With the coming arrival of DCeased Zombicide 2nd Edition, I want to take the time to re-introduce you to a very collectible and addictive board game, our very favorite: Zombicide 2nd Edition!
It’s an intelligent, miniatures-heavy board game done right by focusing on group communication and tactics instead of just the mini’s wow factor. It feels like a cross between a Pathfinder 2nd Edition Adventure Path and a board game. Best of all it won’t break your wallet to get into and there are so many box options for a theme that vibes with your gaming group.
So with that let me quickly introduce you to some of the best features we love about the horror survival game Zombicide 2nd Edition, especially for playing with your family and kids!
The Easy Set-Up
For such a mini’s-heavy board game, you might think this would mean long clunky setup times but, in fact does not. I usually have my kids ages 8 to 12 set Zombicide up using the intuitive and short mission setup descriptions accompanying each mission. The pictures provided easily match the large map tiles and indicate the correct orientation of each. The tiles themselves are thick and have detailed 3d graphics that look as good as any D&D battle map. There are symbols on the Zombicide tiles that indicate where doors, crates, and spawn zones are to be placed. The spawn zones are rectangular tokens that indicate where zombie miniatures will enter the board. This means that not all the zombies will initially be on the board, making setup so much easier!
We have a hard time with other cooperative board games we love like The Thing and Dead of Winter because the setup time can burn a parent out but, I swearsies you won’t regret any version of Zombicide 2nd Edition!
The Paintable Mini’s
If you’ve ever wanted to introduce your kids to painting miniatures or maybe you’re just jumping into the sub-hobby yourself, zombies are the most forgiving mini to get started with. Zombiecide has such creative and easily paintable minis that it’s easy to fall in love with miniature painting all over again. There is even a Zombicide 2nd Edition Painting starter set offered by Army Painter that is great for obtaining the right colors. If you’re more of a wing-it person and like to create your own colors, then grab these Vallejo sets because they have been a favorite of mine for a long time. Vallejo Paints has a great history and offers you great paints at a great price.
Some of our favorite painted Zombicide minis are those with a monochrome technique. It really brings out a flare that is both affordable due to the minimal paints needed and easy especially as you get older and find it harder to keep steady. Check out our article on easy ways to get painting for young and old!
The Block Dice
Are you a Dice Goblin like me? Do you horde varieties of dice because of their beauty and shape knowing that one day they’ll be used as bartering items in a zombie apocalypse? Well, my friend guess what…Zombicide like most tabletop war games uses only D6 six-sided dice but, there is something inherently beautiful about clusters of square-sided chunks falling on the game night table.
The Thrill of the Kill
There is something about the cooperative coordination of a handful of survivors tactically overcoming a horde of Zombicide zombie hordes. The cheers and shouts of panic from my children are fantastic. It’s a blast to see them talk to each other to figure out the best way to overcome a pickle. The tactics are lightweight so you will not find yourself with analysis paralysis. Using the Survivor (Player) card and intuition, you can easily see the most beneficial options for you and your team. When I’m playing with my younger kids I like to present the 3 best options for their Survivor and let them discuss with the other players what they should do, much like a TTRPG DM would do.
The Randomness
The replayability of Zombicide 2nd Edition is a pretty fantastic feature that CMON games pull off through the zombie Spawn rules and loot crates. Your team of survivors will never know what type of horde they’re up against from game to game since the zombie spawn cards trigger all sorts of different occurrences. The spawning of zombies is also linked to your Survivors experience/adrenaline tracker so the higher you are on the track the harder things become. However, the higher you are on the track the more skills you get to unlock, so there is a fine balance. The loot crates spread throughout the map allow your Survivor to upgrade their weapons and gear but, these are randomized by the set of 41mm x 63mm cards so you never know what you’ll find and if it will be useful.
The Board Exploration
The missions of Zombicde 2nd Edition will have you connecting various large map tiles to make the current mission map. Then the objectives of each mission will have your team exploring the Zombicide map to accomplish the mission. Sometimes the mission will have you killing specific zombies, gathering supplies, securing areas, finding an NPC non-player character survivor, and finally just simply trying to survive. You’ll be focusing on trying to find the best route around the board and deciding whether splitting up is a good decision. You’ll be wondering if you should make a dash for that unidentified loot crate all alone in the corner or just leave it be. However, each time you enter a building for the first time zombies will spawn in all the dark rooms. Sometimes the randomness of the spawning will be in your favor and at other times you’ll quickly find yourself in loads of trouble.
The Easy Homebrewing
The rules are simple enough for my 8-year-old to understand and consist of a 3-action system much like Pathfinder 2E. We use tokens to represent the 3 actions of each survivor so that no one gets confused if they have used an action already. Because the rules are not crunchy Zombicide 2nd Edition easily allows for some homebrewing without breaking the mechanics. For instance, our family likes to have the option to drop items on the ground and we represent this by leaving the item card on the board. We also have made it possible to complete a mission without having ALL the Survivors exit the board as some missions require but, the Survivor that dies cannot be used again in following missions. Another rule we have homebrewed for Zombicide 2nd Edition is the friendly fire rule which states that shooting into a zone that contains a friendly will cause damage to that Survivor if the attacker misses their shot. We have modified this to allow for FOCUSED fire so that if a player uses 2 actions they can focus fire and not cause damage upon a miss. These are just examples of ways you can modify the game so that the fun level stays high in Zombicide.
The Zombie Support Groups AKA FANs
If you like fan-made stuff Zombicide has a large following of creative people who have provided new missions and homebrewing ideas. There are even Photoshop templates for making your own Surviors with those old Warhammer Fantasy or 40k models you don’t use anymore.
Conclusion
Listen, do you know what that sound is? That’s the sound of your sad home without Zombicide 2nd Edition. Put some smiles on your family’s faces and get this game. Plan a family game night and learn to get tactical together!
