Dead of Winter

[Achtung Panzer]

(01-25-2015 10:09 PM)Achtung Panzer Wrote:  Had my eye on this one for a while and now it's avaialble again I'm tempted. I enjoy solo and play with 2 friends but we don't want complex games.

Comments here are useful - and having just watched 30 days of Night again I like the cold / Winter theme. does it play well thematically?

Went ahead and bought this - very pleased I did. Excellent quality, strong theme and high replayability. The zombies are the backdrop to the survivor theme. Best with 3+ players as there are secret missions and the chance of a betrayer.

[FruitEatingBear]

It's the big hit at my games group. I think we've played six times now, and I know that at least three of the people have gone out and bought copies after. Each one had at least one memorable moment, too, which is exactly what I look for in a game.

[Sarge]

I thought when I saw this....oh I don't need another zombie game...how wrong was I!!
Page friend of mine brought it and we played with three of us (my wife actually played!). It was a lot of fun and the cross road element adds a heap of theme. It creates a great narrative during the game and I give this a thumbs up.

[August700212]

The concept of this game sounds great. It reminds me of a combination of Last Night on Earth and Battlestar Galactica. I had an opportunity to play it last month. I had fun but after playing a game, I feel that I would rather play Last Night on Earth or Battlestar Galactica. I will give it a try again if given and opportunity (providing neither of the other two games are available at the same time).

-Gus

[gamerguy]

I saw this at Megacon, wasn't sure about it so I didn't get it.
CURSES!

[alderdust]

Honestly, I have played over 10 games of Dead of Winter (we play mostly on Hardcore). It does have a nice thematic play and the game play can be hard even without the betrayer in the midst. My group loves Last Night on Earth and we also love Shadows over Camelot. I will say that the time between turns in Dead of Winter when playing with 5 players takes FOREVER! I mean if anyone in your group has analysis paralysis then beware.

A few players in my group love it because of the strong theme and love the secret objectives that sort of make you hurt the group even when you are not a betrayer because you dont want to fail your objective. So this makes the suspicion from others over every little thing you do.

The things I dont like about the game mainly is the possible double betrayer turn. You could have 6+ morale and if you haven't found the betrayer by the time their double turn comes around you pretty much will lose they can drop morale 8+ in one turn. They can tank the game at any time if they dont believe they will win to make sure everyone loses.

For a traitor game I still love Shadows over Camelot. I love the theme and the gameplay is super simple.

I will keep it and play it here and there when requested by my group but it honestly isnt more fun than LNOE for me.

[FruitEatingBear]

That's why I house rule it that we don't pass the 1st player token backwards. Honestly, I've never found downtime an issue at all, as we're all discussing and strategising. The first player backwards thing was designed solely to prevent that downtime so, as we don't get that, we pass forward. It's a little harder for the betrayer, but still easily achievable.

[alderdust]

We also got a little sour about the mechanic where sometimes it makes sense to exile someone even if they are loyal to ensure you pass a crisis or have enough food.

[Achtung Panzer]

Can you explain this double turn thing? We play to pass the First Player marker clockwise to the player on the left. How do they get back-to-back turns?

[alderdust]

(04-20-2015 05:16 PM)Achtung Panzer Wrote:  Can you explain this double turn thing? We play to pass the First Player marker clockwise to the player on the left. How do they get back-to-back turns?

The First Player token goes Right. And the Turn order left. So the person who went last on a turn will go First the next turn.

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So it goes.

1 2 3 4 5
5 1 2 3 4
4 5 1 2 3
3 4 5 1 2
2 3 4 5 1
1 2 3 4 5

and so on