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 judgedoug wrote:

 CptJake wrote:
I like getting the Warlord newsletters, there is ofter some decent stuff in them. Heck, that is how I found out about the PDF rules.

actually I agree. Warlord's Wednesday hobby newsletters are an awesome mid-week early-morning read and their Friday releases newsletters almost always make me want to order something. Probably the best newsletters from any company I've ever gotten (plus the £50 monthly prize draw for newsletter subscribers is a nice bonus!)

They are nice!

Of course, you also 'work' for them too, don't you?

While I can see how it might be a bit annoying to have to sign up for 'free' PDFs, I think it is also a small 'price' to pay to help companies recoup some of the costs that go into games development.

Also, you have to sign up for the newsletter - they probably aren't sending you one if you don't.

Plus, there's always that 'SPAM' button/filter on your e-mail account.

Overall, not a big deal!

So, okayish rules. Mars Attacks with no grid, more or less.

 Alpharius wrote:
Of course, you also 'work' for them too, don't you?

In that I demo Bolt Action for my FLGS yeah haha. But I wanted to have BA players so I started demo'ing and became an official "sarge", a glamorously unpaid position. but one of the reasons is because I am a bit of a fan of their product (though shhh I prefer Perry historicals over Warlord's)

 judgedoug wrote:

 Alpharius wrote:
Of course, you also 'work' for them too, don't you?

In that I demo Bolt Action for my FLGS yeah haha. But I wanted to have BA players so I started demo'ing and became an official "sarge", a glamorously unpaid position. but one of the reasons is because I am a bit of a fan of their product (though shhh I prefer Perry historicals over Warlord's)

I know all about those 'glamorously unpaid positions'!

Anyway, I'm REALLY glad they put out these rules for free!

Hmmm...I have to admit, I'm a bit disappointed at the use of special dice and cards. For these little skirmish games, I prefer some standard dice and simple yet decent rules. Like Frostgrave or This is Not a Test.

The Warlord newsletter is definitely quite useful for this kind of thing.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
Gameplay looks a lot like it will just be lining up everyone in the middle and rolling dice at each other until ...

..But that's never stopped AoS !

*Kazzzinnngg*

There's probably some interesting stuff added with the skills and weapon traits. Seems okay, I guess. But I am disappointed that there doesn't seem to be any kind of campaign or warband advancement rules. It also seems like you couldn't really play it one player. I don't see how it could possibly result in an interesting game, given how simple the zombie AI is.

I also find it odd that they bother to include the 1 in 6 chance of being stunned by a hit. I suppose its fun to knock someone down and let a zombie eat them, but seems like it will be pretty rare that something like that will happen.

Also, why do they think it is so much harder to reload an automatic weapon?

Albino Squirrel wrote:

Also, why do they think it is so much harder to reload an automatic weapon?

If anything, it's usually easier...

I know what you mean. To be honest I'd be tempted to house rule that; Put ammo tokens down next to a model as usual and in the end phase, roll a die for each token you have. If you get at least one 'slain' result (or which ever result appears on a die only once) then you are out of ammo for the rest of the game. With an 'extra ammo' upgrade (or possibly the expenditure of grit token if the game is trying to keep things simple) you could use it up to ignore up to two 'slain' results for that models "ammo check" that round.

That way it's more about running out of rounds on your person rather than emptying thr magazine and fumbling around for three rounds trying to put a fresh one in.

I've not read it but maybe it's more about gameplay than realism? Perhaps it's intended as a nerf to prevent those weapons from being overpowering?


About the special dice and cards.. That's an auto-skip for me. Personal pet peeve. Not saying I don't play games with cards in them (most seem to here lately) but the combination and if I'm guessing right the cards are for activation.. which.. blech..

 MLaw wrote:
... if I'm guessing right the cards are for activation...

Luckily, you don't have to guess! You can download the rules for free:
http://www.warlordgames.com/project-z-complete-offer-one-week-left/

They aren't very long.

Dice are like HeroScape dice. 3 sides have the same icon, 2 sides share a different icon, etc.

IGO/UGO/ZGO system by phases: Movement, shooting, fighting. Roll more icons than your opponent. Zombies move toward and attack nearest living enemy.

Simple advantage and disadvantage rules (eg. ranged attacks roll one less die per obstacle between attacker and target).

Grit tokens and cards allow players to do stuff. Reload rules.

Sounds simple and streamlined, but am not seeing it standing out from other IGO/UGO games. I'm still going to try ATZ first.

From their gameplay video, I have to say, it seems....underwhelming. Not a lot of carry over of survivors between games, weapons sort of all feel the same, only a few zombies at game start, and overall a lack of skirmish-polish I'd expect for a 10-models-or-less-a-side game.

I almost want to convert the rules for This Is Not A Test to cover modern day zombie encounters (think there was a scenario published for wasteland zombies/ghouls).

Maybe we need to see a scenario book and gang-creation rulebooks before making too many assumptions.

~iPaint

The video suffers a bit from the players not knowing that cover rules exist.

