In December of 2015, just before Christmas, I received my boxed set of Zombicide: Black Plague, an expansion for the popular zombie apocalypse board-game. Only this time, instead of being set in the contemporary era, Guillotine Games set this expansion in medieval times in a fantasy setting. When and where it takes place is undefined. I recently finished painting all of the 71 figures that came with the game (6 Survivors and 65 Zombies) and I'll be reviewing them all over the next few weeks. I'll start off by featuring the 6 Heroes of the game.
At the far left of this trio is Ann, a human Warrior Monk. She very much reminds me of one of the Sisters of Sigmar from Games Workshop's Mordheim skirmish game, a favourite faction of mine. She starts with the Bloodlust:Melee Skill, which for the cost of one Action, she can move up to two Zones to a Zone containing at least one Zombie and then gains one free Melee Action to use immediately. Very handy for a skilled fighter.
Next up is the human Wizard called Baldric. It is hard not to associate such a named character with the oafish, Baldrick from the Blackadder TV series, but note the different spelling of his name. Rather appropriately, Baldric's starting Skill is Spellcaster, which grants him a free Action per Turn, which may only be used for a Magic Action or Enhancement Action. I usually find in my games of Zombicide: Black Plague that Baldric almost always kills the most Zombies in a game. Magic is very powerful!
The bearded human, Clovis, is a veteran warrior. His figure is both heavily armed and armoured, which means nothing at the start of any game. His starting skill is +1 die: Melee, which simply grants him an extra die for Melee Actions. Dual Melee weapons gain a die each, for a total of +2 dice per Dual Melee Action.
Nelly, an attractive human, worked as a barmaid, where she honed her combat skills by dealing with unruly customers. She begins each game with the +1 Free Move Action, which is self-explanatory. It makes her a lot faster than her colleagues, which is useful for scouting ahead or fleeing from danger.
This being a fantasy setting, other races apart from humans exist. Samson is a dwarf blacksmith with a deep hatred of the Zombie scourge. As befits the archetypal dwarf fighter, he is very tough and tenacious. His starting Skill is Iron Hide, which allows him to make armour rolls with a 5+ Armour value, even when he does not wear an Armour item on his body slot. Wearing Armour, Samson adds 1 to the result of each die he rolls for Armour rolls. The maximum result will always be 6.
Silas, is another non-human Hero. He is an elf archer who is highly skilled at ranged combat. Not unsurprisingly, he starts all games with the +1 to Dice Roll: Ranged Skill. Silas adds 1 to the result of each die he rolls in Ranged Actions. The maximum result is always a 6.
All of the figures have been superbly well sculpted and they were an absolute delight to paint. I have grouped them all together in this photo directly above to show them in their usual starting line up. I always line them up in alphabetical order, so from left to right are Ann, Baldric, Clovis, Nelly, Samson and Silas.
At the far left of this trio is Ann, a human Warrior Monk. She very much reminds me of one of the Sisters of Sigmar from Games Workshop's Mordheim skirmish game, a favourite faction of mine. She starts with the Bloodlust:Melee Skill, which for the cost of one Action, she can move up to two Zones to a Zone containing at least one Zombie and then gains one free Melee Action to use immediately. Very handy for a skilled fighter.
Next up is the human Wizard called Baldric. It is hard not to associate such a named character with the oafish, Baldrick from the Blackadder TV series, but note the different spelling of his name. Rather appropriately, Baldric's starting Skill is Spellcaster, which grants him a free Action per Turn, which may only be used for a Magic Action or Enhancement Action. I usually find in my games of Zombicide: Black Plague that Baldric almost always kills the most Zombies in a game. Magic is very powerful!
The bearded human, Clovis, is a veteran warrior. His figure is both heavily armed and armoured, which means nothing at the start of any game. His starting skill is +1 die: Melee, which simply grants him an extra die for Melee Actions. Dual Melee weapons gain a die each, for a total of +2 dice per Dual Melee Action.
Nelly, an attractive human, worked as a barmaid, where she honed her combat skills by dealing with unruly customers. She begins each game with the +1 Free Move Action, which is self-explanatory. It makes her a lot faster than her colleagues, which is useful for scouting ahead or fleeing from danger.
This being a fantasy setting, other races apart from humans exist. Samson is a dwarf blacksmith with a deep hatred of the Zombie scourge. As befits the archetypal dwarf fighter, he is very tough and tenacious. His starting Skill is Iron Hide, which allows him to make armour rolls with a 5+ Armour value, even when he does not wear an Armour item on his body slot. Wearing Armour, Samson adds 1 to the result of each die he rolls for Armour rolls. The maximum result will always be 6.
Silas, is another non-human Hero. He is an elf archer who is highly skilled at ranged combat. Not unsurprisingly, he starts all games with the +1 to Dice Roll: Ranged Skill. Silas adds 1 to the result of each die he rolls in Ranged Actions. The maximum result is always a 6.
All of the figures have been superbly well sculpted and they were an absolute delight to paint. I have grouped them all together in this photo directly above to show them in their usual starting line up. I always line them up in alphabetical order, so from left to right are Ann, Baldric, Clovis, Nelly, Samson and Silas.