Marvel Zombies: Fantastic 4 Under Siege

Darkness falls upon the Baxter Building, guttural growls echo along it’s halls, the floors and walls matted with the blood of those unfortunate to fall into the clutches of the dead. Reed Richards, smartest human on the planet, teams with his lifelong friends and fellow heroes, The Fantastic Four, to scale their once beloved Baxter building. For at the top lies their only means of escaping their zombie infested universe. Will the Fantastic Four succeed in finding salvation in another universe, or will they fail and join the hoards of the undead! Only the bravest players can help determine their fate.

Gameplay

The expansion allows for players to play one of two modes of the game. Hero Mode, which allows for the players to take the role of the Fantastic Four e.g. Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Human Torch or the Thing. Or Zombie Mode, where players control “Zombie Heroes”, standing in the decaying shoes of Dr Doom, Namor, Blackbolt or the Super Skrull. There are 6 missions tailored for each mode in the rulebook that comes with the set.

The game style is turn-based strategy, where players decide to either move, attack or open doors. What is quirky about the Zombicide franchise is that the game plays itself as it functions from a spawn deck which is drawn by a Zombie Master (ZM) after the all the players have taken their turns. From there, the zombies or Zombie Heroes spawn and pursue the players, whilst they need to collect objectives or rescue bystanders. In Zombie Mode, the role is reversed in that the characters you play have more nefarious intentions and are hunted down by the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and the Fantastic Four. This deck-drawing game mechanic allows for new players to quickly become accustomed to the flow of things.

Components

The expansion included four double sided floor pieces. All of which are highly detailed and easy to make out, depicting the dilapidated floors of the Baxter Building, including their famous landing strip with the massive 4 emblazoned to a blood soaked laboratory belonging to Mister Fantastic.

There are 10 miniature figures included in the set: 4 heroes, 4 zombie heroes and 2 bystanders. The miniatures are highly detailed and cleaned, making them ideal for those who wish to paint them. Each of them clearly depicts the marvel characters in dynamic and memorable poses.

Every playable character has two versions of their character cards, tailored to which version of the game you are playing. The cards are user-friendly and clearly provides information of the character’s abilities and upgrades obtained by progressing the game.

Whilst the other boxed sets involve attaching all floor pieces to make your level or battleground. This expansion is unique in that you use the floor pieces to create multiple levels where players rely on using an elevator to travel each floor of the Baxter Building. Let me assure you, the elevator is not a safe space… not from the ravenous clutches of the undead.

Players should consider purchasing either the “Marvel Zombies” Core boxed set, “X-Men Resistance” Core boxed set, or the “Heroes Resistance” (which is a smaller scale introduction set into the franchise but has less components and the common enemy zombies are cut outs) before getting the expansion. Reason being is they contain all the necessary enemy components and players accessories needed for using with the expansion e.g. Dice,  player dashboards, main rulebook.

You can play the expansion by yourself or with up to 6 players (depending which main boxed set your purchased).

I have played Zombicide countless times on my own. This makes for nicely paced game where I controlled all the characters, which reminded me of playing turn-based video games where you need to operate several characters during battles e.g. X-Com, Final Fantasy.

Playing with others is an absolute blast as you can either strategize as a team, by using each of your characters powers and abilities to cohesively execute the perfect attacks and movements. OR, everyone can have a free for all and attack every zombie on sight and ignore the survival of your team mates and hope for the best!

Replayability

Players may have issues with there being only 6 missions for each game type, with most of them having similarities, e.g. players pick up all objectives when you can exit the board. There are two missions that were a heart-pounding but awesome experience, one involving a zombie Dr Doom teleported on the Baxter Building roof, conjuring waves of zombies that floods the building and the players need to eliminate Doom asap. The other mission involves making a mad dash for the Dimensional Transporter to escape the Marvel Zombies universe. A bug bear of this expansion is that CMON made it with presumption that only experienced players will be participating as there are no introductory or “easy” starter levels to ease players into their new settings. The missions on this expansion are fairly hard with the first mission taking over an hour to complete. I would say new players would find this expansion unforgiving in some parts if they do not play tactfully.

CMON are known for their flexibility and compatibility of their board games. If you’ve purchased the other Marvel Zombicide sets this means you have the freedom of mixing and matching Heroes and Zombie heroes from the other games with the Fantastic Four Expansion. Want a Fantastic Four team that consist of Blade, Bullseye, Spider-Man and Hulk? No problem! The world is the player’s oyster as there are countless team customisation options (depending how many miniatures you have). Players have the freedom can create their own missions and rules whilst using this expansion.

This edition of Zombicide is a must-have for fans of the Marvel Zombies franchise as it began within the pages of the Fantastic Four comic. You can tell the writers and designers of CMON put this expansion out as a love letter to the comic series as it often references vital parts from the original story.

The Zombicide franchise are often referred to as “Beer and Pretzel” games and I agree with that as it is perfect for casual board gamers who do not have the time to commit to long planned campaigns or in-depth, lore heavy board games. This is a well thought-out, easily accessible board game which features our beloved comic characters in a horror setting.