The game involves the players traveling throughout the board with the goal of collecting location pieces from each corner and surviving various “Encounters.” With almost every move comes an encounter. In these encounters a player relies on their Scrounge cards to aid them in surviving and earning location pieces and possibly more Scrounge cards. Many of the Scrounge cards contain various attack points to aid in defeating a challenging Encounter card. To defeat an Encounter card one must combine the attack points of a Scrounge card and the number rolled on the dice. If you are unsuccessful in winning an encounter you lose an ally. Allies in this game serve as meat shields. The more allies you have the longer you can survive or if you wanna get all RP about this; they're your hit points. Once you are out of allies then you are at greater risk of becoming a Walker...
...Oh, but here's where the fun REALLY is.
First, let me clarify. There can only be two walkers in this game. The first two players who fall; become Walkers. All players after that who die are excluded for the rest of the game. Here's the thing though. The game makes you think that you want to survive, collect location pieces and get back to camp, but oh no, the real goal in this game IS to become a Walker. You may ask: “why?” Let me explain. When you become a Walker, you're goal is to screw over every other survivor still on the board and to kill them. The game gives the Walkers an advantage over the “survivors” with their Walker cards. You can up the strength of an encounter card, move across the board faster and turn a survivor's allies into walkers which drains their hit points, etc.
What I enjoyed about this game is there's actually two games in one. Once the game starts out it's a game of survival and collecting, but once two players are “turned” the whole dynamic of the game changes and it becomes a game of cat and mouse. The survivors must try to avoid and defeat the zombie team while collecting the location pieces and returning to camp.
The main thing I found disappointing was they only made it for up to four players when they have six character cards and pieces. I understand having variety but why carry more pieces than what a game allows?
Overall, The Walking Dead board game is easy to follow and surprisingly very fun to play. The game keeps you on your toes and puts the players in a position where they must rely on both strategy and luck to win and proceed throughout the board. At the same time supply continuous fun to the couple of players whom fall first while playing. I recommend that any fan of the series and/or comics add this game to their collection and make apart of any game night they partake in.
Definitely a 4.5/5
The Walking Dead tells the story of the weeks and months that follow a pandemic zombie apocalypse. County Sheriff Rick Grimes travels with his family and a small group of survivors, constantly in search of a safe and secure home. But the constant pressure of fighting off death on a daily basis takes a heavy toll, sending many to the lowest depths of human cruelty. As Rick struggles to keep his family alive, he will discover that the overwhelming fear of the survivors can be far more dangerous than the mindless walkers roaming the earth.