Let’s face it, anyone who thinks a zombie apocalypse is going to be awesome really needs to stop thinking they are going to be a zombie killing machine. It’s not a party with all your friends, resources, food, shelter and those wonderful weapons people seem to think will be so easily acquired, are going to be in short supply. And if you do happen to have these things, those who don’t are desperate and now you have a whole new headache to deal with.
Dead of Winter, from Plaid Hat Games, gives you the chance to see what real survival is like in a tabletop game. The Zombies, are only a part of your problem; finding food, medicine, weapons, and fuel; that’s the real challenge. Players take on the role of one or more survivors, who each have a secret objective of their own to fulfill. Sometimes, they are helpful, but sometimes, they are out only for themselves and will sell you out for a can of spam.
To set up the game, Place the colony board and the six locations out where all players can reach them. Next, each location has a set of search cards, place the appropriate deck on the matching location.
Give each player a player sheet, and 4 six-sided dice. Each one of the dice represents a character in their team and one for themselves. Next, each player randomly draws 3 characters. Each character has 3 stats; fight, search and morale. Select the character with the highest morale to be your leader and the other 2 are your group. Give each a player a hand of 5 starting cards from the starting deck. Starting items are food, medicine, tools or fuel. Each player takes the matching standee for their characters and places them in the Colony.
Select what scenario and difficulty you want to play. Shuffle the crisis cards into a facedown pile and place them on the Colony board. Place the morale and round tokens on the spaces designated by the scenario.
Shuffle the crossroads cards into a facedown pile. Finally build the secret objective deck, based on the number of players, and deal one to each player. This is the objective that the player must achieve in addition to completing the scenario in order to win.
Each turn starts with a crisis, all the players are faced with. Usually, it requires a certain amount of food, medicine, or parts. Each player secretly adds resources (or not) to solve the crisis. In addition, the colony must have a constant supply of food or more trouble. So players, move from building to building, searching for the needed items. But the risk to move at times, is literally life or death, all on the roll of a die. You get bit, you are dead.
Also during the turn a crossroads card may force you to do things, that trigger certain events and you are faced with a choice, and sometimes they are all bad. Other times, you reap great rewards.
Then the zombies activate, and their goal is to bust in the colony and overrun the players. If you run out of time before the mission ends, or just lose all morale, it’s game over.
So why would anyone want to spend an evening with friends in such a dark and dismal world? Because to overcome such odds and have the human spirit shine through in all the darkness, gives one fulfilling gaming experience.
Dead of Winter delivers this reality in spades, and yet, one comes away with the feeling of elation instead of relief. In the right group, DOW shines, even with a traitor amongst you. It gives on the edge of your seat tension and excitement, and when a game can deliver that much, you bet it is awesome.
Ready to join the last of humanity? Plaid Hat has you covered.
Written by Ed Carter
