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How is another year coming to an end? It is truly unbelievable but what a year 2024 has been! There’s been plenty of games released this year with some of my highlights being Kavango, Worms and the Monty Python Flying Circus expansion for Zombicide.
There’s been plenty of other exciting news and activities throughout the year. Some of which includes the Olympic games and Team GB’s huge hall, Oasis have finally reunited and the Ghost Orchid which was thought to be extinct has been discovered in the UK. NYE is a great time to reflect on events and there have been plenty.
So as a blogging team we thought we would take the time to share the games that we plan to play on the final night of 2024. Here’s what the team will be getting up to.
Zombicide 2nd Edition: Fort Hendrix - David Ireland
I started this campaign earlier in the year with huge success in the early missions. Life got in the way a little and I really now want to pick up on it again. Seems like the perfect opportunity to re engage.
For those not familiar with Zombicide, you will need the 2nd edition base game to play this expansion set of Fort Hendrix. The concept of the game is simple, get your team of survivors to complete the mission and get out. All while fending off the hordes of Zombies that keep relentlessly coming.
Fort Hendrix sees the military introduced to the set. You have a set squad of survivors, military personnel that didn’t get taken down in the first assault. Now you have to get out. 10 missions in all which you are able to pick up experiences, gain abilities as well as potentially hold equipment between missions. All of which I feel will be necessary in the later missions.
What’s very cool with this set is the additional military kit and (importantly) weapons. These are particularly helpful for taking down many Zombies. We also have the all out rule for weapons, this gives you the opportunity to roll more dice in combat and take down more Zombies. However, if you roll a break roll on the all out dice, then the weapon is toast and lost, discard immediately.
The significant drawback is the night and day rule. Day time is standard play, night time is a challenge which significantly helps the Zombies, because basically, you cannot see them. It pretty much rules out shooting at any significant range. The expansion isn’t full of advantages for the survivors, unsurprisingly.
This is our NYE for 2024. If you are a fan of the game and in need of fresh challenges I highly recommend this expansion.
Just One By Dan Street-Phillips
NYE is a funny old time. Often too expensive to go out so you gather around a family member or friend’s house eating buffet food and watching Jools Holland’s Hootenanny until it’s time to go to bed. So the instinct is to introduce a good old fashioned party game but with such a mix of ages and temperaments it’s always difficult to judge. However, the one I keep coming back to year after year is Just One. In the last few years since it has been released it has become one of the go to family games due to its simple to teach nature and its cooperative gameplay. On your turn you choose one of the cards provided and without looking at it choose a word numbered from one to five. The rest of the group all have to secretly write a one word clue to help the guesser figure out what the original word was.
Easy right? However the nice twist here is that before the guesser can see these words, the clue-givers must share their words and any that have been repeated get erased. You never know, turn to turn, how many clues you are going to get! The best thing is it scales from three people to…well as many as you like. The game provides 7 whiteboards and pens but you can easily buy multiple copies or add paper and pens to the mix. It has never failed to entertain and with such a low price point it is JUST-THE-ONE for the festive season!
Favourite Foe
Countdowns? Fireworks? Champagne and singing? Not to sound like a party pooper, but no thanks! I know I am bucking the trend as NYE is socialising of the utmost significance. Bigger than any Saturday night, bolder than Christmas, and busier than Piccadilly circus at rush hour. For me, however, NYE is the night when I quietly and cosily contemplate the next 12 months in the company of my heart and soul (aka my son and husband). And hand in hand with that goes time to play a few more family games before work and school whip time out from under our feet again.
This year we will bring out The Fuzzies for some furry, dexterity based fun, and we can’t let 2024 go without one more game of Monsdrawsity. Even at 3P count, this is a firm favourite with our son whose descriptions and drawings of the ghouls and ogres on the cards are unnervingly detailed! Once he goes to bed, it will be time for a few two player games to see us through the gongs. Splendor Duel, Battle Line, and Targi are always winners for us (and even more so for my husband who comes first far more than me!), and together combine to form a lovely mixture of set collection, engine building, take that, and worker placement. It’s like picking chocolates out of the Celebrations – we love them all and so the order in which we enjoy them doesn’t matter. We will simply savour each one over the course of the Evening!
Wishing you all a very happy, healthy, and harmonious 2025.