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Post by Douglas Harvey [TOG] on Sept 24, 2011 14:34:36 GMT -5
ENDICOTT EPIDEMIC: The Board Game
Press Release
Endicott Epidemic: The Board Game - an action-packed game of survival and Zombie combat. Can your band of survivors escape the Zombie-infested village of Endicott before the town falls victim to an eradicating nuclear purge? Or will you become infected by the Undead and turn on your allies? The possibilities are endless in a game that utilizes randomization and custom structure mechanics that immerse players in a completely fresh scenario with every new round of play.
Based on the ENDICOTT EPIDEMIC multi-media series created by filmmaker and author Douglas Harvey, Endicott Epidemic: The Board Game is the first full board game that accompanies the Endicott Epidemic: Infectious Contagion card game. While Infectious Contagion was the condensed, "lite" version of the main game, EE:TBG is an epic battle for survival that offers all of the insane mechanics and suspenseful buildup to destruction that the card game couldn't bring to the table (literally).
Thirty years ago: the destructive, power-hungry electronics giant MBI [Machines Before Intelligence] had taken measures against their pro-environmentalist enemies by dumping their wasteful chemicals into the ground beneath their flagship facility in Endicott, NY. Over the decades these chemicals began to spread underground throughout the area and eventually created a toxic chemical plume that saturated the soils beneath nearly 50% of the town. But what they didn't know was that one of MBI's top alchemists had used the dumping as a means of disposing one of his failed experiments...
Present day: the plume has spread to the nearby Riverview Cemetery where the mysterious chemicals have somehow reanimated the dead. Now the Zombies are shambling through the streets of Endicott looking for fresh flesh to feast on. Meanwhile, MBI has sent in a small team of highly-trained Black Ops assassins to take out anyone standing against the Zombie attackers in an attempt to cover up something - what are they hiding?
Only our heroes can stop the dead from taking over the town before MBI’s powerful leaders nuke the entire county to cover up their tracks. Rumor has it that an old Hermit living in Endicott had uncovered critical information from MBI’s file purge that could lead to the company’s implication in the horrifying incident and could stop the spread of the deadly chemicals once and for all, but can he be found before the undead feast on our only hope for survival - you?
The mission laid out for the survivors is clear: find the Hermit, his critical information, and his escape route before the Survivors are taken out by the Black Ops, infected by Zombies, or perish in the nuclear purge that is silently ticking away every moment.
Players begin by choosing one of ten unique characters, each with their own special abilities and strategic tactics. Will you dive into battle as Dougie - the battle-hardened native who was exiled from Endicott, only to return to the town on a dire mission at the cusp of its destruction? Or will you play as Dr. Chandler - the medic whose healing hands can potentially save a victim from infection? Or what about the sinister alchemist Ziegler - the creator of the toxic chemicals that have spawned the unending swarms of Undead? Choose from a selection of battle-ready combat beasts, stealthy scavengers, and all those in between. Once the band of Survivors are dropped into Endicott, their only two goals are to find the three pieces of the "The Cure"...and stay alive long enough to be taken to safety.
On each player's turn, a card is drawn from the play deck before any other action is made. Cards in the play deck include 8 Countdown Cards which are used to keep track of the nuclear purge's proximity to Endicott. When the eighth and final Countdown is revealed, the purge is enacted and the game immediately ends. If the players have not yet completed their mission, then a winner is determined by the amount of points one collected during gameplay.
Also hidden within the deck are 5 Black Ops Revealed cards, which will set the players up for a devastating Execute attack later on if they can't evade the Black Ops marking tactics. Stashed inside the deck are 15 item cards that immediately allow the player to gain the item on the card - be it a weapon or a pair of grenades. Three "Plume Detox" cards can also be revealed. These cards allow the player to stop the spread of the plume to other areas. If the plume counters rise above their pre-determined critical levels, then crippling chain reactions will occur that could potentially wipe out every living (and undead) thing in the village.
The three "Cure" cards are also stashed in the deck and when one is revealed it is kept by the player (as well as it's matching token for the player inventory). Once all three are collected, all players holding Cure tokens must rush to the extraction point within the forest before the Countdown ends. If any Survivors not holding a Cure Card are left behind, the safe players can risk the Countdown ending by helping their ally reach the extraction point by clearing their path of Zombies from the forest's convenient sniper points.
