Designers: Adrian Adamescu (Before the Earth Explodes, Sagrada, Speakeasy Blues), Daryl Andrews (Bosk, City of Gears, Sagrada), Conor McGoey (Gorus Maximus, Summit: The Board Game, Vault Assault)

Artists: Magda Pixi Husar, Omashone

Publisher: Inside Up Games (Gorus Maximus, Summit: The Board Game, Vault Assault)

Genre/Mechanisms: area majority/influence, push your luck, secret unit deployment, simultaneous action selection, take that, worker placement

Funding Status: At the time of this posting, The Quick and the Undead is already fully-funded.  Pledges currently total just over the initial funding goal with 6 days left to go on the campaign.

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-high

What It’s About:  A zombie Western worker placement and card management game, where the players are Outlaws competing to “earn, steal, and shoot” their way to the highest notoriety.

How It Works: The Quick and the Undead is played over a series of days, with each day broken down into 3 rounds of action. Player are competing to gain the most Notoriety by the end of the game. Each round begins with players simultaneously choosing one of the 8 action spaces using a secret die face. Players then reveal their choices and take their turns in descending numerical order, beginning with Hire Guns. If two or more players have an outlaw on the same space, they’ll Duel. In a Duel, players roll dice, trying to match their roll with a slot on their card containing a Bullet token; if they do, they hit their target. If their rolled number corresponds with an empty slot, they miss. The highest hit wins the duel, and the loser places their Outlaw in the Graveyard. After all player actions are taken, players lay their Outlaws down, and then can not take that action space during the remaining rounds on the same day. At the end of the day, all Outlaws are returned to their respective players, not including Outlaws inside buildings or in the Graveyard. Once all of the Undead have been eliminated from the Town (not including Boot Hill), play shifts to High Noon and play proceeds for one final round.

The action spaces players choose from during their turns include: Hire Guns, Scout, Stalk, Extort, Outfit, Intimidate, Loot, Hijack, and a space that allows the player to choose any of the spaces not chosen by other players, taking their action last, unless multiple players choose the same spot during the same round, in which case all of the involved players lose their turn. During Hiring Guns, the active player spends 2 Coins or 1 Notoriety to return one of their Outlaws to their stash, and then gain a Bullet and reset their Crit Token. During Scouting, the active player Intimidates another player on the Outfit, Intimidate, Loot, or Hijack space, then gains 1 Coin, 1 Notoriety, or 1 Bullet. When Intimidating another player, that player must pay 2 single resources from among their Coins, Notoriety, and Bullets to the active player, or allow the active player to take a shot at them. During Stalking, the active player Hunts the Undead, then gains 1 Coin or Bullet. When Hunting the Undead, the active player keeps rolling dice, trying to “hit” one of their weak points. The player continues to roll until they either hit the undead, or roll the same miss twice. During Extorting, the active player steals 1 Bullet from another player from the slot of their choice, or Fights the Undead in the Street; then gains 1 Coin or 1 Notoriety. Fighting the Undead in the Street works similarly to Hunting the Undead, but players can only target the Undead in the streets and not those in buildings. During Outfit, the active player Intimidates another player on the Scout, Stalk, Extort, Intimated, Loot, or Hijack space, or Fights the Undead in the Street; then Gains 2 Bullets. During Intimidate, the active player Intimidates another player on the Scout, Stalk, Extort, or Outfit space, or Fights the Undead in the Street; then gains 1 Coin, 1 Notoriety, AND 1 Bullet. During Loot, the active player steals 1 Coin from any player, then gains an additional 3 Coins. And during Hijack, the active player Steals 1 Notoriety from any other player, then Gains 2 coins AND 2 additional Notoriety.

At the end of High Noon, the player with the most total Notoriety tokens wins the game, with ties broken by the player with the most Coins, and then by a tie-breaking Duel. If dueling players die simultaneously, the living player with the highest Notoriety wins instead, which could potentially trigger a second round of duels if more players are tied.

Comparisons:  Western Legends also has a western theme, but is more of an open sandbox-style game. The Quick and the Undead is smaller in scope and utilizes more Euro-mechanics, including simultaneous action selection and worker placement. Two of the game’s three designers also collaborated together previously on Sagrada, but The Quick and the Undead doesn’t have too much in common with Sagrada. The third designer, Conor McGoey, is also publishing The Quick and the Undead through his company Inside Up Games. Some of his previous games include Summit: The Board Game and Gorus Maximus. And finally, Hard West is another current Kickstarter with a western theme. Hard West features some miniatures, cardboard scenery, and various character dashboards that combine with various gun dashboards to create a hybrid player board. However, Hard West comes with a much higher price tag and feels like it may be underwhelming apart from the innovative character and gun dashboards.

What Should I Pledge?:
$35 One Copy of The Quick and the Undead: exactly that, with all unlocked stretch goals.
$45 KS Deluxe: the same pledge as above, plus 48 metal coins and 36 wooden bullets.

Add-Ons:
None.

KS Exclusives:
None listed.

All-In Total: In the continental U.S., you’re looking at $45 for the KS Deluxe version of the game, plus $8 in shipping for a total of $53.

The Quick and the Undead completes its Kickstarter on Thursday, November 14th and tentatively ships in June 2020.