Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey folks. So Warlord's Project Z has me excited for some zombie/survivor painting, but its rules are currently a big question-mark. I was hoping to boost its value by picking up a couple of extra rules sets that I could use with the same models. I've seen "All Things Zombie" get mentioned a few times, but am having difficulty finding thoughtful/thorough reviews.

Has anyone played this game? In particular i'm curious as to how its progression and campaign elements work.

Thanks!

I would suggest downloading the free Chain Reaction rules to see if you like the mechanisms.

I would also join the Two Hour Wargames forum/yahoo group. Ed (guy who runs the company) is a great person, and very helpful in answering questions.


But to answer your question, the campaign rules center around a month long Campaign Turn which drives encounters. You have burn rates for food and fuel, different areas (rural, suburban, urban) each with different encounter ratings, and tables you roll on to generate the encounters. There are rules for bartering, searching, lack of sleep and all kinds of other things. The time period (how far past Day 0 you are) influences who/what you'll run into. Frankly, the campaign rules are pretty extensive, but once you understand the mechanisms are not too difficult.

Jake

Thanks Jake. Can I ask how the campaign handles either co-op or competitive play?

Can the wife and I run separate crews, versus the system? Are their proper co-op rules?

If played competitively, which player gets to make decisions based on where to scavenge, and the like?

What sorts of model counts are we looking at for survivors, zombies, and rival humans?

Finally, I noticed extensive supplements on the THW website. Are any particularly stand-out?

All right, great questions. I sent them on to Ed at THW an he sent back:

Hey Jake,
Thanks for the info. I'll answer them here as you're doing a great job of it. In red.


Can I ask how the campaign handles either co-op or competitive play? The campaign is just like the rules i that it handles both co-op and competitive play. When playing competitively there's a couple of ways to handle it.
1 - Play at the same time, entering the table from different directions.
2 - Play the same scenario but one player at a time.


Can the wife and I run separate crews, versus the system? Yes. Are their proper co-op rules? All THW games, especially ATZ are solo and co-op designed.
If played competitively, which player gets to make decisions based on where to scavenge, and the like? You can choose to play in the same area or in different areas. For example - I could choose to explore an urban area while you decide to check out a rural area. But even when playing separately the other player is still involved by rolling for the zombies when in combat and running any non-player characters that can be generated by the game.


What sorts of model counts are we looking at for survivors, zombies, and rival humans? Each player can have from 1 to 5 figures and about 3x as many zombies works well. If you run out of zeds, just put a marker under a zed to represent more than one if needed.

Finally, I noticed extensive supplements on the THW website. Are any particularly stand-out? That's your call Jake.

Since Ed left the last one up to me...

I, Zombie: Adds Ragers, Smart zombies and expands the rules for characters and campaigns (and gives a new setting) among other things. Makes it more of an RPG, but really doesn't add too much complexity. I think this one is worth getting.

High Rise To Hell: Adds in vampires and werewolves and a few other things like aliens. Adds new attributes/character types. I like this one, but unless you want to add in more than zombies, it can be skipped.

Hospital 911: I like this one. Basically a scenario book with 15 linked encounters in a hospital as the outbreak starts.

The Risk And Rewards deck is a fantastic supplement. It allows you to skip some of the tables in the rules and use the cards to to determine what/who you are running into. The City deck looks interesting but I don't think I have that one. You can download the instructions for the decks for free which will give you an idea of how useful they can be.

Again, I would grab Chain Reaction (and may as well grab the fantasy set Sword Play too!) to see if you like the mechanisms, but I do like the rules, and you really won't find a better guy than Ed when it comes to product support/customer service. He'll help out with any questions you have which can ease the learning curve some folks complain about with the rules.

Jake

Thanks Jake, and Ed. I haven't gotten to read this, but didn't want to not thank you right away for your time.

I'm clearly going to want to join the formally group, and bought a copy of the main rule-book from War Game Vault. Hopefully it is up to date, as I know the THW website seems to have a newer version... perhaps with some errata cooked in? The one I got was the 2012/2013 version, so it is the newest set of core rules, but someone mentioned it having received changes since, as recently as this month?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Looking over your responses has been really useful. As I love the RPG side of things, I, Zombie, sounds perfect. Someone else also recommended "Haven" for similar reasons?

I definitely wanted to grab the decks but I cannot find physical versions anywhere. I'm not necessarily wanting to print my own cards, but if I could find a set anywhere I would absolutely grab them. Does Ed know of any places which still stock them, as apparently even his webstore doesn't. :-p

Grab one. Grab 'em both.

