Mantic Games "The Walking Dead" Miniatures Game; First Impressions

My wife bought me the new Walking Dead Miniatures game for Christmas as well as the scenery pack. Both look awesome, and I may end up picking up the other packs as well.

Here are some stock photos of the packs. I will be including some comparison photos of my own later on.

The miniatures are as nice as any I have seen. They are made of high quality plastic. The game components are decent, though the cards are a bit bendy. Rules wise they seem good for small skirmish sized games. These rules are longer than the Warlord Games rules, but both look short and simple. I bought 2 of the Warlord Games box set to get more of the miniatures. That won't be the case here, as the miniatures are one piece castings. Still, I love the miniatures so much, that I think I'm going to get all of the expansions. The Warlord Games miniatures are also fantastic, but of course are multi-part. My only fault I can find with either set of miniatures is that the Warlord Games female survivors are mostly wearing skirts and heels. They are all good, but I want old zombies (heels would have fallen off), and more females with pants. Mantic Games zombies are all unique, though I would happily have 2 or 3 of each if I could!

Here are stock photos of the scenery packs I picked up. They were around $50.00 Canadian. A bit pricy, but the cars are nice. The cars are around 1:49 or 1:50. Which matches a lot of the cars I have, they are the same size as my "O Scale" plastic train screnery cars, but would certainly be too big to put beside a 1:55 Jada or Siku. I have a lot of cars already, but I thought these would be good to make into burned out cars. I will make 3 burned out, and paint up one truck normally.

So far Mantic Games Has the Following Releases;

1. All Out War; Main Rules, spinner, dice, weapon cards, character cards, event cards, 6 survivors (including Rick and Carl) and 12 zombies. ($60 Canadian)

2. The Prelude to Woodbury; Solitary Rules. Governor miniature, 5 zombies, weapon cards, character cards, event cards, dice. ($40 to $50 Canadian)

3. Days Gone By; 4 Survivors (including Dale), 2 zombies, weapon cards, character cards, event cards. *this one looks like an add on to All Out War ($40 to $50 Canadian)

4. Scenery Pack; 2 trucks, 2 cars, 6 barriers, 10 loot piles (all can be used to replace the ones in the main game) ($50 Canadian)

5 Character Packs; These are a main character, with 2 other miniatures (could be characters of zombies). These are $25 each. A little pricy but very nice.

-Shane, Reggie and a zombie

-Lori and two zombies

-Carol, Sophia and a zombie

-Andrea, Amy and a zombie 

-Morgan, Duane and a zombie (Morgan's wife)

-Rick on Horse and a zombie

So altogether that's 21 survivors and around 26 zombies. To get all these sets, you are looking at about $360 plus tax.

Modern Gaming in 28mm; Scale and Scenery

I have received all of my recent orders of cars and was overall very happy with the cars. Though I now have a collection of cars between 1:50 and 1:60.  

Since I have such a variety in scale not all the cars look good beside each other. I am using mainly Wargames Factory figures with a few Cold War and Last Night on Earth. I will be getting Hassefree and Studio Miniatures later on. 

Average Male Height North America; 

69 inches (5 foot 9) or 1753mm

Figure Height; 31mm with base; 32mm

Actual Scale 1:56.5 with base; 1:54.7

But figures are never standing up straight so a half or 1mm could be added. 

Standing Straight; 32mm with base; 33mm

Actual Scale; 1:54.8 with base; 1:53.1

With Cold War or LNOE Base; 1:49 (Height Only)

Average Female Height in North America

64 inches (5 foot 4) or 1626mm

Figure Height; 30mm with base; 31mm

Actual Scale; 1:54.2 with base; 1:52.4

Standing Straight; 31mm with base; 32mm

Actual Scale; 1:52.4 with base; 1:50.8

What does this actually mean?

Every mm on the model corresponds to 2.22 inches 

Overall, the scale without a base is 1:55 for these figures, but an argument could be made for up to 1:53. 

So now side by side comparisons with the vehicles. 

Here is beardy Rick Grimes beside a 1:64 Fiat and a Ferrari. Both are actually exactly 1:55. The same as Rick. 

