Shrapnel Games Blog

You know, Flying Frog really missed out on the marketing potential of a zombie Alan Thicke by calling Last Night On Earth’s first expansion Growing Hunger and not Growing Pains. Maybe next time.

Growing Hunger hit the table last weekend and much carnage ensued. The poor folks of Woodinvale were once again devoured, torn apart, bludgeoned, and in one case blown up into tiny flaming chunks. For the most part the zombies fared slightly better.

As an expansion you’d expect the usual laundry list of expansiony bullet points and Growing Hunger delivers each one like a shot to the brainpan. Two new map expansions (and unfortunately the weakest aspect of the expansion, as the coloration is off along with the size—they’re cut about one or two millimeters off where they should be to fit properly with the center section), four new heroes, seven red zombies (same as prior sculpts), fifty new cards, three new scenarios, and a ton of counters that are mostly there for DIY scenarios.

The most interesting aspect of the expansion is that essentially all the new rules are variants. Using a point cost system as represented by a scale of one to four dots players can freely pick and choose from the expansion special scenario rules to modify any existing scenario or in crafting their own. The three new scenarios in the game already take into account the special rules and need no modification (although there’s nothing to stop you from swapping out what rules the new scenarios use).

Some of these rules include allowing the heroes to add to their numbers when one hero bites the dust (although the zombie player still wins at the elimination of four heroes over the course of the game), auto spawning zombies, heroes starting off with more cards, and more. The best new rules are the Free Search Markers and the Zombie Grave Dead.

Free Search Markers are placed in buildings and when a hero moves into the building it can be discarded to allow the hero to search the building immediately. This is especially a boon in scenarios where the heroes have to locate special objects such as fuel to set blazes, increasing the odds slightly that you’ll get whatever you need much more quickly.

Similar to Free Search Markers are Exploration Markers. They function pretty much the same except that they are two-sided and have a special effect when flipped that range from a surprise zombie spawn and attack to a free search to adding a fifth hero.

Zombie Grave Dead are more powerful undead than the regular ghoulies. Prior to commencing play the zombie player rolls on a table to see what type of Grave Dead they are. Results can by ‘Very Rotten’, allowing them to ignore any non-explosive wound on a 4+, ‘Ravenous’, allowing an extra fight die, ‘Freshly Dead’, which allows them to move d3 spaces, and more. The Grave Dead are always represented by the red zombies and are brought in on a cost of using two zombie spawns to bring one Grave Dead spawn into play.

The new heroes aren’t bad additions, although as can be expected some are better than others. In order of what I feel is the most powerful to least we have…

Sam (The Diner Cook). A bad ass fighting machine, he can take a whopping four wounds before going down and can cancel a Zombie Fight card used on him on a roll of 4+. And as we found out in our game, he makes one helluva a zombie hero. One of the new zombie cards is ‘Bitten’. You play it on a hero once they kill a zombie. Next time they are wounded they transform, regardless of damage, into a zombie hero. I played it on Sam and my opponent got so nervous with a four wound zombie that could move d3 spaces he ended up sacrificing Jake with an exploding gas can just to kill undead Sam.

Amanda (Prom Queen). Youth, which means not many hits, but she can hide and cancel any fight on a 4+ before fight dice are rolled, and any male hero in her space gains an extra fight die from her beauty.

Rachelle (Detective Winters). Starts the game with a flashlight and pistol and has the ability to ignore any wound by rolling a 6 when taking the hit.

Kenny (Super Market Bag Boy). Has the ability to kill any zombie beaten in a fight (no doubles needed) by discarding an item or taking a wound. As a youth he of course only has two wound boxes so that’s not exactly going to be of much use. And that’s it. Definitely the weakest of the new crew but at least when he gets his guts ripped out you get to say, “You bastards, you killed Kenny!”

The new cards are pretty good. As mentioned the zombie card ‘Bitten’ is great, as is ‘Let’s Split Up’ which causes a hero to take a wound if they end their move action in the same space or building as another hero. Some nice hero cards include ‘T.J. Thoroughbred’, discard at any point to move the hero d6 spaces or six if played by Jenny. Doesn’t restrict it to outdoors so I guess you can go charging through the supermarket with the horse. ‘Against All Odds’ gives one hero for the turn an extra fight die and best of all, that hero cannot be killed in any way for the turn.

Growing Hunger also introduces two-handed weapons. Taking up both weapon slots they provide some sort of special bonus that makes having to wade into melee worth it. For example, ‘Garden Shears’ gives the hero an extra fight die but also allows an instant zombie kill if any of the dice rolled end up as a six—no doubles needed.

The new scenarios are pretty tough but then again, the core scenarios are tough. Your mileage may vary, but in our experience the heroes always have an uphill battle to victory. One scenario we played this weekend in which the heroes must burn four zombie spawning pits in the mansion came down to the wire. If the heroes had one more turn they could have won, but alas, they didn’t. I will say that I thought my opponent made a tactical error in panicking early in the game and using one of his gas canisters to explode zombie Sam (yeah, it was that game) so maybe in the hands of someone else the heroes would have fared better.

The challenge the heroes face is good though. After all, how many zombie movies ever end on a happy note? Besides, it makes for some great cinematic gameplay and even losing is usually fun in Last Night On Earth.

Continuing the tradition started in the core game Growing Hunger adds a lot of new counters that aren’t used for any official scenario but are there for your own designing pleasure. Toxic waste barrels and puddles, a meteor, motorcycle, and more are included and at least one or two things should spark your imagination. One such item for myself was a pile of money. How about a scenario pitting all four heroes against one another in a bid to find the loot and escape while battling the legions of Hell? The one thing that still hasn’t found its way into the game? Sharks.

Growing Hunger is a great expansion. I’m not sure how much further Flying Frog can go in terms of expansions, although new heroes, cards, and map sections would always be welcome. But even if they don’t expand the game right now with all the variant rules and potential scenarios it will be quite a long time before the game becomes stiff and cold.