fear is only the beginning…
The quiet mining town of Denney Springs was a peaceful place…until the accident. Unknown to the citizens of this sleepy town, an “incident” occurred in nearby Denver, which resulted in the poisoning of the city’s water system. The culprit this crime was a secret chemical the E.P.A. was experimenting with. The resulting contamination was widespread, affecting thousands of residents. Infected individuals were mutated into monstrous, killing machines. Rumors were rampant that even corpses in the city morgues were being re-animated. These necrotic creatures soon swarmed over the entire city. Eventually oozing out from the Denver city limits, the “Day of Reckoning” was upon the oblivious citizens on Denney Springs. But the townsfolk quickly organized, gathered their resolve and fought back. What else could they do?
Swarms of fleeing refugees sought shelter in the mountains. Distress calls summoned aid from the National Guard and hope began to replace despair. All they had to do was get to the refugee camp near Wagon Gap. No problem…right?
The following mini review of Dead Reckoning is written by Carl Way and originally appeared on Facebook. It has been re-printed here with his permission.
I’m currently playing Hermann Luttmann’s new take on Zombies in Dead Reckoning. This game is a whole lot of fun with some very cool mechanics. Each turn consists of six rounds. Each player starts a turn with a deck of six initiative cards (there are actually nine, but three are randomly removed at the start of a turn). Each card has a number from 1-5 representing the number of actions that can be taken in a round. Players choose one of their six cards, and the highest action number gains the initiative for the round (and the number of actions on the chosen card).
Combat is resolved through another set of cards in which players simultaneously draw a combat card from their deck and resolve either the fire or close combat. The combat cards can also yield a random event which adds a lot of theme to the game. Some events events favor the Humans and some the Zombies.
So, no dice, no Combat Results Tables (CRTs), no calculating firepower, etc. Very nice. I’m usually not a fan of Zombie-type games, but this one is definitely enjoyable. I understand that these same mechanics will be used in an upcoming WWI game that I’m looking forward to seeing.
You can purchase and download a PDF of the Dead Reckoning board game through Tiny Battle Publishing. A list of the game’s components are provided below.
- 1 – 11″ x 17″ map of the once peaceful and idyllic Schnitz Valley.
- 88 – 5/8″ counters, representing all the poor souls involved in this desperate struggle.
- 2 – 8.5″ x 5.5″ player aids, one for each player, to assist in keeping track of the horrible events.
- 1 – Rule book, detailing all the ways and means to simulate the zombie apocalypse.
- 1 – Chaos Table, because what would a zombie game be without unfettered, thematic chaos.
- 0 – Dice (that’s right – no dice were harmed in the making of this game).
- 54 – Cards, consisting of 18 Initiative Cards and 36 Combat Results Cards. These are all you need to resolve events during game play.
The Board Game Show 
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