Flash Back Friday - Last Night on Earth

Nope. It was GREAT at first, but I became overwhelmed by the expansions, and underwhelmed by playing the zombies.

It’s been a while. But man that game has a special place in my heart. When it worked, it nailed the theme to a tee. The problem was when it didn’t work it could be a slog. Especially for the zombie master.

I would rather bust out Caylus.

Mine remains on the shelf in a very toad-like position. It's not a great game, with most missions boiling down to searching a deck of cards until you find the one card you need, and playing as the zombies is not very fun.

However, it is the first game I fully painted, and each zombie has unique clothes, which I was proud of back in the day. I don't know what situation would have it hit the table; perhaps one day my kids will ask to play it.

hotseatgames wrote: Mine remains on the shelf in a very toad-like position. It's not a great game, with most missions boiling down to searching a deck of cards until you find the one card you need, and playing as the zombies is not very fun.

However, it is the first game I fully painted, and each zombie has unique clothes, which I was proud of back in the day. I don't know what situation would have it hit the table; perhaps one day my kids will ask to play it.

I think it's a really fun game to play with middle school aged kids. And once they get the hang of it, they can take over and play it by themselves.

Still a top 10 game for me and the best zombie game ever made.

happyjosiah wrote: Still a top 10 game for me and the best zombie game ever made.

I certainly haven't played them all, but I'd give that award to the Mantic Walking Dead game. Which is even higher praise from me since I hate the Walking Dead.

happyjosiah wrote: Still a top 10 game for me and the best zombie game ever made.

Do you prefer the original over Timber Peak?

It's usually about an hour and gets some laughs so I'd be cool playing it still.

Expansion bloat and competition for time by other games are the only reasons I haven't played it lately but it's a good game and I prefer it to Zombicide.

That being said, Last Night on Earth is like a beta version where Timber Peak and the Blood in the Forest expansion are the more refined version of the system. That's even evident in the fact that they cribbed the Upgrade system from TP for LNOE10. The Grave Dead (Growing Hunger) and Grave Weapons expansion at least give the zombie player more to do but I prefer the hero Upgrades and unique "champion" zombies from TP and BitF, respectively. With the the XP system TP encourages the two sides to fight and with the zombie champions the game is a lot more brutal.

I still think LNOE is a worthy game but it's difficult to determine where to draw the line when it comes to playing with expansions since they add much-needed variety and decisions but they're fiddly.

My sons have both seen Dawn of the Dead and this thread is making me want to bust out my copy of Mall Madness to play the custom LNOE scenario that uses the board.

SebastianBludd wrote:
That being said, Last Night on Earth is like a beta version where Timber Peak and the Blood in the Forest expansion are the more refined version of the system.

I agree.

Like hotseatgames, that's the first game I completely painted. I'll play it anytime someone wants to. Sometimes it can suck because of funky card draws, and I don't think I'd ever play two-player zombies again. But I still like it.

I don’t play it anymore and I couldn’t care less if ever played it again. Pretty sure the two Black Plague Zombicide games are the only zombie games I’ll be playing from here on out.

My group was really excited about it to start, but we started seeing it as too tedious to play once we had four or five rounds under our belt. There's a Defend the Manor scenario that seemed to work better than all the others and once we were done with that we were done with the game.

It also seemed to produce really lopsided affairs on a regular basis. We often stopped halfway through.

I'm not an expansions guy so I can't speak to any of that.

It's still an enjoyable experience. LNoE is more akin to a Mass Market game from the 1980s than anything that worships at the pulpit of serious modern game design. It plays best with drinks and friends who aren't hip to terms like "Euro" or "Ameritrash". Great way to spend a Friday night while eating pizza and drinking beer. Kudos to Flying Frog for keeping this relic in print and still actively supported (I believe an expansion came out last year).

Loved it at the time. It rarely, if ever, comes out anymore. It’s at bottom of the list for games in my collection I’d break out. I still can’t seem to part ways with it though.