But lurking within the deck are also 6 Event cards that are immediately played. Some of these cards will help you, while others could prove fatal for a struggling Survivor. As players progress through the game and take out the weaker Zombies, the play deck may elect to reveal one of 14 Zombie cards that include 8 Boss Zombies (which are stronger than your basic Zed but can't be evaded and must be confronted if you fall within its path) and 6 Hazard Zombies (which carry the toxic plume everywhere they go and have chain reaction-based effects that, when built up and not eradicated, can end the game swiftly by killing every surviving player). Once these Zombies are revealed, it is suggested that they become the Survivors' priority - for if they aren't killed and are left to roam the streets it will surely bring about a terrifying and violent end to those who choose to ignore them.
After drawing a card, a classic roll-and-move system is used to plan out the paths that players will take through the town. The town is divided into several areas - from the main MBI Facility to the Cemetery, to the forest and even the river that is in danger of carrying the toxic waste to other areas. Strategically maneuvering between these areas can help a player avoid both the Black Ops and any spreading plume markers.
While moving, electing to take a stealthy route to avoid large groups of Undead can prevent harm coming upon your character, but in the long run those Zombies will eventually band with more Zombies and create an even deadlier pack. Or, if you are so inclined, you can dive into a swarm of Undead with your guns blazing - but once you stop moving, the potential for an instant death rises considerably. After every movement phase, players are forced to roll a series of "Intrigue Cubes", some helpful and some cruel.
The Resource Cube allows a player to gain up to 3 items that are randomly pulled from a pouch of chits. Resources include health kits of varying strengths (which can be mixed together for stronger combinations that could potentially increase your total health beyond what you started with), a plethora of ammunition for your weaponry, and even a handful of empty crates to cruelly leave you empty-handed in the middle of a hungry horde.
The Inquest Cube controls both the execution phase of the Black Ops squad (where all of the Black Ops "marks" [obtained when a character is found in an area with one of them when a Black Ops card is drawn], are subsequently taken as immediate points of damage against a player), as well as controlling the Inquest system - a deck of cards that change the effects of the game map's areas. Inquests within an area act as mini-missions that players can use to gain tokens (for example, the boat keys used to power the boat that can take you to the safety of an isolated island off the coast of the village), or even gain a large amount of Resources that can be horded by the player or divvied up amongst allies.
Once the Resource and Inquest cubes are rolled and their effects are acted out, players engage in combat with the enemies in their immediate area. There are up to four types of enemies on the board at any particular moment:
Base Zombies - are the grunts of the Undead, easy to kill and evade and aren't much of a threat on their own, but they become nearly invincible in large numbers.
Boss Zombies - are stronger than the Base Zombies and can't be evaded, but they are slow to move and a distraction from an ally may be your only option if you are weak on firepower.
Hazard Zombies - are the mutant experiments released by MBI itself to make sure no one survives long enough to escape the town before the nuclear purge. Hazard Zombies have instant effects when they are revealed, as well as a consistent "Bloom" effect that multiplies for every turn it is on the board. If a Hazard Zombie is in-play, it is in the best interest of all players to destroy it before it causes a catastrophic chain reaction that could kill everything within its reach.
Black Ops Soldiers - lurk the board and travel from area to area to track the Survivors' movements. When the Black Ops card is revealed, a die is rolled for each area. The number on the die corresponds to one of the five Soldiers and any player in that area is immediately "Marked". A mark is left on the player's health track and must be removed by special means. If the mark isn't removed before the Inquest Cube's Execute command is rolled, then the player will lose that point of damage - which could be devastating if Marks are not removed and are allowed to build in number. If the blank face of the die is rolled instead of a number, then that area is safe...for now.
Combat is used when a stealthy attempt to evade all enemies is impossible or ineffective (or if you prefer to violently plow your way through the Undead to reach your goal). All player characters have their own unique set of starting weaponry - the battle-ready characters having more firepower while the weaker but quicker characters are equipped with knives and health kits - and collect more weapons and ammunition as the Resource Cube is rolled (or Inquests are completed). Whenever an enemy is killed, the player receives two types of rewards - firstly, they gain the correct number of Deadpool tokens (which, when ten are collected, can be traded in for a Respawn token which can then be used when a player is killed to be put back onto the board without becoming infected); and they are also allowed to pull a specific number of Resources from the bag.
Damage is dealt by spending ammunition. For each token of ammunition spent, the weapons' base damage is dealt against the Zombie being fought. Base Zombies are easily mowed down with one or two shots, but the larger and more powerful Zombies will need a little extra punch to dispose of. All weapons have four aspects that are used strategically. The Damage is the amount of firepower your weapon deals with a single token of ammunition. The Accuracy aspect is how many times your character is allowed to roll the Combat cube to avoid wasting ammunition on a missed shot. The Efficiency aspect shows the range with which the weapon is most effective (if the weapon is used out of range, the damage can still be dealt although it will be much weaker). And finally the Ammo type shows what types of ammo (gained from the Resource pouch) can be used to power the weapon.