Here he is beside a Jada "Too Fast Too Furious" car. Advertised as 1:55 they are exactly that. 

Here he is beside a Menard's "Denver Diecast" van. The vans from Menard's I received were all 1:56. The Volkswagen Van is 1:52. 

I did not purchase their cars, but they appear to be 1:48 to 1:50. 

Here is a size comparison of a Jada 1:64 (actually 1:60) police car, the 1:56 SWAT van and a 1:53 police car by FastLane (scale not listed). 

1:60 sounds way too small, and this car does not work well beside my larger scale vehicles but...

Is it just me or does that look exactly right? The cops heads and shoulders are over the top of the cruiser. 

Here is Rick beside a laughably large 1:43 car. Though only slightly longer it probably has double the volume of a properly scaled car. Rick's head is level with the roof of the car. To me these don't work at all. They are enormous. 

Here is a 1:53 police car, another Crown Victoria. Almost the exact right scale. 

Here is Rick with the 1:43, 1:53, 1:55 and 1:60. The black 1:55 is not a police car but is around the same proportions. The 1:43 car is probably 3 times the volume of the 1:55. 

Here is one of the "o gauge" train scenery cars. They are all between 1:50 and 1:51. I have a large number of different coloured trucks made by Welly that are 1:51. I really like these cars but they don't mix well with most of my Siku. Siku does not make very many modern sedans in normal colours but these plastic train cars are about $3 each Canadian. They are a little large but passable. They also have compact cars but the interiors are white. 

Here is Rick beside a 1:56 Toyota LandCruiser by Siku. Probably the largest  Siku at "1:55".

Here is a 1:56 truck by Maisto. 

Here is a Welly 1:51 Silverado, it is a little big, but it matches exactly with the OGuage cars. They are available in multiple colours at every "Chapters". It would also make a good Ford 250 at 1:55. 

I have not purchased larger vehicles yet but a lot of 1:43 transport trucks, buses and construction equipment are actually 1:50 or even 1:55. Realtoy vehicles seem to at least some of the time, actually be 1:55. Tonkin and First Gear are 1:53 and 1:54 but seem very expensive. 

28mm Modern Vehicle Manufacturers

This is my second post on vehicles for 28mm modern gaming. 28mm is the same as 1:55 or 1:56. I am basing my vehicles on my Warlord Games / Wargames Factory miniatures which have normal (not oversized) features. I have based them on washers which gives them a small footprint and adds only 1mm to their height. As previously stated, I am going with cars between 1:50 and 1:56; which I realize is still a big range. Because of availability I'm going to have larger vehicles apart from smaller on the table. 

Here are the manufacturers I have found so far;

Siku; 1:55

Siku has large vehicles that are suitable as well as compact cars. Other vehicles are mostly too small but have to be looked at case by case. 

Large Vehicles; 1:55 or 1:50

Full Sized Cars and Trucks; 1:56 to 1:60

Compact Vehicles; 1:55 or 1:56

Denver Diecast; 1:48 (o scale)

They make a tonne of buildings with exteriors as well. The cars would be great for anyone aiming for 1:48 vehicles, but like all manufacturers there is a wide range of sizes between cars. 

Large Vehicles; 1:50 to 1:56

*I purchased the swat and police vans plus cube vans, they are 1:56. The VW van is 1:52. 

Full Sized Cars; 1:48

Compact Cars; 1:43?

Construction Vehicles; 1:43 to 1:48

Jada; 1:55

Sporty Cars; 1:55

These are really nice cars but there range is small and very flashy. I bought the set below, one of them will be Madmax's car. 

Maisto; No Scale Stated

Full Sized and Bigfoot Trucks; From 1:50 or 1:56

I picked up a several Silverados at Chapters, they are 1:50. I have another truck that is around 1:53. They may have other suitable vehicles as well. 

Hotwheels / Matchbox / Majorette; 1:64

Compact Cars; often are 1:55 to 1:56

I have found quite few cars that fit. Usually they are 3 inches or just under. 

No Name / Chinese Pastic; 1:48 (o Guage from eBay)

Full Sized Cars; 1:50 to 1:51

Project Z The Zombie Miniature Game

I picked up the new Project Z game today. Being a big fan of Warlord Games and Wargames Factory miniatures, I was excited to check it out. It is a fantastic deal!

