Marvel Zombies: Heroes’ Resistance

OVERVIEW: Marvel Zombies is a 1-4 player cooperative minatures skirmish retail game by Spinmaster Games, based on the Marvel Zombies Kickstarter game by CMON Games. Games generally take about an hour, adjusted for higher player count and familiarity with the Zombicide system. Gameplay involves players controlling a group of four of the six included heroes (Spiderman, Black Panther, Winter Soldier, the Wasp, the Vision, and the Hulk) against a horde of zombies led by four zombie heroes (Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man). It includes a tutorial mission and eight replayable missions, plus instructions towards a website with at least one more official mission available as of this posting. The game is relatively simple to set up and learn, providing an intuitive AI system that is aggressive and challenging to overcome. Although limited character and opponent selection restricts gameplay variety compared to the CMON Kickstarter version, there is still quite a lot of game in this box for the cost, accessible to any players that can handle the mature theme of zombies eating people. COMPONENTS: This version includes four double sided map tiles the size of the box, as opposed to six in the Kickstarter version. The character cards are the size of tarrot cards while the rest are the mini European sized cards. While the CMON Kickstarter includes plastic player dashboards that hold Pandemic style cubes to track character statistics, this Spinmaster version includes plastic slides that attach to the character cards and serviceable experience dials, which are easy to assemble. As the CMON miniatures were exclusive to the Kickstarter version, this Spinmaster edition has alternative miniature sculpts and character abilities from the Kickstarter version. The heroes and zombie heroes are represented by miniatures, while the remaining zombies and bystaders are represented by standees. The game includes four plastic colored bases that snap onto the bottom of the miniatures and six six-sided Zombicide dice, with biting zombie teeth in place of the number one. The zombies and bystaders are all thick cardboard standees with small clear base clips.There are also sturdy cardboard character status tokens, spawn location tokens, objective tokens, door tokens, an exit token, and an Avengers sign token which can be thrown by characters like a weapon. Everything fits back into the included plastic insert, although haphazard placement of assembled standees may keep the lid from being secure, and the character cards tend to slide out of their intended position. SCALABILITY: Spinmaster's Marvel Zombies Hero's Resistance is designed to use a group of four heroes on every mission, so it scaled oddly for three players. While a single player can run all four characters, and they can be divided equally among two and four players, three player games require one of the players to run an extra character. Standard four player teams balance the mechanics to provide the tension of closely won or lost missions. Turns proceed relatively quickly at higher player counts, and the need to cooperate in order to suceed keeps everyone involved in each other's turns. The A.I. controlling the zombies scales with the character's experience, becoming progressively worse as the characters become stronger. By adjusting the number of characters on a mission or the cards in the spawn deck the difficulty can be easily modified to different tastes. CHARACTER MECHANICS: Every character has the same basic actions to move, attack, pick up objectives, build up power, and aquire a heroic trait. Each character gains a power point at the beginning of each turn, or by spending an action to gain two points. These can be spent to trigger abilities or add dice towards a combat roll. Characters can also use an action to draw a trait card, most of which offer one time abilities to improve movement or combat actions, although a select few offer rare healing and even a surprise zombie ambush. Characters also each have special abilities that make them feel unique and help achieve the mission objectives. Spiderman starts out with the ability to pull characters and bystanders towards him with his web. Black Panther has improved chances of taking town tougher opponents with his vibranium claws.Winter Soldier can take town multiple waker opponents quickly.The Wasp has a ranged attack, and can slip past opponents easier to reach bystanders and objectives.The Vision also has a ranged attack, and can choose from one of two drawn trait cards. Hulk starts with two more health than anyone else, and he gets one extra power for every wound each turn. As they level up, each character gains new abilities that they can immediately use. However, the difficulty of the spawn deck increases with the highest character level, so you need to try to get them to level up at the same time. Since the mission fails if any character dies, it is impractical to focus on leveling up one character in an attept to achieve the mission objectives faster. This promotes thoughtful team combinations using cooperative strategies and a fair amount of replayability for an introductory skirmish game. BYSTANDER MECHANIC: Unique to Marvel Zombies is the bystander mechanic, replacing the abily to search for items in previous versions of Zombicide. This involves random individuals from the Marvel Universe who need to be rescued, although a few of them can defend themselves to a degree. These bystanders fully power up any character that rescues them and grants a unique ability to the rescuer that can be used toward character actions. However, the bystanders can also be devoured by the zombies, causing every character to loose a power and a trait. These bystanders are often tied directly into the mission objectives and must be rescued to succeed. ZOMBIE MECHANIC: The heart of the A.I. controlling the zombies is the spawn deck, which triggers specific types of zombies in each spawn zone on the board in accordance with the highest character level. The cards specify the type of enemies involved (Walkers, Brutes, Runners, and Zombie Heroes) and extra actions awarded to those enemies. Each enemy type has different stratigic toughness and action considerations concerning the best ways to dispatch them. Brutes are harder to take down, while runners can move in and attack quickly. Zombie Heroes have both of those abilities, plus another deadly ability unique to each of the charatcters. Captain America can block attacks with his sheild and Scarlet Witch can make you miss with her hex magic. Doctor Strange can ambush characters with his magic portals and Irom Man can launch repulsor attacks from a distance. Any one of these enemies is manageable for a group of four with full health, but they multiply fast, and they protect each other under the targeting rules allowing for certain enemies to dodge and counter attack. The fact that the zombies always hit, makes them deadly and easy to anticipate during the enemy phase. The presence of bystanders also provides the opportunity for the A.I. to drain the characters of power and traits. PROS: Up front, I already pledged for everything in the Kickstarter except the Galactus and Silver Surfer set. I decided to pick up the Spinmaster version for the four extra tiles, extra dice, extra Avengers sign token, and alternative miniature sculpts. In other words, I have a certain amount of bias towards this game. With this in mind, this Spinmaster version of the game is easy to set up and tear down, easy to learn and teach, and has good quality components with a great table presence. The game length is ideal, neither ending too abruptly or overstaying it's welcome. The game is incredibly relatable with familiar characters with unique abilities. CONS: Aside from the balance issues in a three player game, the only real drawback are the experience dials. These dials are identical and can be confused by disorganized players running more than one player. The dial itself can easily be bumped, inadvertently altering the experience level, and the numbers are very small, causing issues for players with poor eyesight. The limited number of characters make it less replayable than the Kickstarter version, and the limited abilities can make the heroes feel weaker than their popular counterparts. The Zombie Heroes are formidable enough that they must be taken down quickly before they overwhelm the players, so they generally do not remain in play for very long. CONCLUSION: This Spinmaster version is an incredible deal for what is provided. It's relatability, ease of play, and quick set up means that it gets to the table more often than other games. Gameplay is highly tactical and challenging, creating incredibly close wins and losses. The cooperative nature is fundamental, requiring smart teamwork to achieve success. I highly recommend this version as it is a much more streamlined game than any of the previous Zombicide iterations.

