MODIPHIUS ADVENT CALENDAR - 21st DECEMBER

It’s all gone to hell! You're a survivor, but there’s something you gotta do before you get out of town! Maybe it’s finding your husband, helping the guys from your precinct defend the hospital, getting your family to a safe zone or reporting for duty at the base.

On your own you're toast so maybe you'll hook up with some other survivors along the way, strength in numbers and all that. Maybe they'll help out, pull some strings with whoever is still out there to pull strings with. Don't forget the cops are out in force, hopefully they'll hold off the horde until the national guard get here or you could always give 'em a hand!

Can you make a last stand, unite the people of your town and hold back the tide of undead? Will you evacuate city blocks before they get infected? Can you get them to safezones or are you leading them into a trap? Will you lead the army or the police in counterattacks, unite the gangs or try to figure out the cause of the threat with CDC? Will you help rally the townspeople and defeat the source of the zombies or leave ‘em to rot and get out of dodge with whatever and whoever you can find?

I created the City of the Dead game concept back in 2010 and a friend Nao did the pixellated graphic as a fun design until I could get something better produced. I love zombie games but they always seem to be about the close up action. I had been watching the old Dawn of the Dead films. The remake was great - I was wondering 'what happened during the night?', 'how did things break down?' 'At what point did the police lose control?'. So I started writing some short excerpts to get the mood - you can read them on the right, warning no editor has touched them - this is just for fun!

So City of the Dead is about capturing those moments on the tabletop. This is what I came up with:

City of The Dead
The game is played out on tiles laid down representing a modern US city, fated to be over-run by the dead. Each tile will span several city blocks. Special features such as airports, power stations, hospitals, military bases and more will act as focal points for character goals and the survival of the town.Temporary features such as police barricades and safe zones will help survivors hold back the advance of the dead and places to send vulnerable citizens.

The military, police, gangs, desperate civilians, groups of survivors and hordes of undead are represented with stylish meeples or chunky counters (now they might be plastic). 

In City of the Dead, the Zombies will have different powers each time you play and a different secret that if discovered could help the survivors win the game! As your survivor group grows you can try to call on more and more help from the authorities the cops, the army, airforce or CDC, especially if there's anyone with the right connections with you. However as the zombie's rise things are breaking down fast so don't hang around. Even the military and the cops won't hold out for long unless some real heroes get added in to the mix!

Each hero has a number of personal goals to win the game, or the players can work together to beat the zombies themselves.


Last year at Essen I bought some parts to help build a playtest model and finally we're in talks with some designers to help take my rough  ideas and turn them in to a well developed game that Modiphius can release. 

You can check out the listing on Boardgamegeek - if you like what you see here please add yourself as a fan and show us you want to see this game get made!

