Rochester Gamers Community

Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game is a board game developed by Flying Frog Productions based on the zombie survival genre that can accommodate 2-6 players. It is a combination of cooperative and competitive; as several hero players work together to defeat the scenario while one or two players act as the zombies and try to defeat the heroes.

Components

The components for this game are just beautiful. Flying Frog Productions did not skimp on components at all. With thick cardboard tokens, great plastic sculptures, and quality cards used for the zombie and hero decks. There have been a few people that have had a bad batch of cards, but it sounds like Flying Frog Productions has been ready to replace them with ease.

The game comes with a full color rulebook, 1 town center board game (flip side is the manor house for one particular scenario), 6 L-shaped outer board pieces, 8 hero figures, 14 zombie figures (7 green and 7 brown), 60 card zombie deck, 60 card hero deck, 6 reference cards, 8 hero character sheets, 5 scenario cards, plenty of counters, 16 six-sided dice, and 1 CD of original music to use as a soundtrack.

The only thing I would replace if I could (and plan to in the future) is the little dice that come with the game. With all the other components looking so great, the small dice area bit of a letdown when you first pull them out. But it is a minor thing and does not really take away from the overall game.

Mechanics

Cooperative Play – Up to 4 players work together as the heroes to complete a chosen scenario and survive the zombie onslaught. At the same time, up to 2 players can work together as the zombies to try and thwart the heroes. The exact number will depend on each side will depend in the number of players participating in the game.

Competitive Play – There is also a competitive play mechanic with this game, as the zombie players and the hero players work towards different goals and are in direct opposition of one another. When the game ends, either the zombie players or the hero players will be victorious.

Hand Management – Both the zombie players and the hero players have card decks that they can utilize. For the zombie player it is automatic but the heroes have to search in order to collect cards. Hero players might have to decide on items to discard or trade away if they already have 4 items in play (or 2 of those items are already weapons). Zombie players have a max hand size of 4 (total, so if there are two zombie players, each has a hand size of 2). Zombie players can also discard up to one card per turn. So zombie players need to play or discard their current cards in order to get more cards.

Dice Rolling – Yes, the random element of dice rolling is involved in this game. This is a mechanic that can be a killer for some people. But honestly, it works for the type of game this is and between special abilities and cards there are plenty of ways to possibly manipulate the dice rolls. The dice are used for hero movement, ranged weapon results, ammunition checks, and normal combat.

Modular Board – There are 6 L-shaped pieces that make up the outer board, but typically only 4 of those pieces are used at a time. So the makeup of the town is slightly different with each game.

No Player Elimination – Zombies are going to kill heroes, that is part of the game and eventually those evil random dice turn on you. The good news is that Flying Frog Productions has thought of this and added in a mechanic so that players are not eliminated from the game early. If a player loses the last hero they control, they simply randomly grab a non-played hero and start in a random location. The game keeps going and everyone continues to play until one side or the other meets their objectives. What if you run out of non-played heroes? Not really possible, because one of the default objectives of the zombie players is an automatic win on killing 4 heroes.

Scalability – This is one of the things I really like about this game. There is always the same number of heroes on the board, regardless of number of players. There is also always the same number of zombies to control. In this way the game scales easily from 2 to 6 players, even in mid-game if necessary! If you have a game night where people come and go, this game works extremely well for adding and losing people during play. Nothing on the board changes, just which player controls what.

Scenarios

There are 5 scenarios that come with the game, and 1 scenario available for download on the Flying Frog Productions website. These scenarios, combined with the modular board, keep the game from being the same with each play. Future expansions will also have new scenarios in them, making this a fun and flexible game with a good amount of replayability. Scenarios range from the basic, kill 15 zombies before 2 heroes die, to the more advanced, take out 3 zombie spawning points, find and rescue 4 townsfolk, or keep 9 zombies out of the manor house until daybreak. Each scenario will require the hero players to try and work together for a different goal and possibly use different powers available to them.

Overall Impressions

I am a huge horror movie fan, and that includes zombie movies. I have a lot of the zombie related board games themed around the genre; and this is by far my favorite zombie related board game. I have played this game countless times and even demonstrated it at conventions and gaming events, and I have yet to grow tired of it. I love breaking out this game with a new group, or with a bunch of people I know enjoy the genre. So if you ever want to give it a try, just get a hold of me; I am always up for a game!

I highly recommend giving Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game a try, especially if you like zombie genre games. You will not be disappointed.

Brrrraiiins!!