While this boardgame is a just a silver when compared to its larger Kickstarter game, this review is soley for what this boardgame is. Marvel Zombies Hero Resistance is a great game. The $35 dollar price tag give you a lot of value for your money. Pros: ✓ 10 detailed model sculptures (4 zombie heroes; Captain America, IronMan, Dr. Stange & Scarlett Witch and 6 Avengers Heroes; Hulk, Spiderman, Winter Soldier, Wasp, Black Panther & Vision). I was glad to see several of Marvel's most popular Heroes made it in this line up. Each character has their own set of abilities and I found each felt different to play with in terms of strategy. This was a huge Plus. ✓ The components quality of the dice, experience trackers, different player markers and standees are good. ✓ The cardboard sock that make the board and the zombies are durable and designed well with great artwork for the board. Fans of Marvel would also appreciate the Easter eggs in the artwork of the tiles to see familiar places such as Daily Bugle, or Ozcorp vs generic building. ✓ The rule book is simple to read, easy to understand and was great in teaching me the game without having to go back too often or look elsewhere to understand things that weren't clear. ✓ The book also comes with a tutorial and 8 missions ranging from Easy to Hard difficulty with an expected length of time it would take. This was a fantastic touch as choosing the complexity of a scenario and knowing how long it will take was a great idea. Even better is the times actually took less than the recommended length. ✓ Replayability. The random zombie activation deck, choice of starting heroes, random objective set up in some scenarios, plus the dice rolls there is enough randomness to provide a different experience for each mission. The actions you do will always be the same but how you do it and how it all plays out will not always be the same. ✓ Lastly the actual feel of having to survive, while completing objectives as the zombie hoards march at you, gives a really tense and fulfilling experience each game. That said, on so many positives. Here are some things I didn't like Cons: × While the carboardstock for the zombie and survivors are good. The standee plastic base gives a tight grip, which is also good but on a few of the standee the nice art was scraped off/scratched when attaching the standee base. For example should one compare to the similar method for Gloomhaven JOTL, the constant removal and reattachment of the base to the standees rarely scratched or deeply imprinted those cardboard standees, so I was a bit disappointed with the Marvel Zombies version. × Although 8 missions is a good starting amount of missions. The 4 double sided tiles can be rotated in several ways to provide a unique number of scenarios. Thus, I felt there could have been a lot more missions included for each difficulty setting. Overall for the price that is being offered, you do get a whole lot of game with a lot of variability and randomness each mission. The box is small to be transported with excellent storage separation to have everything neatly paced for easy storage and retrieval. Setting up takes less than 5 mins, same for tear down and putting back in the box. Marvel Zombies: Hero Resistance is an exceptional game and a great introduction for those who want to the try the zombicie experience without the usual hefty price tag. If you don't like zombies or survival games or mission based games this may not be for you. I highly recommend this.