There are two Intrigue Cubes used for combat - the Combat Cube and the Counter-Combat Cube. The Combat Cube is rolled when the player is fighting and includes three different outcomes - hit, miss, and headshot. This is rolled along with the Counter-Combat Cube (when fighting a Zombie) or a standard D6 (When fighting a human character or Black Ops). The Counter-Combat Cube's faces read as a hit, miss, bite, or infection.
Combat between Survivor and Zombie consists of combinations between the faces of both Cubes. Two hits will result in damage dealt to both parties; while a miss on one side and a hit on the other will damage one side accordingly [unless a player's Accuracy aspect allows them to re-roll]. A miss by a player and a hit by a Zombie will result in damage dealt to the player if that second accuracy roll misses again. If the second roll hits, the damage is dealt to the Zombie instead. Two misses results in the player losing the ammunition token and no damage is dealt to either side. A headshot on the player's Cube will deal an instant hit to the enemy and will allow a free shot to be used by the same ammo token. Only the Infection face of the Counter Combat cube can override a headshot. If this happens, the player is instantly dealt the enemy's damage +1, and must either lose their next turn (running the risk of being swarmed by more enemies), or to lose three of their Deadpool tokens. The Bite face of the Counter Combat cube allows the Zombie to grapple the player (resulting in an instant loss of whatever shot was being taken by the player as well as its ammo token) and re-roll the Counter Combat cube. The second roll will deal wither the enemy's base damage (hit); no damage, but a loss of one Deadpool token (miss); enemy's base damage +1 (another Bite); or enemy's base damage doubled (Infection).
When battling another human character (in other game modes) or a Black Ops soldier, the Counter Combat Cube is not used. Instead, the regular Combat Cube and a standard D6 are used. Using small values on the Combat Cube's faces, the player's cube value when rolled must beat the D6's value in order to be valid. For example, rolling a hit with a 4 beneath it will only hit the Black Ops if the D6's value is 3 or less. A separate D6 is also added to Zombie combat when a Hazard Zombie is being confronted. The value on the Hazard D6 amplifies the effects of the Counter Combat cube.
After combating enemies in your immediate area (or if you choose to flee when low on ammo or health), another set of Intrigue Cubes are rolled to finish your turn. The Zombie Cube spawns up to 3 new Base Zombies at the Cemetery area of the board. The Infection Cube spawns up to 2 Base Zombies around any Hazard Zombie that is on the board. And the Plume Cube spreads plume counters to outlaying areas starting from the MBI Facility.
The Plume spread acts as a way of keeping players on their toes if by chance they are lucky enough to gain many weapons, ammunition, health kits, and cure cards before the meaty parts of the game reveal themselves. The Plume is always spreading, starting first at the MBI Facility and branching out to all outlying areas. Once the Plume at the Facility reaches it's critical level (four counters), any new counters immediately spread to the nearest area and begin to build up there. As each area's Plume reaches the critical level, any players in that area become affected by the radioactivity.
Depending on the Plume level, a player could potentially lose health poitns or inventory items like health kits and ammunition. Once the entire board has reached critical level, all Zombies deal double damage and require double damage to be dealt to them in order to kill them. Only well-timed Detox cards and a few character abilities (like Ziegler and Lady Stillman) can reverse the effects of the Plume and remove counters before the critical levels are reached.
With all of the chaos going on as each Survivor makes their way through the town to complete their mission, the gameplay could get a little too intense for some people's liking. Endicott Epidemic: The Board Game utilizes a completely customizable experience so that players can create the best scenario that is tailored to how they want to enjoy their game. Removing certain aspects of the game like Hazard Zombies or Plume counters can greatly reduce the amount of suspenseful buildup that could turn players off from a game that could potentially be nearly impossible to win. Inventory management and play deck building are also ways a group of players can ease the difficulty and ensure that the game, if played with all the right moves and strategic plans, can indeed be won without laying at the mercy of the Countdown.
The board game, at its core, is designed for 2-8 players. However, like Infectious Contagion, the board game also allows a single player to enjoy the game experience as the lone survivor of Endicott’s shift from living to undead. Other game modes include a point-based Survivor mode that removes the Countdown and many other aspects of the game to allow players (or factions/teams of players) to battle waves of Undead, tallying up points at the end of each round and crowning a winner after a set amount of battles. Or, players (or teams) can simply battle each other without the inclusion of Zombies (but with a Countdown) in a vastly customizable VS mode.
Coming November 26th, 2011 from TOG Entertainment.
Proudly printed in the USA by Superior Print on Demand.
