SPALDING WARGAMING CLUB
It really has the intensity of a tightly-knit team in a firefight with monsters. There are games you like and games you LOVE but then there are games for which you have a sort of mad, romantic infatuation. Mistfall is one of those games for me but Fireteam Zero is the other.
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Fireteam Zero casts you in 1942 as a squad of elite soldiers sent into warzones in various WWII theatres where supernatural outbreaks are occurring. You have to penetrate a literal hell-on-earth, identify the source of the supernatural infestation and destroy it. You are 'Sarge' Abe Griffin (the lantern-jawed Leader), Shadroe "Rat" Decatur (sociopathic Cajun knife-wielder), Frank 'Two-Penny' Eaton (eagle-eyed marksman) and Donny Hymel (explosives genius) - with a couple of NPCs tagging along, the lore-master Professor Monroe and Patty 'Cake' Wolinski, the psychic.
You're pretty invested in these characters, because the game plunges you into breathless scenarios where you have to battle your way across a monster-strewn landscape where the monsters JUST KEEP COMING. Every turn you can play cards to kill monsters or support your nearby allies - but your cards are also your life and, once the monsters attack (and they will), you need to have cards left to discard as wounds.
This produces some pretty hair-raising decisions. Do you play a card to attack a monster (and risk missing) or hold onto it to defend your friend - or cling to it so you have something to discard when the monster comes FOR YOU?
The missions (all in 3 parts: you level-up between each chapter but the monsters get nastier too) take place on a variety of boards representing war-torn towns, underground bunkers, haunted forests and twisting cavern complexes. You choose the particular Focus Powers you want to be able to call upon, build your deck with the cool tactics you think you'll need, then dive in. It's a white-knuckle ride from that moment on.
The game's mechanic is essentially simple. The format is pretty formulaic. The monsters re-spawn as fast as you kill them and keep coming. There are 12 locations to visit, looking for key Discovery Cards, but lots of nasty Event Cards to find instead. But what makes FTZ so compelling is its essential ghastly simplicity. It really has the intensity of a tightly-knit team in a firefight with monsters. Every turn counts, every card is momentous, it never lets up and you never catch your breath. That's how cool it is.
The game's mechanic is essentially simple. The format is pretty formulaic. The monsters re-spawn as fast as you kill them and keep coming. There are 12 locations to visit, looking for key Discovery Cards, but lots of nasty Event Cards to find instead. But what makes FTZ so compelling is its essential ghastly simplicity. It really has the intensity of a tightly-knit team in a firefight with monsters. Every turn counts, every card is momentous, it never lets up and you never catch your breath. That's how cool it is.