Title: Fun cooperative Marvel zombie game I got this because I wanted a Marvel-themed game that felt different from the usual superhero toys or board games. Bottom line: This is a fun and creative game, especially if you like Marvel, zombies, strategy games, or collectible figurines. The zombie theme gives the Marvel characters a darker, more exciting twist. Gameplay: The gameplay is cooperative, so players work together instead of just competing against each other. That makes it great for family game nights or Marvel fans who like team-based strategy. Ease of learning: It takes a little time to learn at first, but once everyone understands the turns and basic strategy, it becomes much easier and more fun. Difficulty: The difficulty feels manageable but still engaging. It has enough challenge to keep the game interesting without feeling impossible. Replayability: The replayability is good because different choices, characters, and game situations can make each playthrough feel a little different. Expansion: This is also nice if you like expandable games. It gives you a good entry point into the Marvel Zombies/Zombicide style of play without feeling overwhelming. What I liked: Cool Marvel collectible figures. Cooperative gameplay. Fun zombie/superhero theme. Good replay value. Nice mix of strategy, action, and teamwork. Easier to learn after the first game. What could be better: The first playthrough may take some patience while learning the rules. Best for people who enjoy board games, Marvel, or strategy-style play. Final verdict: Overall, this is a fun cooperative Marvel zombie game with good replayability, cool figures, and engaging gameplay.

Please note that I have not played the "large CBOM KS-version of Marvel Zombies". ...I want to, but the cost, especially as I'm located in Sweden with the addition of shipping (incl freight and VAT) would have killed my wallet. With that being said, I have played a lot of dungeon crawlers including other iterations of Zombicide. ...and this is THE THEME for my and my family. (And themes does matter, at least as an addition to gameplay!) My first thought of this mass market variant of Marvel Zombies was that it could be an easy cash grab. But I still wanted it, since I really liked the fact that it was slimmed down with standees instead of the bloated amount of plastic miniatures I otherwise would feel I had to paint. I like painting, but I do not purchase games based on miniatures only, and in this case I think it would've made even more sense to completely skip the miniatures to have this as a real "Marvel Zombies Retail Edition". It is what it is however, and the miniatures are great. (I just feel that a couple of more heroes and zombie heroes in a standee only version would have been even more prefered for me...) So far I think this little game packes a big punch! I think it was kind of created as a teaser for the larger products but as a family game, this is perfect and the ease of play is there compared to the big maps in the other iterations. I would highly recommend it as a great Marvel cooperative board game. For its price, even with shipping to Sweden, it is very much enough of a game. I really, really hope that this iteration gets some expansions (or a custom content bgg section) because I want more!

