Nate Rethorn
United States
Toledo
Ohio
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I think the primary purpose of this expansion is to bring back the alternate way for the zombies to win: by decking the heroes. In the base game, it was a viable (if not always practical) victory condition, lesser-used behind completing the scenario objectives or killing four heroes. There were enough discard-based effects to threaten unwary heroes if they cycled too quickly. But after multiple expansions, decking the heroes became an unneeded core rule. There simply isn't any way to get rid of the entire hero deck in twenty turns.
Enter Zombie Pillage. For this scenario, 45 cards are placed in a separate "town deck." The zombies can deplete this pile by various means, the most efficient of which is bunching up in buildings and auto-discarding. This scenario has a much different feel to it than anything before; instead of the heroes hiding out in buildings and searching, they're forced to actively hunt zombies. And it's extremely easy for those zombies to relentlessly discard from the town deck if the heroes make a solitary mistake in their planning. I don't think this scenario is necessarily slanted in the zombies' favor, but it requires much more thought and planning for the heroes than it does the zombies.
The cards included in this expansion aren't all that noteworthy. The highlight for the zombies has to be "Trapped!", which immediately add d6 zombies from your pool to an opponent's adjacent spaces. "Angry Dead" adds more discard effects--potent for this scenario but rather mediocre otherwise. And "Closing In" is great if you have zombies across the board that are being useless. Remove them and give some other zombies d6 movement for that turn.
The heroes gain a few decent cards as well. "Endurance" adds a health marker to any hero--great for some of the more fragile heroes. "'Let's Rock!'" and "Courage" both give heroes situational extra fight dice and a few other helpful benefits.
Overall, Zombie Pillage is a great change of pace from the usual scenarios. It's a nailbiter for the heroes, and encourages much different tactical thinking than what experienced players might be used to.
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James
United States
Midlothian
Virginia
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OK, Nate, you're now going to be responsible for emptying all of my disposable income allowance for the month with your reviews of the LNOE web exclusive scenarios.
I see they're about $10; does anyone know if Flying Frog has an amount you can get to in order to get free shipping? I can't find the information on their web site. If the threshold exists, I likely will rationalize purchasing enough in order to hit it...
Thanks for a solid, informative review.
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