Movie Modern Day Survivors - I think I fell in love

Cruising the usual suspect 3D model websites I found this collection of modern day survivors and fell in love.

Cheech and Chong

What an amazing addition to your modern day game.  A couple of lowriding survivors who just seem to have the ability to bounce through life.

Chuck Norris

You don't just 3D print Chuck, he prints you!

Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson)

If you are fighting zombies then having this cowboy fighting beside you is definitely going to increase your chances of survival.

The Lord Humungous

One of my favourite fictional bad guys from my favourite post apocalyptic property. 

Zombies!!! - The most fun you can have in a 6" x 9" box

Today we celebrate George A Romero's Birthday with a bit of zombie posting.

My favourite zombie boardgame is Zombies!!!

Zombies!!! (yes the exclamations are part of the title) by Twilight Creations is a very big game for such a tiny box and a tiny price.

Get to the Chopper

The player's objective is to "explore" the town by randomly drawing a then placing a town tile as part of their turn then defeating any zombies which they come into contact with.  When they find the helipad tile they can try to reach it and win the game.

Zombies!!! Boardgame Town Tiles

The stand out component for me are the town tiles which make up the board.  I think it is the frustrated town planner in me.  These geomorphs depict almost every type of building you are likely to encounter in a small town USA and I confess I have used them in many RPGs to quickly generate a town for my players.

As the board is generated the number of zombies increases with each new tile placed generating more and more for you to deal with.

Players also get to use the good and bad event cards throughout which introduces a Player vs Player element to the game.  These cards can really mess with your day or be the key to success and really ramp up the tension.

Fast Frenetic Fun

Gameplay is fast and simple.  Each player turn consists of the same steps:

• Draw and place a tile
• Fight zombies on your space
• Draw event cards
• Move an fight zombies
  
• Roll and Move the zombies 
• Discard event cards
  

If you die at any time you respawn back at the town square so nobody gets ejected from the game because they became zombie lunch.

Expansions Galore

Just like movie franchises, the sign of a popular game is often the number expansions it has.  Zombies is no exception and with 15 editions there is a lot to choose from.  If you want to recreate Dawn of The Dead, then there's Zombies!!! 3 - Mall Walkers.  If you want to explore the sewers then you need  Zombies!!! 6 - Six feet under.  If clowns are your thing then Zombies!!! 7 has you covered.

The Board Game Geek community has also created several house rule expansions to add flavour,  My own particular favourite is the addition of weapon cards which greatly enhance the game with ranged attacks.

Give it a go, you won't be dissapointed... you'll be dead!!! 

Revisiting Teenage Mutant Horror Comet Zombies

Had some down time last week and decided to revisit one of those 80s movies which I raved about after seeing it on Alex Cox's "Moviedrome".  For me it was seminal TV and regularly showed cult movies I had heard of but never seen.  Good Times.

They Came They Shopped They Saved The World

"Night of the Comet" (or as it was known in the UK "Teenage Mutant Horror Comet Zombies") was a relatively low budget (£3million) sci-fi movie released in 1984.  Written and directed by Thom Eberhardt it stars Catherine Mary Stewart (Weekend at Bernie's) and Kelli Maroney (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) as Regina and Samantha, as sassy valley girl sisters who end up missing out on the greatest spectacle of their lives, a comet passing Earth.  Does this sound familiar? (Day of The Triffids anyone...)

When morning comes they discover that everyone they ever knew is missing and a dusty red smog has filled the air.  Enter Robert Beltran (ST Voyager's Chakotay) as Hector, the mexican truck driver, an unlikely but entertaining hero who tries to help the girls come to terms with the new world order.

Meanwhile the saviours of humanity in the form of a bunch of "Apocalypse Nuts" led by Geoffrey Lewis are emerging from their underground bunker to start afresh by gathering up all the survivors.

Without giving anything away it's an entertaining slice of 80s L.A. teen culture, deely boppers, rampant consumerism and zombies.  It's got a few great one liners like "Daddy would have gotten us Uzi's" and "The legal drinking is ten... but you will need ID, lets be real".  The two girls are the absolute stars and strong female characters are hard to come by in any post apocalypse movie.

Great inspiration particularly in the case of the two strong female characters, and as a genre setting for an apocalyptic game when you're bored with "The Walking Dead",