At $60 for the box set you get; the rules, cards, markers etc. Plus a lot of fantastic miniatures. 23 zombies, 8 bikers, 10 civilians. The male zombies have been greatly improved from the old version by Wargames Factory (the old ones are awesome too though). 

My first impressions are the rules are simple to learn and has awesome miniatures. Buy it. I may buy a second copy of the main box set just to get the cheaper price on all those miniatures. 

http://www.warlordgames.com/pre-order-project-zombie-skirmish-game/

I am still going to publish my own rules as well. I know a lot of gamers may want a larger experience with zombies. Multiple sets of survivors, and / or larger sets of zombies. The Wargames Factory / Warlord Games zombies are hands down the best deal on zombies there is.  

 I am looking forward to checking Project Z. 

Find Supplies Zombie Wargame Scenario

This was an earlier Walking Dead scenario we played after the Escape the Farm Scenario. The two groups were to find food and water in the vehicles and buildings then escape the their side of the map.

A Look at Existing 28mm Zombie Rules

There are a number of existing zombie and post apocalyptic rule sets. I will list them here. I have the rules for about half of these, the others I have read reviews or watched gameplay videos. They all sound great in their own way. 

My Rules

Dead Wars!; My rules differ from other rules in that I want to have dozens or hundreds of zombies (80 to 200 are typical for us). Also, I am not an RPG guy, so have very few RPG elements. My game focusses on large numbers of weak dumb zombies vs several or many survivors. It balances the number of zombies because the number of zombies is directly related to the number of survivors. It is a simple system in which zombies spawn with cards each player draws each turn or from noise. Surprise events and game controlled groups can also appear. There is loot in buildings and cars. Zombies move with movement priority, automatically and simply. Characters have 4 action points each turn for each character. Melee and shooting is also simple. Groups move based on their highest initiative plus a D6, with the possibility of interrupting groups trying to shoot at you. 

Zombie RPG and Table Top Rules

Project Z; Warlord Games

http://www.warlordgames.com/project-z-complete-offer-one-week-left/

-skirmish style zombie games from Warlord Games. The rules are out for free. Players compete in a skirmish setting for loot markers. Out next month. 

The Walking Dead: All Out War by Mantic Games

http://www.manticgames.com/the-walking-dead.html

-looks like a small scale skirmish game with Walking Dead characters. Out Soon. 

All Things Zombie by Two Hour Wargames

http://www.twohourwargames.com/all-things-zombie.html

-This seems to be the most popular current set of rules. It has three books, which have a lot of RPG elements and includes scenarios. It is the most well developed current rule set. To be honest though, I found the shooting and combat very complicated. It does have a lot of good points though. 

Skirmish Outbreak: Skirmish Wargames Rules for the Zombie Apocalypse

http://www.skirmishsangin.com/?book=Skirmish_Outbreak

-Another well developed set of rules in rule book form or PDF. It is very RPG, with stats and abilities for characters. It is small in scale and focuses a lot on line of sight for zombies to see the characters. 

Dead Meat: Quarantine Zone America

https://m.facebook.com/PlayDeadMeat

-2 players form squads and battle it out. 

-Around 20 zombies with several survivors each. 

Total AR:SE; Akula's Rules: Skirmish Edition

https://web.archive.org/web/20140530051703/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roweller/ARSE/akulasrules.pdf

-A two page, simple but popular free skirmish rule set. 

All Flesh Must Be Eaten

http://www.edenstudios.net/images/afmbedemokit.pdf

-A small scale RPG set at a university.

-Looks pretty well developed but specific. 

Bio Syndrome RPG Modern

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/142737/Bio-Syndrome-RPG-Modern-Edition--Fight-the-Zombie-Hordes

-A new set of rules. It seems to focus on infected Resident Evil types. This one looks small and skirmish sized as well. 

Dead Walk Again; Zombie Action Shooter

http://lesitedenikko.free.fr/pages/ressources/regles/zombies_games/non_traduits/dead%20walk%20again/dead_walk_again_2.05.pdf

-Zombies vs Swat skirmish game.

