It might not be Christmas yet, but I already got an awesome present! When I arrived home yesterday, a package with Zombiecide: Black Plague was waiting for me. Let’s crack it open and see what’s inside!
The first thing you’ll notice is a nice letter. Black Plague was supposed to be delivered in December 2015, but as it’s the case with many Kickstarters that include tons and tons of extras, they weren’t able to have everything on time. What the people of CMoN & Guillotine Games have done is ship a copy of the game to every backer early and they’ll send the rest of the stuff later.
It’s not the perfect solution, as every backer only gets a copy of the game. And myself, for example, had ordered an extra pledge for some friends. But CMoN didn’t need to do it, and sending a single copy to each backer simplifies a lot the logistics, making it possible to achieve in time. And they even did it without asking for extra shipping to the backers. It’s an understandable compromise, and I’m sure it’ll make most of the people happy. So, thank you for such a nice present!
Comparisons are odious, even so I can’t help but think about Mantic’s screw up with Dungeon Saga’s Adventurer’s Companion and how they’re asking for any backer that wants a corrected book to pay for the shipping.
But I digress, let’s keep checking Zombiecide: Black Plague!
Inside the box you’ll fin a thick book with all the rules and quests (as it says on the cover) and another box for the plastic mini and components. Yeah, a box inside a box!
I won’t talk about the rules in this review as I have yet to read them fully, but you can bet the farm that I’ll be playing it these holidays and I’ll give my opinion at a later date. That being said, the book has the same good quality you’d come to expect from a Zombiecide product.
So, once you open the second box you’ll find a couple of clear plastic trays full of miniatures, the new plastic character trackers, dice and cards. On the first tray there’s one each of the unique sculpts in the game, while the second tray has duplicates of the various zombie types.
The plastic character tracker is a really nice feature. It keeps the same idea from the original Zombiecide of tracking XP, gaining abilities and having a limited inventory, but now the presentation is as fancy as it gets (it’s only missing some lights and sounds). Was it needed? No. But it’s an incredibly nice extra that gives an additional layer of polish to the game.
Another of the new features of the game are some colored plastic discs you can put on the bases of the miniatures. Whoa! Amazing! The idea is to make it easier to spot your hero once things start to get crowded (and it’ll get crowded), as every disc has a unique colour. Just be aware that if you’d like to paint your minis, the discs can chip the paint off the base.
Below this second box, the original box has all the tiles and counters with a couple of cardboard spacers to avoid the tiles from moving and damaging their corners, for example.
The quality of the miniatures is great, for a boardgame. And even decent for wargaming. I’m thinking about using some of the miniatures for Frostgrave!
The heroes have some nice dynamic poses. They’re really nice. Some of them have slightly bent weapons, but it’s minimal. Nothing as bad as Dungeon Saga or Rise of the Kage (where it was silly how bent some of the katanas were). Going through all of the miniatures was a joy and I can’t wait to play some games!
In a way, having received the base game ahead of time is a blessing as now these heroes will see some play. Because one of the main reason to get into this Kickstarter instead of waiting for retail was the plethora of exclusive extra heroes. The regular heroes are fine, but who wouldn’t want to slay zombies with Conan, Xena and Ash? And of course, Sean Bean, to see if he’s the first one to die. By the way, I have eternal dibs on Jareth the Gobling King!
Overall the care put into the packaging of the game is top-notch. I doubt anyone would feel displeased with their purchase after opening the box.