Designers: Raphael Guiton (Massive Darkeness, Zombicide, Zombicide: Black Plague, Zombicide: Green Horde, Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak, Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue), Jean-Baptiste Lullien (Massive Darkeness, Zombicide, Zombicide: Black Plague, Zombicide: Green Horde, Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak, Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue), Nicolas Raoult (Massive Darkeness, Zombicide, Zombicide: Black Plague, Zombicide: Green Horde, Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak, Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue)

Artists: Edouard Guiton (Council of 4, Massive Darkness, Zombicide, Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak, Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue), Eric Nouhaut (Wrath of Kings, Zombicide, Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue)

Publisher: CMON Limited (Arcadia Quest, Arcadia Quest: Inferno, Blood Rage, Blue Moon City, Council of 4, Dogs of War, Dragon Castle, Ethnos, Gizmos, The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire, The Grizzled, Lorenzo il Magnifico, Massive Darkness, Modern Art, Newton, The Others, Potion Explosion, Railroad Ink: Blazing Red Edition, Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition, Rising Sun, Unfair, XenoShyft: Onslaught, Zombicide, Zombicide: Black Plague, Zombicide: Green Horde, Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak, Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue)

Genre/Mechanisms: action points, cooperative game, dice rolling, grid movement, hand management, miniatures, modular board, player elimination, variable player powers

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, Zombicide: 2nd Edition is already fully-funded.  In fact, pledges currently total more than 6.5x the initial funding goal with 9 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 1-6

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: medium-low

What It’s About:  “Zombicide 2nd Edition features refined and streamlined rules, including updates to target priority for ranged attacks, interactions with doors, and vehicle mechanics. A new dark zone feature… that hides zombies from Survivor’s attacks… has been added as well. Zombicide 2nd Edition will include new components and miniatures, including plastic dashboards and new child Survivors.”

How It Works: Depending on how you back the Kickstarter, your pledge may also include the role-playing game and/or the travel version of Zombicide. But for now, we’ll just be sticking to the ruleset of the new 2nd Edition base game. Zombicide is played over a series of rounds, beginning with the Players’ Phase, followed by the Zombies’ Phase, and finally ending in an End Phase.

During the Players’ Phase, the player with the First Player token takes their turn, and then play proceeds clockwise to the next player. On their turn, each player activates their Survivors, one at a time, in the order of their choice. Survivors normally have 3 Actions per turn, though this can change with Skills. Survivors’ actions include the likes of: Move Search, Door Action, Reorganize/Trade, Combat Actions, Take or Activate an Objective, Make Noise, and Do Nothing. Once all players have completed all of their actions for their various Survivors, the Zombies’ Phase begins. Zombies will either Attack or Move, with all of the Attacks resolved first, followed by all of the Moves. If Zombie Runners are in the game, they will have 2 actions per activation. After existing Zombies’ actions are resolved, more Zombies will then Spawn. Finally, during the End Phase, the First Player Token advances to the next player, and then a new Players’ Phase begins.

Zombicide is a bit of a hybrid game. It’s cooperative, and the players fight against enemies, but there isn’t a dungeon being crawled through, nor is there a tower to defend. In that sense, Zombicide functions like many other scenario-based games, where the specifics of the goals and even some of the gameplay mechanics are dependent on the individual scenario. This allows for some variability, as well as the option for more and different types of scenarios with expansions. Also, Zombicides features additional mechanics and game modes like Car Actions (Vehicles), Dark Zones, Companions (including Escort Quests), and Ultrared Mode.

Owners of the first version can upgrade their game to 2nd Edition through this Kickstarter, and backers can pick up additional Zombicide gameplay variants Travel Zombicide and the RPG.

Comparisons:  I mean, this one is pretty easy, right? Zombicide, Zombicide Season 2: Prison Outbreak, Zombicide Season 3: Rue Morgue, Zombicide: Black Plague, and Zombicide: Green Horde, Zombicide: Invader, and to some extent, spiritual successor Massive Darkness. They all have a reputation as beer & pretzel games, high on randomness and low on skill and planning. As a whole they’ve been criticized as being on the trashy side of Ameritrash, with some fairly significant balance issues. But the games have also slowly & steadily improved from one iteration to the next, and new mechanics have been introduced into the series. With Zombicide’s 2nd Edition, CMON is taking things back to the beginning, attempting to include some of the balance tweaks they’ve adapted in later sequels, as well as beefing up the gameplay with the some of the mechanics they developed over the course of the series. Of course, it also serves as a great jumping-on point for new players.

What Should I Pledge?:
$58 Dynasty: the new Grim Dynasty expansion, the Xing Tian Legendary Hero, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$97 Legacy: the Village Attacks core game, the Xing Tian Legendary Hero, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$135 Dynasty & Legacy: the Village Attacks core game, the new Grim Dynasty expansion, the Xing Tian Legendary Hero, and all unlocked stretch goals.
$200 Storm the Gates: everything in the Dynasty & Legacy pledge, plus Wrath & Ruin, Despair & Abhorrence, Rage & Avarice, 3D Traps, The Troll, and Grimlord & Revenant.

Add-Ons:
$205 Ancient Evil Bundle: includes Horrors of the Sands, Greed & Fury, Terror & Anguish, Fear & Torment, Dread & Malice, Doom & Suffering, Wrath & Ruin, Despair & Abhorrence, Rage & Avarice, 3D Traps, and The Troll.

KS Exclusives:

All-In Total: In the continental U.S. you’re looking

Zombicide: 2nd Edition completes its Kickstarter on Wednesday, November 6th and tentatively ships in November 2020.