Unboxing Mantic's 'The Walking Dead'

Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy has received a copy of Mantic’s new game “The Walking Dead - All out War.” It just missed our deadline for WSS 87, so I thought I’d do an unboxing review as our readers might want to learn about this new game, particularly relevant as ‘The Walking Dead’ series 7 is back on the TV.

The game comes in a sturdy box and has artwork relating to the original comic series, not the AMC Television series. The contents consist of two sheets of markers, scenery and templates, a set of eleven special dice for the game plus a selection of character, event and equipment cards. Also included was a two-foot square paper playing area plus, of course, the rules. These were divided into a quick starter guide (useful) plus the forty page rulebook itself. This was the basic game, so we did not receive any of the cool 3D plastic scenery. Darn!

There are six hero cards, each with its own unique character miniature. The models themselves are hard plastic and very well detailed. I can see these painting up very nicely. The characters are Rick and Carl Grimes, Derek, Sandra, Patrick and Liam (for those familiar with the series), although these could be used as templates if gamers wanted to expand their games. The Liam character, for example, is pretty useless but could be the template for a basic helpless survivor.

The zombies (or ‘walkers’) are just as cool as the heroes. There are twelve of these, each uniquely different. Again, these will look great with a lick of paint.

So how does the game actually play? That, dear reader, we will leave for another blog - I’m still reading the rules! It’s written by Mark Latham (of Legends of the Old West and Chosen Men fame), so it should be good. The game is released early November.