This is a web published print and play board game, which was originally created in tandem with a range of zombie survival miniatures by Fortress Figures, which has since ceased trading. The rules, maps and cards are still available for download in various versions on boardgamegeek.com, as fans of Zombie Plague have posted their own rules modifications.

The charm of a print and play game is that it is free and you get to make it yourself, although the downside is that you have to muck around with glue and scissors and card sleeves and laminate. I like doing craft stuff so the making part is fun, although the time you spend on the game is largely equivalent to buying a game anyway, so your mileage may vary.

There is a ton of zombie games out there now, Zombies!!! probably being the best known, and Last Night on Earth having the best overall gaming experience. Soon there will be not one, but two board games based on ‘The Walking Dead’, one for the tv series and one for the graphic novels. I think we can safely say that there is now a glut of zombie board games, so why make an effort with Zombie Plague?

Well I have to give credit to Zombie Plague for being ahead of the curve, as it is now ten years old and contains the best features of a zombie board game (apart from the gore and violence). You start the game unarmed with a few zombies wandering about, you run around searching for weapons and equipment, once you are tooled up you kick ass until one of the heroes dies, the zombies surround you and the game ends in horrible death.

Not always at any rate, most players like to at least feel as if they have a chance of success and seeing their hero survive the game. Your objective is to search five specific locations marked on the map and then barricade the doors and windows of the house and kill every zombie that remains indoors. If you do that you win, unless you find the car keys in which case if you can get to the car and start the engine you escape, simple as that.

So you have toys that inevitably run out of ammo or break, zombies smashing in through the patio, action, drama and sometimes betrayal. It depends on your players, but you can play Zombie Plague co-operatively or as a versus game, it is up to you. Technically the players split half and half between zombies and heroes, but you can easily have 1 zombie player versus 5 hero players, you simply adjust the number of zombies on the table if the heroes gain an advantage.

Changing the rules is part of the charm of a print and play rule set, as the designers are often more open to players altering things, and in the case of Zombie Plague actually encourage it. A free game has a life of its own, as the designers don’t necessarily have an emotional investment in maintaining their original vision of how the game should work or what the expansions (if any) should be. Zombie Plague is simple enough that you can easily muck about with the mechanics without upsetting the game play.

It is an action point system, so a hero has 4 action points and a zombie has 2. A model spends 1 action point to move directly forward, change facing (on a squared grid), make an attack, search a location or barricade a window or door. The joy of an action point system is that as opposed to roll system and move where you cannot really forward plan, you have more or less complete control over your actions. Instead of an abstracted move and fight and search, you can fight several times and move, or search twice and move a bit and build a barricade.

Action points make a game more strategic, because your use of action points can in itself be a test of games skill. Items like energy drink or running shoes can increase your action points giving you more options. The zombies are pretty limited with 2 action points, but they have the advantage of numbers. You can also place your zombies to deter heroes from moving in certain directions or slow them down.

Combat is dead simple, roll a 6 to kill a zombie, though if you have a chainsaw you kill on a 4, 5 or 6 for example. The zombies need to roll a 6 to wound a hero, and then roll another 6 to infect them, at which point they become zombified and join the zombie team. Items like the medical kit can slow the onset of zombification. This mechanic in itself is a rare one in zombie games, but reflects genre trope of infected heroes that have to be put out of their misery by a fellow hero.

There are some stumbling points in Zombie Plague, zombification being an obvious one in that you are usually instantly zombified rather than it being a slow descent into undead hell. Some of the cards are not particularly clear in their implementation, and take some flexible unbiased adjudication on the part of the zombie players. The rules I have include two pages of designer notes effectively saying that the game is a tool kit for players to work with and improve upon.

All you need for Zombie Plague is some miniatures and/or cardboard standups of zombies and heroes, plus dice and tokens. Easy enough for wargamers and zombie fans, but when it comes down to it a handful of Lego men works just fine. It is a very good zombie game that is easily expanded and has at least five or six maps including a church and graveyard, garage and house, and urban streets. So long as you bring a light hearted attitude to the game and components you will have lots of fun.