BACK TO THE CALENDAR

"Hold the line? With what was left of the squad, a guy from transport, a medic and a few guys from the 7th - that was hardly a line but somehow we held em for hours before the order came down to pull out"
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"Hey Mack where's the 13th precinct they're supposed to back us up?"
"Still stuck on 2nd and Franklyn, we've gotta hold out here till the station can send some more of the guys."
"Don't reckon we'll last another rush, hey what's wrong with Dawson.... watch out!"
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"Calling all units, Franklyn has fallen repeat Franklyn has fallen, pull back to headquarters....uhhh... get away from me!....noooooooo!"
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"They're gathering here and here, I want this entire street flattened u hear me soldier?"
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"We have to hold the science labs at all costs! They could be the key to our survival!"
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"Get as many out as you can officer, we're going to hold them here"
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"Two niner oscar...this is delta one incoming...what the hell....aieeeeeee"
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"It crashed in the park, ever since I seen more of those...those things crawling out 'n jumpin people"
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"That one! See at the back, you see? He's like directing them or something...take him out we maybe have a chance"
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"Look the civies have got a barricade here, should give us time to get 1st company in amongst the houses here, 2nd here and 3rd in reserve. Get the armour to take up position on the key roads here and here - when they bunch up they can just roll over them."
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"Look, if we can slow them down here and here we've got a chance of getting the refugees out of the safe zone"
"But we risk losing those units, without them there's no way we can hold out till the army get here"
"The army's not coming, the base was overun an hour ago, we're on our own...only hope is getting these people to the port and on the old liner, least we can hold out easily"
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"You know the Gate Project? Professor Hanson thinks he can open a door - somewhere else, dunno better than this hellhole, we just gotta keep them away from the science building long enough"
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"Click click click....damn you motherfu..."
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"We've got ten minutes just drop everything and run that chopper won't wait!"
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"You're telling me it sucks, everythings gone man, police, army, they got wiped out and they had the guns! Look I say we lay low wait for those things to get hungry and move on"
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"CDC's on site now, they've quarantined the city centre and the hospital, nothing comes out alive, I mean nothing you understand me....?"
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"What bull is this you can see she's okay..."
"Stay where you are maam we can't let you through the quarantine, go back and stay inside!"
"Damn she keeps coming...what's wrong with her?"
"Maam! Go back or we will open fire!"
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"Wow see that Abrams roll right over them...zombie slushee dudes!!!"
"Woh wait...they're getting up I don't believe it...oh man..."
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"What are those freaks doing?"
"Shh!!! You want them to hear us?"
"It's like they're praying to that old stone I don't get it!"
"We gotta tell someone about this..."
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"Hey bud take this axe! You played the video games right, you know ta aim f'the head right? Good, okay you guys ready? We gotta get them kids out of the school so nothing stops us right!?" "RIGHT!!!!" "Ok Dave open the doors...slowly...."
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"Baby I'm coming just sit tight I'll be there, wait for me okay baby? I promise I'll be there just hang on, keep the doors locked don't open them for no one you hear me?"
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"Captain pull back your men this area is under CDC jurisdiction now, we have everything under control"
"Pull back my arse Redford, there's still survivors and some of my men in there"
"I'm ordering you to stand down Captain,"
"Redford, you call command and if anyone's still alive there ask them how CDC dealt with Los Angeles, now get out of my way and get your people doing something useful!"
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"I saw em' I wus hiding in the trash they ran straight in to those cops n soldiers 'n kept on going it was like nothing could stop em!"
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"I just got off the radio with the safe zone downtown, they're holding out, but there's a mass of zombies heading their way, we've gotta take the choppers in there and pull as many out as we can"


"You pull the choppers off my men then we're pulling out I can't keep up the harrasing fire if I can't move them between rooftops"
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"This is downtown zone 1 where the hell are you guys we need evac now!!! Look out the gates......!!!!!!!"
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"CDC ID alpha foxtrot thirty two to ceda whiskey bravo we have containment issues at ground zero reccomend zeta protocol..."
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"Fire em up we are moving people! If you can't get on a bus follow them to the memorial park safe zone, the national guard is waiting for you there. Stay with the buses they are leading you through a safe route to the park!"
"Sir I can see them!"
"Sergeant get these people moving now, corporal fire when ready"
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"Incoming!......."
"Finally the 3rd are here, let's hit em hard!'
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"Pull back! Pull back....
"Sergeant pull your unit back you'll be overrun!"
"I need mortar fire here and here"
"The 3rd is down to three armoured vehicles they're taking them out with something get me some intel!"
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"Look we're all that's left, we've gotta buy the civvies time to get on the ship, mac think you can build a wall of containers with that crane?"
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"They're getting in the kitchen door!"
"Everyone upstairs, steve grab the bags!"
"Take this agh!!!! RAT-TA-TA-TA-TAT"
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"KATHOOM!!"
"See anything?"
"Think that got em alll"
"Right you guys keep a watch on the street, everyone else in pairs check for food or medical supplies"
"Brandon? That checkpoint looks deserted but I got a bad feelin about it, I think we should go another way"
"Eric, if we go around we'll just as likely run in to more of 'em, hey Gwen, Stefan you guys fancy scouting it out?"
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"There you go!"
"Where did you learn to hot wire a car son?"
"The streets, it was better than learning how to use a knife..."
"Well the lord gave you a gift to save our lives today son, let's roll before those dead folks grab us"
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