5 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN - DAY 3 – DEAD OF WINTER : A CROSSROADS GAME

5 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN 

DAY 3 – DEAD OF WINTER : A CROSSROADS GAME

Once zombies were rarely seen outside of b-movies but, for whatever reason, they’ve broken out of the scientific research stations, clawed their way out of the graves, and have become a mainstay in popular culture over the last 10-15 years. Best selling books and comics are written about them, Hollywood aswell as the small screen have made them stars and many game designers have been lured into creating games about them. And we, the players, have largely lapped them up.

Last Night On Earth, by Flying Frog Productions

I’ve played my fair share of them over the years from the low production qualities of ‘Maul of America’ (which was a fun game even if the components were pretty basic) to the more recent high end production of games such as Zombicide. I think my favourite has, so far, been Last Night on Earth but that’s not the game I’ve chosen for todays ‘5 Days of Halloween’.

Zombicide, by Cool Mini Or Not/Guillotine Games

I have, in fact, chosen a game which we are hoping to play for the first time on our own Halloween Games Night. One I’ve been wanting to play since it came out in 2014 and I’ve heard people raving about. The game? Dead of Winter : A Crossroads Game by Plaid Hat Games.

Dead of Winter : A Crossroads Game, by Plaid Hat Games

It’s a co-operative story-centric survival game for 2 – 5 players. Taking place in one of the last human colonies during a harsh winter the players have to work together to find food, fuel and other supplies, fight off the ever present zombie menace (as well as other outside threats), resolve a variety of crises that occur, all whilst trying to keep the colony’s morale up.

Added on top of the already troubling survival chances is that one of the players *may* be a traitor – working to destroy the colony. This mechanic has been seen in a number of other games (such as ‘Shadows Over Camelot’ and ‘Battlestar Galactica The Board Game’) and can be very fun to play with. Making all the players work together but never entirely trusting one another. Each player will also have their own secret objectives which can give them an additional victory on top of just managing to survive.

As I’ve not actually managed to play Dead of Winter yet (only a few more days….) I’ll let Wil Wheaton show you a play through from Tabletop Season 3.

Geek & Sundry have also created a very good parody video for Dead of Winter starring Felicia Day and Brandon Routh.

Enjoy!

Buy Dead of Winter - A Crossroads Game : http://www.boardgameguru.co.uk/dead-of-winter--a-crossroads-game-22157-p.asp

Buy Last Night on Earth : http://www.boardgameguru.co.uk/last-night-on-earth-648-p.asp

Buy Zombicide : http://www.boardgameguru.co.uk/zombicide-12847-p.asp

By Angus Abranson