built, zombie killed, and survivor saved leads to victory points which determines the ultimate winner, and also allows you to level up in weapons ability. Try to make it day to day in a world torn apart from the undead."

So, that all sounds rather awesome doesn't it? Using a whole bunch of game tiles and the new planning board you will be working out where you want to go raiding and how you're going to survive the horde of undead wanting your brains.

The Components

Here's a closer look at some of the bits and pieces you get inside the box which are used throughout the game and various scenarios. You can see them in action in the video above where Tabletop Simulator is used to show off the game.

The tiles are incredibly well detailed from what we can see here. The artwork is top notch and they look like they've worked out the symbology well too.

Miniatures are generally a big part of these zombie games and so Greenbrier will be looking to provide you with a wealth of hard PVC plastic models to use in your games. They have also provided an equal amount of survivors as both males and females so you have a nice gender split.

A wealth of blood soaked weapon cards look very inviting too. Add this to a number of new mechanics for scavenging and such and you have quite an intricate looking board game with some nice RPG-Lite additions giving you a sense of progress.

Here are some more of the changes...

• Skill cards: Replace daily goals as new ability acquisition.
• Scenarios: We have moved scenarios to the rulebook instead of cards to allow for more detailed information and easier release of additional scenarios in the future.
• Food and item cards: Now reduced in size to allow larger decks with more variety. Play with the new item and food decks in classic Zpocalypse by replacing the original decks.
• Reduced size squad boards: To facilitate a 5th player, we reduced the size of the squad board by dropping the double HP/defense wheel. Instead you track survivor HP individually. Defense is still cumulative. Smarts and movement still work on smartest and slowest, but we feel dedicating a wheel for them is a waste of table space.
• Helper text: Moved to journal like helper sheets so that each player has a quick reference for the most important information.
• Survivor cards new skill icons: Original survivors will be forwards and backwards compatible for either game. Original survivors are more combat focused, whereas Zpocalypse 2 survivors are more skill focused. Both may acquire and use the new skill cards.
• Something's Happening cards: Where the original Something's Happening cards only determined the difficulty of the zombies and their movement speed based on the day, now when a Something’s Happening card is turned, the fate of the players is determined by the number of zombies on the tracker. If you were terrible scavengers, had no one on patrol, and made a lot of noise building, chances are zombies have reached a critical mass and will send a horde your way. Combat is not a foregone conclusion. However, other challenges can still be sent your way such as raiders in the night!

You can go and check out more about the game over on the Kickstarter linked at the top of the page and absorb that gameplay tutorial where they show off a whole bunch of the mechanics.

Do you need another zombie game?