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Another Expansion
Yep, that’s right. This is the third expansion for the Zombicide fantasy line, following its predecessors Wulfsburgh and Friends and Foes.
And just like those expansions, one of the core boxes, Black Plague or Green Horde, is needed in order to use the components from the Zombicide No Rest for the Wicked expansion.
To understand how Zombicide is played in general, I recommend checking out the Black Plague and Green Horde blog posts. They cover that ground pretty well while this post will handle the components for this expansion only.
Ratz, Spectral Walkers & A Necromantic Dragon – Oh My!
As for this expansion, it enhances the game by simply offering new enemies to fight against and a siege weapon to use by your survivors. There are no tiles for new quests unfortunately. If that seems too simple, don’t worry, these new enemies will give you a run for your money!
The first enemy up is the Swarm of Ratz (who says zombies can only be human, hey?!). They seem pretty simple with only one damage dealt to survivors, one damage to destroy, and only one experience point provided when you kill them. However, these little furry undead critters can cause a lot of mayhem. For starters, they move two zones during their activation, which makes them fast. They also ignore obstacles except for walls and closed doors. Now here’s the big kicker! When you draw a Swarm of Ratz card from the zombie deck, each Swarm of Ratz already on the board gets an extra activation. That will definitely cause trouble for your survivors!
Next in the lineup are the Spectral Walkers, the ghostly undead. So they're like the undead dead. Sounds weird but let’s roll with it! They are similar to Ratz in that they deal one damage, you gain one experience point when you kill them, and it only takes one damage to kill them. However, killing them is not easy. They can only be killed with the ballista, combat spells, vault weapons, and dragon fire. You may think that sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t as some of those weapons are not easy to come by.
The last enemy is the big bad necromantic dragon. This flying beast is quite complex so let’s start with the basics. It deals two damage to survivors and they cannot perform an armor roll. The dragon is so big that obstacles do not block line of sight between survivors and it, including being in a building. Now here are the more complex rules:
- · Dragon Spawning - When its card is drawn from the zombie deck, place the dragon in the centre zone for that tile, regardless of where the actual zombie spawn token is. The dragon performs a stomp which kills any zombies in that zone (no experience gained by the survivors) and then you use a compass card to determine if survivors are pushed from the zone or remain there to take two damage. If the dragon lands on a building zone, it is destroyed and you place a rubble card on the zone; this could cause the end of a game if there is a special objective token destroyed in the building zone! You then draw a vulnerability card.
- Vulnerability Cards - these cards determine how survivors can deal damage to the dragon. It is a combination of the ballista and either ranged weapons, melee weapons, combat spells, vault weapons, or magic weapons. There are five cards. You draw a card each time the dragon is spawned. Once the deck is empty, the dragon is removed from the game for good and the survivors no longer have to worry about it.
- Dragon Activation - the dragon follows normal zombie phase rules and either attacks or moves. For its attack, it will attack the zone with the most survivors in range 0-1. The dragon vomits up its stomach contents meaning you draw a zombie card from the deck and spawn zombies in the attacked zone corresponding to the correct danger level. These zombies do not activate until the next zombie phase. For moving, the dragon moves last and it follows normal movement rules. So it’ll head to the zone with the most survivors. Place the dragon on the center zone of that tile and then follow the steps from the dragon stomp above.
So yes, this winged beast is definitely a huge challenge for survivors. Luckily, there is a ballista in this expansion that helps even the playing field
The ballista is a siege engine just like the trebuchet from Green Horde. It can be moved using two actions and it also costs two actions to fire it. It can shoot through hedges but not walls or closed doors. Roll three dice with a 4+ accuracy for each zone the ballista shoots through. Any successful dice rolls kill zombies in that zone no matter their type. It truly is a powerful weapon!
Final Thoughts
I really love Zombicicde for its replayability, and Zombicide No Rest for the Wicked offers a whole new selection of enemies to face during your quests, making the game even more replayable. You played Quest 8 and won. Fantastic! Now play it again with the Necromantic Dragon in the mix. Or Swarm of Ratz. Or Spectral Walkers. Or all three; so many options!
The ballista is another great addition and a great help for the survivors. You can even play a quest with a trebuchet and ballista, giving survivors extreme power.
I highly recommend this expansion if you already have a core box. If you are getting into Zombicicde, I recommend the fantasy series and picking up this expansion. It adds a whole new challenge to your games and keeps the play fresh.
Enjoy!