-A homemade set of rules for a specific purpose. 

Ambush Z

http://www.ambushalleygames.net/ambush-z/ambush-z-pdf-version

-15mm zombie rules. Covers infected and dead type. Units have a shooting and defence value. These look the most similar to my rules though I have individuals shoot and melee. The most "wargame" type rule set. 

Dead Reign

http://palladium-store.com/1001/category/Dead-Reign.html

-I don't know much about this one. Reviews say it's very RPG like with supernatural elements. 

Outbreak Undead

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/88762/Outbreak-Undead

-An RPG game where you make an avatar of yourself and see if you survive.  

-There are mixed reviews of this one. 

Combat Zone

http://www.combatzonechronicles.net/cozo4/xzombi4.htm

-A subset of the Combat Zone Rules. Includes combat rules for buildings. 

Board Games

Last Night on Earth

A fantastic movie style board game. 

Zombicide

A video game style zombie game. I've never played it, but it looks great. 

Zombies!

Map tiles generate randomly. Good game. 

Xtreme Zombie Hunter

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20901/xtreme-zombie-hunter

-Like "Running Man" with zombies. 

New Zombie Rules Coming

I am almost ready to publish my rules for zombie war gaming. I am going to have a rule book but also have PDF rules for free on this website. 

The Warlord Games rules and the Walking Dead game are coming out soon. I am looking forward to trying them both out, and the miniatures for both look fantastic.  My rules are for larger scale battles. 

As I mentioned in my first post, I'm also going to have other zombie variant rules; Nazi Zombies, Rage Zombies, Napoleonic Zombies and Medieval Zombies. 

Start the Apocalypse! Zombie Scenario

Here is my newest scenario. The rules have not changed in two games now. A new player tried it with us today and found it simple to pick up. 

For this scenario my 4 characters were in the hospital. They had been hiding out in the 3rd floor staff room. The police officer of my group heard over his radio that a survivor was in one of the other rooms. They have to find the survivor. 

Another player has his 4 characters in the campground and has 4D6 zombies overrun their campsite. They have to find another working car and escape the board. 

The third player starts the game in the upper floor staff room at WalMart. All of the groups are to leave the board to the military "safe zone". That always works out in the movies!

A view of the whole map. 

I drew a card for four more survivors. They enter the parking lot. We roll

a friendly roll and they join the canping group. He now has 8 characters, though one has been bitten by a zombie. 

My police officer gets killed by two surprise zombies and my nurse is also wounded. She will slowly turn into a zombie as well. 

We find the other survivor and escape the hospital. 3 of my 5 characters are unscathed. 

Here you can see the camping group escaping in the white and black coup at centre. He has piled 8 people in there. 

The car gets too damaged trying to escape so his 8 survivors must bail out. 

I find a police car with the keys in it. I try and draw zombies away from the WalMart but there are just too many. 

Too many zombies!

We draw another group of survivors in a truck. They are uninterested in us but they do help clear some zombies off the road!

The situation in the WalMart remains the same. They spend the game shooting the zombies at the bottom of the stairs. They can either live in the WalMart or try and leave afterwards. The constant gunfire has drawn dozens of zombies to the outside front doors as well. 

Escape the Farm! Zombie Scenario Battle Report

Here is our first Walking Dead scenario, the escape from Hershel's farm. The last episode of season 2. Beth and Carol die in our scenario. This was a test run of the All Things Zombies rules. The figures are from Wargames Factory mainly.

Starting positions for the scenario. Carl and Rick are almost cut off. To win the survivors have to get over half their players down the road and off the map.

Andrea and Beth try and break through the zombies on the road but their car flips and Beth is pulled out and eaten. This also creates a bottleneck in the main escape route.

The zombies stop and devour Beth for 3 turns.

Daryl and Carol try to stem the tide of zombies but Carol is knocked down and bitten. This means that each turn there s a chance she will turn into a zombie!

Carol and Daryl jump in the car with Glenn and Maggie. 

The red truck breaks through the fence and runs over the last zombies in the way. Carol turns into a zombie in the car and Daryl has to put her down. Michonne and Andrea jump in the truck on the way by.