Press Release
Endicott Epidemic: The Board Game - an action-packed game of survival and Zombie combat. Can your band of survivors escape the Zombie-infested village of Endicott before the town falls victim to an eradicating nuclear purge? Or will you become infected by the Undead and turn on your allies? The possibilities are endless in a game that utilizes randomization and custom structure mechanics that immerse players in a completely fresh scenario with every new round of play.
Based on the ENDICOTT EPIDEMIC multi-media series created by filmmaker and author Douglas Harvey, Endicott Epidemic: The Board Game is the first full board game that accompanies the Endicott Epidemic: Infectious Contagion card game. While Infectious Contagion was the condensed, "lite" version of the main game, EE:TBG is an epic battle for survival that offers all of the insane mechanics and suspenseful buildup to destruction that the card game couldn't bring to the table (literally).
Thirty years ago: the destructive, power-hungry electronics giant MBI [Machines Before Intelligence] had taken measures against their pro-environmentalist enemies by dumping their wasteful chemicals into the ground beneath their flagship facility in Endicott, NY. Over the decades these chemicals began to spread underground throughout the area and eventually created a toxic chemical plume that saturated the soils beneath nearly 50% of the town. But what they didn't know was that one of MBI's top alchemists had used the dumping as a means of disposing one of his failed experiments...
Present day: the plume has spread to the nearby Riverview Cemetery where the mysterious chemicals have somehow reanimated the dead. Now the Zombies are shambling through the streets of Endicott looking for fresh flesh to feast on. Meanwhile, MBI has sent in a small team of highly-trained Black Ops assassins to take out anyone standing against the Zombie attackers in an attempt to cover up something - what are they hiding?
Only our heroes can stop the dead from taking over the town before MBI’s powerful leaders nuke the entire county to cover up their tracks. Rumor has it that an old Hermit living in Endicott had uncovered critical information from MBI’s file purge that could lead to the company’s implication in the horrifying incident and could stop the spread of the deadly chemicals once and for all, but can he be found before the undead feast on our only hope for survival - you?
The mission laid out for the survivors is clear: find the Hermit, his critical information, and his escape route before the Survivors are taken out by the Black Ops, infected by Zombies, or perish in the nuclear purge that is silently ticking away every moment.
Players begin by choosing one of ten unique characters, each with their own special abilities and strategic tactics. Will you dive into battle as Dougie - the battle-hardened native who was exiled from Endicott, only to return to the town on a dire mission at the cusp of its destruction? Or will you play as Dr. Chandler - the medic whose healing hands can potentially save a victim from infection? Or what about the sinister alchemist Ziegler - the creator of the toxic chemicals that have spawned the unending swarms of Undead? Choose from a selection of battle-ready combat beasts, stealthy scavengers, and all those in between. Once the band of Survivors are dropped into Endicott, their only two goals are to find the three pieces of the "The Cure"...and stay alive long enough to be taken to safety.
On each player's turn, a card is drawn from the play deck before any other action is made. Cards in the play deck include 8 Countdown Cards which are used to keep track of the nuclear purge's proximity to Endicott. When the eighth and final Countdown is revealed, the purge is enacted and the game immediately ends. If the players have not yet completed their mission, then a winner is determined by the amount of points one collected during gameplay.
Also hidden within the deck are 5 Black Ops Revealed cards, which will set the players up for a devastating Execute attack later on if they can't evade the Black Ops marking tactics. Stashed inside the deck are 15 item cards that immediately allow the player to gain the item on the card - be it a weapon or a pair of grenades. Three "Plume Detox" cards can also be revealed. These cards allow the player to stop the spread of the plume to other areas. If the plume counters rise above their pre-determined critical levels, then crippling chain reactions will occur that could potentially wipe out every living (and undead) thing in the village.
The three "Cure" cards are also stashed in the deck and when one is revealed it is kept by the player (as well as it's matching token for the player inventory). Once all three are collected, all players holding Cure tokens must rush to the extraction point within the forest before the Countdown ends. If any Survivors not holding a Cure Card are left behind, the safe players can risk the Countdown ending by helping their ally reach the extraction point by clearing their path of Zombies from the forest's convenient sniper points.
But lurking within the deck are also 6 Event cards that are immediately played. Some of these cards will help you, while others could prove fatal for a struggling Survivor. As players progress through the game and take out the weaker Zombies, the play deck may elect to reveal one of 14 Zombie cards that include 8 Boss Zombies (which are stronger than your basic Zed but can't be evaded and must be confronted if you fall within its path) and 6 Hazard Zombies (which carry the toxic plume everywhere they go and have chain reaction-based effects that, when built up and not eradicated, can end the game swiftly by killing every surviving player). Once these Zombies are revealed, it is suggested that they become the Survivors' priority - for if they aren't killed and are left to roam the streets it will surely bring about a terrifying and violent end to those who choose to ignore them.
