Review- Last Days- Osprey Games

[Easy E]

This is one of the Osprey Games hardcover rule books. They are a bit bigger than the Wargame Series of books and do not have the distinctive blue soft cover. This is not the first Opsrey Hardcover book I have purchased. I also have Horizon Wars, Frostgrave, and Mad Dogs with Guns. It is also not the first Zombie game in my collection, as I also played The Walking Dead game.

Last Days Zombie Apocalypse is written by Ash Barker. He is relatively famous in the wargaming community for his work in the industry, but also his popular YouTube Channel Guerrilla Miniature Games. I admit, his battle reports for this game intrigued me, even the ones from before the game was published. It looked like it had a lot of elements I find enjoyable in a skirmish game such as distinctive characters, campaign play, and an opportunity for some narrative gaming. The game is set after a zombie apocalypse has collapsed society as we know it, and you get to control a band of survivors struggling to stay alive in the new world. Of course, the enemy is the zombies, but also other survivors as getting the few supplies left is a zero-sum game.

Now that we have a feel for the game, let's shamble into the review!

http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2019/09/review-last-days-zombie-apocalypse.html

[Corporal Chaos]

Thank you for your review. I like honest and not ugly insights into others thoughts of and on games. I own the rules but have not yet had a game. This may be a good gateway into the hobby for some and allow us to look into other systems in the genre. Simple enough and tokens aside might be easier than seeing your gang wiped out first outing.

[Easy E]

I know when I review a game I have my own personal preferences, but I just try to make those preferences obvious to the reader!   

I always structure my reviews with Things I like, Things I Do Not Like, and Meh and Other Uncertainties.  Every game has these elements so why skirt around them? 

[Corporal Chaos]

To true. I just find that a lot of people who are disappointed in a rule ste/ setting sometimes add in their bitterness. I’ve found some games that I really want to like to be lacking, due to my inability to grasp them of just not my cup of tea. I would probably not be able to review anything without being biased. So I do like when someone with the talent and abilities to be level headed and honest writes a review.  It helps me to decide whether or not to invest time and money. Good job here.

[John Tailby]

I have played this game several times and its always loads of fun.

For a cleaner board you can just put the wounds, noise and ammo tokens on the character sheets.

I think if you could just do one action per turn it might turn into a situation where no one wants to move because then they will get shot.

I like that the game has mixed phases so players are always involved.

Compared to walking dead I like this game better because the zombies are a threat but won't kill everyone so you can have a campaign. I also prefer to make up my own characters than be forced to use pregenerated characters.

I like the ability to spend extra points to get skills you want. If you have a combat character you want to get combat abilities. Necromunda and Mordheim often conspired to ensure that your character and their model got completely the wrong upgrades. If you have an awesome Conan style figher how frustrating if you keep rolling academic skills.

[Manchu]

The ammo checks, noise checks, and dividing damage rolls into the endurance stat (this one in particular feels like a first draft rule) make Last Days an "advanced" rule set in the sense of AD&D; namely, a game with a lot of features that feel more bolted-on rather than part of an organic whole. The main competitor for Last Days, for me, is The Walking Dead, which feels like the reverse. I love TWD but all the proprietary components are at least a match for all of Ash's tokens. And TWD does not hold a candle to Last Days in terms of campaign play.

[Easy E]

Agree on all fronts Manchu.  I still like the effort and the game itself, but there are opportunities for streamlining for a second edition.    

The ammo checks and noise checks do force a level of tactical decision making.  Is it better to shoot now, run out of ammo when I really need it, and risk more noise; or is it better to wait.  I feel TWD handles ammo and noise smoother BUT the lethality is too high for a good campaign game.  Plus, I hate proprietary garbage in my games, because what happens when my dog eats those special dice or I misplace the threat dial?       

However, there are other Zombie games out there but they just aren't as main stream.  I think Iron Ivan had one, and potentially Two-Hour Wargames as well.  I have not played them so I am sure others can chime in on their strengths and weaknesses.       

[Manchu]

I believe I have watched all of Ash's Last Days vids at least once or twice now but I cannot recall anyone making noise to try to bring zombies onto the board and into enemy figs. This is the real genius of Mantic's TWD -- direct confrontation with your opponent is often not as good as manipulating the play area to put walkers in their way. Surely, something like this must be possible in Last Days?


The THW one is called All Things Zombie. It's been around for a while now and has all sorts of expansions, including where you can play the zeddies. It's one of THW's reaction system games, which I have always had a little trouble getting into. I have never played any Iron Ivan games. I think the Skirmish Sangin folks, Radio Dishdash, did a book called Skirmish Outbreak but I never got around to trying it.

[Manchu]

Oh and btw the version of Last Days published by Osprey is the second edition. The first edition was self-published by Ash; whether commercially, I cannot say. You can check out some vids of first edition gameplay on the GMG channel. I can't recall edition differences off the top of my head, however.

[Easy E]

Oh yeah, I have watched all of his Last Days (1st or 2nd Edition) batreps!  That's why I picked up the game.  I am hoping his does some more with Seasons content.   

He actually talks about this in his Designer Notes, which are excellent.  possibly the best Designer's Notes in the Osprey line to date.  I am a sucker for those notes in a game.  It is so much easier to review if the designer accomplished what they set out to do.