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Thursday, July 10, 2014

The South Shall Rise Again

Victory Point Games produced The South Shall Rise Again as a solo or cooperative skirmish game pitting one to four Union soldiers against Confederate zombies ("Zebs").
What you get in the ziplock bag edition:

  • 12 x 13 hex map in muted tones, depicting a field bordered by a road, two fences, a fieldstone wall, and trees. 
  • player aid card, with Union info on one side, Undead on the other.
  • Union soldiers, Zebs, Revenants, and Glorious Dead, depicted as vertical counters with bases; they're not miniatures but they give something of the same feel. 
  • status markers, such as Rifle/Unloaded, Pistol Ammo, Stunned, Wounded, and Grappled.
  • Skill markers, such as "Bushwacker" (-1 to Ranged combat, +1 Melee) or "Slippery" (ignore the first Grapple result from an Undead attack), to personalize your soldiers
  • Heroic Action cards and Event cards
  • Five Scenario cards, including one "Make your own"
  • Rule booklet
  • A ziplock bag, which is a little too small to comfortably stuff everything back in--but it's not like you can't find a larger ziplock in your kitchen.
Your Union private can move, shoot, reload, melee, or move-and-shoot.  Zebs and Revenants simply close for melee; Glorious Dead can also load and fire. Each unit takes two Wounds to kill; there's a small chance of inflicting two Wounds with a single attack but you can't count on moving up to a Zed and destroying it with one attack. That's a key point...

For my first play through, I played the On The Road scenario with one soldier facing two Zeds and two Revenants. I fired at a Revenant, stunning it. I reloaded my rifle, then backed away from the undead shambling toward me. I took another shot, which Wounded a Revenant. By this point the Undead were closing in, so I ran off to one side, thinking I could quickly deal with the Zed there and then have room to maneuver. The Zed moved into contact with me and Grappled; my counter attack Wounded it and broke the grapple, but I didn't have a chance to move away before the two Revenants moved in and attacked. That was the end of poor Private Picket....unless he comes back as a Revenant himself! 

Playing time is listed as 30 minutes, which seems about right. Quick and easy, but requires some thought to win.

edit: took me two more games before I won. The key seems to be, never let them close to melee range. One you take out the Revenants (move 2), dealing with the Zeds (move 1) is easy.

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