I'm going to try Swordplay, since I grew up with fantasy gaming, but ChainReaction may be what you want to try first.

Free! : http://www.twohourwargames.com/free.html

Wouldn't be surprised if you could play the games semi-coop. Design a scenario where both of you need to fight the AI opponent (hint: zombies) but whoever gets the most objectives wins.

Thanks a lot for this post guys, very interesting!

Am in the same position as the OP where I'm looking at what set of rules to use, and wasn't aware of these guys - definitely going to be one to consider.

I've got the first book and have enjoyed reading through it, but have not yet had a chance to play. I'd completely forgotten I had a copy until I saw this thread and had been looking at Project Z... You just saved me some money

I would imagine if you don't want to print out the cards, it would be fairly easy to number them all and roll dice to determine which one happens

There are a number of people on blogger that I follow that absolutely adore ATZ and it's expansions, so it seems to be very flexible and popular... especially amongst solo gamers or people looking for a more rpg experience in their skirmishes

I'd love a look at that blog, in that case. Reading other impressions might be fun.

I did pick up the rules and have begun reading them. The writing style is pretty unwieldy, and the writer/editor in me wants to beg Ed to let me rewrite it for him. The content, however looks great, if a touch overwhelming.

THW rules can be hard to digest. Ed tries to ease you into it by offering the free sets, so a customer/potential customer does not have to spend money on something they are not going to like. The 'STOP' boxes where you stop and play out what you just learned can be pretty helpful.

Actually, having a handful of figures and dice out as you read so you can put the words to practice really does help. Having said that, Ed will do his best to help you understand the rules if you have questions.

They are not for everyone, but if you can wrap your head around them they are a good set. A lot of nuance and a lot of freedom to do stuff other systems won't ever let you. Start off with your mini-me Star and take it slow if you need to.

It will never be a competitive rule set like Mantic's Walking Dead is going to try to be.

As for hard copy cards, I would suggest asking Ed if he has any more, or if he intends to print more. Maybe ask on the Yahoo group or THW forum if anyone has a set they are willing to give up. I think I may have an older set and a newer set, but they are packed away in boxes in the basement (moved to a really small place over the summer and most of my gaming stuff except rules is still packed up, and will b until the next move).

I agree with all lthat Jake has said about ATZ FO and THW in general.

I have the books for several of the games ATZ FO, 5150 and Chain Reaction/Swordplay etc and I love the ease of setting up games either short time fillers or more invloved linked scenarios. The reaction tables make solo playing easy and rewarding.

However, this also is something that puts some people off. Just like real life your little toy persona may decide to do something you do not want them to. You cannot rely on your little plastic hero running accross that open space under heavy fire, to grab the goodies every time now. Sometimes thety freeze or even shock horror run away. Some people just hate not being in full control of their minis and so poo poo the system

I would totally recommend the THW rules as providing hours of great gaming fun that almost always turns your games into ready made narrative adventures, that keep you coming back for just one more go

Well, I, like most have a wealth of good, tight, competitive games to play, some even with light campaign elements (hell, i've written some of them), but I am completely enthralled by both these being co-op, and have much heavier RPG influence.

I'm SLOWLY making my way through the main rules, and will probably pick up expansions too.

Also, I have to admit 5150 has been calling to me as well.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Edit: Actually Jake, or anyone who knows... Can you possibly explain a specific thing about the rules.

Am I right in reading that the "group" or figures who actively trigger an In-Sight test, take a 1d6 penalty? That seems odd. Wouldn't one imagine that the actively moving unit is prepared for an encounter and thus shouldn't be at the disadvantage?

i *love* the Chicago Skirmish Wargames session reports, and here's one of their ATZ ones! : http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2011/11/escape-from-new-chicago-all-things.html

EDIT: A year late, but seems like they like this post-apoc ruleset: http://www.ramshacklegames.co.uk/nuclear/downloads.html

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:

Am I right in reading that the "group" or figures who actively trigger an In-Sight test, take a 1d6 penalty? That seems odd. Wouldn't one imagine that the actively moving unit is prepared for an encounter and thus shouldn't be at the disadvantage?

I took this penalty to reflect that the person moving is trying to ensure that everything around them is safe, so concentrating on that one shadowy spot as they move isn't possible. Not everyone in the apocalypse has the skill to notice everything as they move. Think of it like those popup ranges. You know full well those targets are coming, yet it is still really hard to react to them all unless you're really skilled. (at least that's my take on it)