Walking Dead Wave Four Week: Made to Suffer
5th Feb 2018
Rob Burman
“We’ve worked too hard to build what we have here, and I’ll be goddamned if I’m going to let anyone take it away from me!”
Wave Four of The Walking Dead: All Out War is almost upon us. In fact, you can pre-order now from the Mantic website or your local game store. This wave tells the story of Rick’s ill-fated encounter with the tyrannical Brian Blake – also known as The Governor.
[embed]https://youtu.be/2mgRXAbMwss[/embed]
In the Made to Suffer expansion, you’ll find a whole host of new scenarios, objectives, a new map and a cardboard counter of the infamous tank driven by the Governor! Today, we’re going to look at this brand new expansion in more detail and preview some of the key elements.
NEW SCENARIOS
Firstly, if you’re playing through the narrative in All Out War, then you’ll be pleased to hear that Made to Suffer introduces seven brand new scenarios. These range from the terrifying arena fight, to the dramatic encounter with the tank. What’s more, for the first time some scenarios now take place over two maps (the one from the core game and the new Woodbury map)!
SPECIAL OBJECTIVE CARD
Another interesting introduction in Made to Suffer is the ‘Special Objective Card’. This is shuffled into the main supply deck and is used to represent a special item that players must find during a game, e.g. a pack of explosives. Of course, as well as using this new card for the scenarios in Made to Suffer you could also introduce it into your competitive PvP games as well. You see, unlike a normal supply item, when a model carrying this card is killed, the card is placed near the objective marker. This means a rival Survivor can pick it up and grab the item. We reckon this could make for some exciting last minute dashes to bag the loot in a PvP game.
NIGHT TIME BATTLES!
Another new rule for Made to Suffer sees the introduction of fights in near darkness. The expansion comes with an event card that remains in play until dawn breaks. When fighting in the dark, line of sight and range on all weapons and abilities is limited to 8” (although Noise and Mayhem apply as normal). While fighting in the dark, the Threat Level automatically increases by 1 point at the end of each turn too.
Luckily though, Made to Suffer comes with card lamp posts tokens. When standing in the ‘Kill Zone’ of a light source, the Survivor or Walker can be seen normally (even if they like outside the reduced 8” range). The addition of darkness makes for some tense exchanges as you try to sneak up on the enemy.
IT’S TIME FOR ALL OUT WAR!
Perhaps one of the most exciting elements of Made to Suffer is that it introduces rules for large-scale battles. That’s right, it’s time to break out all your Survivors, weapons, equipment and maps then go for all-out war!
At the moment the game includes the following factions:
- Rick’s Group
- Woodbury Army
- The Hilltop
- The Kingdom
- The Saviors
- No symbol – Neutral (can be taken by anyone)
These factions are indicated by a symbol on a character’s survivor card. As you would expect in the Walker-strewn streets of Atlanta, allegiances are hard to come by. As a result, there’s a special table to show whether Survivors are automatic allies (grey), trusted allies (green), tenuous allies (amber) or enemies (red).
Once you’ve put your gang together, it’s time for war! Unlike a typical game, these battles are not about resource-gathering, or even clearing out Walkers, but instead hinge on bad blood, revenge and displays of power. To win a game you must take out your opposition. Add up the points values – including Equipment – of all the models you killed, and work out the difference. The results are below:
- Up to 10% of the game size – Draw
- More than 10% and up to 25% of Game Size – Minor Victory
- More than 25% of Game Size – Major Victory
As well as killing your opponent, you’ve also got Special Objectives to complete. These could range from killing the leader of your opponent to hunting down the Special Objective Card. At the start of the game you draw two cards from the Special Objectives deck. For each of the objectives completed, you score bonus points equal to 10% of the game size.
Finally, there’s less focus on Walkers in All Out War scenarios. Instead of placing Walkers at the start of the game, Walkers only move onto the board when Mayhem is caused. They are then affected by Event Cards as normal.
We’re really excited about the large-scale All Out War games here at HQ, as it’s a chance to use all our wonderful Walking Dead miniatures. What’s more, we’re planning a tournament here at HQ that uses the All Out War scenario – stay tuned for more details.