Egg Shen wrote: It's still an enjoyable experience. LNoE is more akin to a Mass Market game from the 1980s than anything that worships at the pulpit of serious modern game design. It plays best with drinks and friends who aren't hip to terms like "Euro" or "Ameritrash". Great way to spend a Friday night while eating pizza and drinking beer. Kudos to Flying Frog for keeping this relic in print and still actively supported (I believe an expansion came out last year).

My thoughts exactly, it's not made just for us allegedy boardgame connisseurs (snobs). I don't play it that often and although it is a bit limited in comparison to many titles these days it's mainly because I have too many (better) games and limited playing opportunities these days.
I think it's main weakness, accepting what type of game it is, is the Hero deck getting too bloated after adding in the first big expansion - a two edged sword in that we want all the different goodies but the fat deck for a short-to-medium length game can slow or kill a game.
I thought the simple combat system - doubles to kill else push off - and the interaction with many of the weapons was very clever and made it accessible to anyone over the age of six, a real gateway game.
And, of course, it is great fun (and mandatory) for Halloween night sessions.

About 5 years ago I found a complete (as far as I know) Timber Peak on the side of the road. It had been chucked out, the lid was off, and there were some pieces lying about the place, but I think I got everything. For context, it was one of those cleanups where everyone puts their old furniture and broken tvs etc out to be collected.

It wasn't something I would ever have bought, but as different people have pointed out above, it suits that beer and pizzas or bunch of kids on a rainy day kind of scenario pretty well. My kids are a bit young to run it themselves but they request it every now and again and it won't be too long before they just bust it out when they want to kill some zombies/eat some brains.

Timber Peak is better for sure. I use the Timber Peak rules even when playing the original now (which is pretty much what it says to do.)

For me, it died when Zombicide came out.

SuperflyTNT wrote: For me, it died when Zombicide came out.

Wild.

After years of hindsight, and just contrasting the core games - I prefer LNoE to Z'cide

LNoE is more akin to old school Romero films. I'm from the Pittsburgh area. This is important.

Z'cide is more akin to an analog version of Left4Dead. I love Left4Dead (especially the 'film' in the Allegheny forest), but it's probably best on a console.

... That's a hard realization for me to admit to myself. I own way too much Z'cide. OCD Collector BS got the best of me. Time and time again.

Timber Peak and Blood in the Forest are necessary and still fun. This doesn't come out often anymore but it's still great beer and pizza or kid fun.

This was one of the first games I got back in 2008 in my post-heroscape haze (Descent was another). I loved it and don't know how many times I taught excited semi-gamers with "ESCAPE IN THE TRUCK." Now that Zombicide and Dead of Winter do the genre better (in different directions), I don't hear people asking for it... even though it's a good touch quicker and probably more fun than either one.

It's sitting in my trunk of my car now and the box has been torn to shreds and a lot of other stuff is damaged. I'm highly contemplating throwing it out. Anyone want it who doesn't care about the box? Base game only. I'll ship.

Jexik wrote: This was one of the first games I got back in 2008 in my post-heroscape haze (Descent was another). I loved it and don't know how many times I taught excited semi-gamers with "ESCAPE IN THE TRUCK." Now that Zombicide and Dead of Winter do the genre better (in different directions), I don't hear people asking for it... even though it's a good touch quicker and probably more fun than either one.

It's sitting in my trunk of my car now and the box has been torn to shreds and a lot of other stuff is damaged. I'm highly contemplating throwing it out. Anyone want it who doesn't care about the box? Base game only. I'll ship.

I'd totally dig getting it, my kids would love it.

WadeMonnig wrote:

Jexik wrote: This was one of the first games I got back in 2008 in my post-heroscape haze (Descent was another). I loved it and don't know how many times I taught excited semi-gamers with "ESCAPE IN THE TRUCK." Now that Zombicide and Dead of Winter do the genre better (in different directions), I don't hear people asking for it... even though it's a good touch quicker and probably more fun than either one.

It's sitting in my trunk of my car now and the box has been torn to shreds and a lot of other stuff is damaged. I'm highly contemplating throwing it out. Anyone want it who doesn't care about the box? Base game only. I'll ship.

I'd totally dig getting it, my kids would love it.

"sold."

PM me shipping address.