Disappointing if the rules don't have much depth to them (it's becoming a trend, isn't it?)

Have heard some very good things about 'This is not a test', which apparently also has some zombie-type scenarios - so hopefully mix and match rules and minis there.

 Pacific wrote:
Have heard some very good things about 'This is not a test', which apparently also has some zombie-type scenarios - so hopefully mix and match rules and minis there.

Rad Zombies are the focus of one scenario, and can randomly spawn in other scenarios. It wouldn't be hard to make TNT work for "modern" Zombie Apocalypse gaming.

That rulebook is not really convincing me to preorder this thing. It doesn't help that without seeing the cards or scenarios, we can't really judge how the game actually works.

 Nostromodamus wrote:

 Pacific wrote:
Have heard some very good things about 'This is not a test', which apparently also has some zombie-type scenarios - so hopefully mix and match rules and minis there.

Rad Zombies are the focus of one scenario, and can randomly spawn in other scenarios. It wouldn't be hard to make TNT work for "modern" Zombie Apocalypse gaming.

Maybe they'll expand that with the upcoming KS?

Yep looking through those rules I think any Zombie gaming I do will be with the Skirmish Outbreak rules. Still I might pick up the starter box at some point if represents a saving on the minis.

Yep, some of the minis look absolutely fantastic.

Really looking forward to getting my hands on the special forces/moderns kit especially, and then using whichever rules turn out to have the best campaign system.

$112.99 + shipping from NWS Online (my order was $135.14 after shipping).

This is a much better value proposition considering the rules look overly simplistic. I'm looking at this solely on a price-per-mini basis.

For other rules, you may want to consider:

All Things Zombie (not so cheap with all the supplements)
Ambush Z (cheap, but more squad based)
Combat Zone (cheap + fan created zombie variants)
Dead Walk Again (free)
New World Disorder + Zombie Apocalypse add-on (fairly cheap)
Savage Worlds Showdown (free)
Send More Brains (free)
Zed or Alive (cheap; based on Savage Worlds Showdown)
Zombies & Survivors (free)

I'm sure there's more out there...

Also Across the Dead Earth - the first part of the second book "From Sea to Poisoned Sea" was recently made available in PDF format and importantly, that's the part that contains the rules for AI controlled zombies.. aka the Sollus.

I can throw some support in for All Things Zombie. The wife and I began playing it, and despite the rule-book being in urgent need of a professional editor (for both clarity, and correctness), wading through it has been worthwhile.

Very fun, and heavily leaning on RPG elements. I'm having a great time with it.

re: zombie rules, there's also from Crooked Dice, 7ombieTV: http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/wp/product-category/7ombietv/

The core rules are mostly geared towards an 80's style US zombie movie, whereas the first expansion is a more UK affair with tongue in cheek references to shows of back in the day. The third expansion is all about military casts and whatnot.

Dark Sphere now have some of the Project Z Stuff up for pre-order
http://darksphere.co.uk/pgc.php?c=1835&utm_source=Dark+Sphere+Newsletters&utm_campaign=16eff9f595-160305_Skaven&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e5739860a2-16eff9f595-8062713

Release dates are mixed (18th April onwards), prices are £27 for the starter set with the female/male survivors, spec ops and zombie horde at £13.50 and bike gang at £22.50

I think Warlord is digging 2Deep2Greedily here. £25 for 3 bikes and 4 mooks is not happening.

 lord_blackfang wrote:
I think Warlord is digging 2Deep2Greedily here. £25 for 3 bikes and 4 mooks is not happening.

Honest question. How many bikes do you think you need for a zombie skirmish game? They're not making and pricing this with the off chance someone wants to plop 30 of them on the table. I'm not even sure that it's possible to scale their game that high.

I see $32 for 2 bikes and 3 or 4 gangers (I think one can be built as a passenger or additional foot person).
If you price the foot people at $3 each that leaves the 2 bikes at $10 each. Granted, I don't think those are amazing prices but I think they are pretty average prices.

In contrast, at Chaosorc.com
A box of GW ork bikers is ~$33
A single GW scout biker is ~$13


Or, Curious Constructs lists IG bikers at £8.00 for a single or £22 for 3.

There's loads of other bikes out there but they tend to be either overpriced OR the sculpts aren't that great OR need work to fit with what you might want to do with them.

Dropping $32 for a gang of bikers doesn't really seem like a stretch to me. Do I wish it was cheaper? Sure but I don't think it's the highway robbery it's being painted as.

At that price point they're pretty much competing with Infinity Haqq Kum Bikers as well. That's not a comparison they'll come out of all too well.

 Bolognesus wrote:
At that price point they're pretty much competing with Infinity Haqq Kum Bikers as well. That's not a comparison they'll come out of all too well.

If you compare retail to retail. The kum bikers are 35.95 euros for two minis on bikes that look nice and have no options.http://store.infinitythegame.com/articulo.php?f=1&s=6&o=3&id=2305

I'm probably missing something but that's not close in price.