Tuesday, 16 February 2016

TWD Tryout

Last night I tried out a two layer game of The Walking Dead; All Out War, Mantic Games' latest kickstarter.  I have previously tried it out as a solo (which it handles very well) so I had a basic understanding of the gameplay.

T'Other One was my opponent, apt as it is he who first introduced me to TWD.  We used his 'Last Night On Earth' figures and Mars Attacks vehicles and barricades, plus a few bits of street scenery which were there just to look nice (though at one point I thought a bench was a barricade and nearly put Carl in mortal danger).  The mat is just some very old Fat Dragon street tiles designed for Heroclix IIRC.

I won't give a blow-by-blow account, but here are some observations:
The game play is pretty simple and straight forward.  It's hard for gamers to judge, but I think it will be easy for non gamers to pick up.
The feel of the game is pretty much spot on.  Lots of sneaking around and trying to avoid the walkers. At no point did we actually come to blows with each other, though Rick did shoot at a walker and draw others onto one of the opposition.  There was lots of gathering of supplies, by the other side at least.  Rick got one lot which turned out to be a Lurker, the opposition got several, and was close to winning on more than one occasion, only to have a team member die and drop all collected loot.
There were a couple of points we were unsure of, and one tactic that happens in the comics, but doesn't seem to be modelled in the game, but overall a very pleasing experience.
Now I'm really looking forward to getting the finished game and hoping there is a good campaign system in it.




3 comments:

  1. Great, can finally comment! I very much enjoyed the beta game. It was suitably tense and the Zombie rules worked very well. I certainly feel happy about my Kickstarter pledge now.

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    1. Glad to hear that. I might not be quite the keen zombie fan, but I do like The Walking Dead, and I felt this game captures the spirit of the comics.

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