That TCG Blogger

“This is my…broomstick?!” I am confident that everyone has seen the oh so classic film Army of Darkness in all its glory. A few years back, Twilight Creations (famous for their “Zombies!!!” board game series) created a little game called Midevil based indirectly (but obviously) on the famous movie. In Midevil, you have escaped the zombie horde only to find yourself trapped in the past being attacked by a new threat of skeletons that want your head on a stick. The game uses the same system as “Zombies!!!” (Placing map tiles, battling hordes of enemies, etc.) but adds a few new twists to the mix such as: player versus player combat, a points system, and new possibilities for creative game play.

The main idea of a game is competing against another player, this is most common in the form of two (or more) players “fighting” against each other on the board. What the original “Zombies!!!” lacked was a way to directly combat the other players on the field (however, there were so many indirect ways that it didn’t matter). Midevil makes up for this with its player versus player system in which after a player picks up the Necronomicon (the item needed to win the game), they are open to be attacked by the other players by the same means as with skeletons. If a player’s pawn were to land on the same spot as the one with the Necronomicon, then those players automatically start combat by rolling one die each in order to see the highest value. This combat works in the way with fighting other enemies in that the player can use life and skeletons to either re-roll or add points to their die roll. Combat systems that involve players interacting with each other directly such as this are key in any successful game, two people sitting across from each other playing solitaire is no fun at all.

With using such a randomized combat system, by rolling a die and hoping for a one-half chance of killing an enemy there always has to be a way to increase your chances. In “Zombies!!!” there is the “Bullet system”, where the pawn starts out with three +1 tokens and generally picks up more throughout the game. In Midevil, the system differs a bit in which the player has to kill enemies in order to receive the bonus. Meaning that, each skeleton killed gives you a different bonus in combat when you choose to discard it: blue is a +3, red is a +2, white is a +1. The system sort of reminds me of an RPG, where in order to get stronger in battle you need to take out enemies first. Rather than starting out with a boost and strategizing off of that, everyone starts out on even ground and gets to work off of that and hope that their chances grant them boosts.

The great thing about Twilight Creations is that in every rulebook they openly say that you bought the game and that you can play this game however you want. This isn’t like Magic: the Gathering where you have rule Nazis around every corner of a tournament hall ready to bite your metaphorical head off. You are free to make up scenarios, combine it with other games, or even completely re-write the rulebook yourself and no one would care, in fact they might even give you a couple of ideas. In fact, Twilight Creations even hints at the idea of combining it with one of their “Zombies!!!” sets. “Zombies!!! set 4: The End” was based off the movie Evil Dead, which is the prequel to Army of Darkness giving the player the idea to live out a great movie. Board games like this are made to be altered to your own liking, that’s how the Table-Top RPG industry is so popular right now.

The “Zombies!!!” system is always known to be outrageously fun and now with the added player on player battle system, the game becomes even more enjoyable. Its also safe to mention that I love the movie Army of Darkness, and any fan of the movie will love this game. The one thing that kind of left me dissapointed was the fact that it was indeed a “Zombies!!!” remake, I picked it up hoping for a new system and was a little disheartened until I actually played the game. In the end, I have to rate this game easily at a 8.5 out of 10.

-That TCG Blogger-

Agree/disagree with my rating? Got a question/comment?

Feel free to contact me through this account or at Ecomicsinc@gmail.com