It is a cheaper entry version of the Marvel Zombies - Hero Mode. It's price is fair and the miniatures are amazing. The only drawback is that the zombies included come with no cards to be played in the core Marvel Zombies - Zombie Mode.

Always wanted to try a Zombicide game and with Marvel Zombies Heroes Resistance being so cheap it was a no brainer. The rules for the game are easy to understand, read the rulebook once and only for the first 2 missions had to revise some stuff. The game has 8 missions and a tutorial stage and can be completed in 10-15 hours. Gameplaywise it would be nice to have more bystanders and zombie heroes, but an expansion would solve that. Every mission has a bit of lore, its really simple and can easily be ignored but you can see some sort of continuation, would love to see more before and after every mission for a better feeling of accomplishment once you beat one. The miniatures are nice, and the standees for the zombies are cool, but he standees bases are bad, they scrape the standees leaving line marks or peeling the picture. I solve the bases problem with a precision knife by cutting a bit inside each of them.

My wife and I absolutely love this game! I have been trying to find a tabletop game for us to play together and the premise of this one stood out to her (so I had to jump on it). One of the best BG purchases we made! We are so excited for all the kickstarter expansions that we immediately jumped on pre-ordering them after the first few times we played. Heads up: like many tabletop games there are quite a few rules (and it will take a bit of time to read the rulebook) and there definitely is a learning curve at first. Don’t fret - after a few games you get the hang of it. There is, however, one potential issue with the game (but in no means impacts my opinion of the game). There is no mention of what the bite marks/claw marks symbol means on the attack die in the rules. Our house rule is that rolling it means you lose one life (like if you were attacking a zombie and got hurt in the process). Other than that- the game is great, the premise is fun, and if you are looking for more - there are a whole bunch of expansions set to come out in 2023. Have fun playing!

Totally brilliant, new incarnation of classic Zombicide. The gameplay is fast and intense, and the games ramp up to become substantially challenging as you work your way through the missions. Great rulebook, excellent components. The standees are cool, but you can easily swap out the zombie standees with zombie sculpts from your other Zombicide (or other Zombie survival) games. MZ:HR is particularly awesome when you start "roleplaying"-- imagining your hero-survivors coping with the shattering psychological trauma of seeing zombified Captain America shambling out of the darkness, thirsting for human flesh. Having Winter Soldier engage in close combat with Zombie Cap is not only fun & compelling gameplay-wise, it's also deeply troubling and totally awesome in the horror-Marvel superhero fantasy that this game perfectly invokes. Just played a game where the Hulk was torn apart by a horde of walkers, and it was truly shocking-- and hilariously, incredibly fun. Over just a few scenarios, I've had a number of thrilling gaming moments that I'll long remember. Can't wait to merge this set with the Kickstarter stuff, coming out soon. As you might suppose, I highly recommend MZ:HR!!!!!

Excelente, llegó un día antes de lo esperado, empacado perfectamente, todo completo Muy recomendado

Good. Kid loves it!

Replay ability, good models to paint with a good solo play as well as fun to play with friends. Just wish Captain America, Iron Man and Captain Marvel had been available. Now have two zombie Captain America, Iron Man but no hero version. If you want them and Captain Marvel you have to buy the Kickstarter (which I have on order but it is both very pricy and rare).

Very nice game

This edition is a cutdown version of the original bigger box Zombicide franchise. This is a standalone game and it is fantastic.