After drawing a card, a classic roll-and-move system is used to plan out the paths that players will take through the town. The town is divided into several areas - from the main MBI Facility to the Cemetery, to the forest and even the river that is in danger of carrying the toxic waste to other areas. Strategically maneuvering between these areas can help a player avoid both the Black Ops and any spreading plume markers.
While moving, electing to take a stealthy route to avoid large groups of Undead can prevent harm coming upon your character, but in the long run those Zombies will eventually band with more Zombies and create an even deadlier pack. Or, if you are so inclined, you can dive into a swarm of Undead with your guns blazing - but once you stop moving, the potential for an instant death rises considerably. After every movement phase, players are forced to roll a series of "Intrigue Cubes", some helpful and some cruel.
The Resource Cube allows a player to gain up to 3 items that are randomly pulled from a pouch of chits. Resources include health kits of varying strengths (which can be mixed together for stronger combinations that could potentially increase your total health beyond what you started with), a plethora of ammunition for your weaponry, and even a handful of empty crates to cruelly leave you empty-handed in the middle of a hungry horde.
The Inquest Cube controls both the execution phase of the Black Ops squad (where all of the Black Ops "marks" [obtained when a character is found in an area with one of them when a Black Ops card is drawn], are subsequently taken as immediate points of damage against a player), as well as controlling the Inquest system - a deck of cards that change the effects of the game map's areas. Inquests within an area act as mini-missions that players can use to gain tokens (for example, the boat keys used to power the boat that can take you to the safety of an isolated island off the coast of the village), or even gain a large amount of Resources that can be horded by the player or divvied up amongst allies.
Once the Resource and Inquest cubes are rolled and their effects are acted out, players engage in combat with the enemies in their immediate area. There are up to four types of enemies on the board at any particular moment:
Base Zombies - are the grunts of the Undead, easy to kill and evade and aren't much of a threat on their own, but they become nearly invincible in large numbers.
Boss Zombies - are stronger than the Base Zombies and can't be evaded, but they are slow to move and a distraction from an ally may be your only option if you are weak on firepower.
Hazard Zombies - are the mutant experiments released by MBI itself to make sure no one survives long enough to escape the town before the nuclear purge. Hazard Zombies have instant effects when they are revealed, as well as a consistent "Bloom" effect that multiplies for every turn it is on the board. If a Hazard Zombie is in-play, it is in the best interest of all players to destroy it before it causes a catastrophic chain reaction that could kill everything within its reach.
Black Ops Soldiers - lurk the board and travel from area to area to track the Survivors' movements. When the Black Ops card is revealed, a die is rolled for each area. The number on the die corresponds to one of the five Soldiers and any player in that area is immediately "Marked". A mark is left on the player's health track and must be removed by special means. If the mark isn't removed before the Inquest Cube's Execute command is rolled, then the player will lose that point of damage - which could be devastating if Marks are not removed and are allowed to build in number. If the blank face of the die is rolled instead of a number, then that area is safe...for now.
Combat is used when a stealthy attempt to evade all enemies is impossible or ineffective (or if you prefer to violently plow your way through the Undead to reach your goal). All player characters have their own unique set of starting weaponry - the battle-ready characters having more firepower while the weaker but quicker characters are equipped with knives and health kits - and collect more weapons and ammunition as the Resource Cube is rolled (or Inquests are completed). Whenever an enemy is killed, the player receives two types of rewards - firstly, they gain the correct number of Deadpool tokens (which, when ten are collected, can be traded in for a Respawn token which can then be used when a player is killed to be put back onto the board without becoming infected); and they are also allowed to pull a specific number of Resources from the bag.
Damage is dealt by spending ammunition. For each token of ammunition spent, the weapons' base damage is dealt against the Zombie being fought. Base Zombies are easily mowed down with one or two shots, but the larger and more powerful Zombies will need a little extra punch to dispose of. All weapons have four aspects that are used strategically. The Damage is the amount of firepower your weapon deals with a single token of ammunition. The Accuracy aspect is how many times your character is allowed to roll the Combat cube to avoid wasting ammunition on a missed shot. The Efficiency aspect shows the range with which the weapon is most effective (if the weapon is used out of range, the damage can still be dealt although it will be much weaker). And finally the Ammo type shows what types of ammo (gained from the Resource pouch) can be used to power the weapon.
There are two Intrigue Cubes used for combat - the Combat Cube and the Counter-Combat Cube. The Combat Cube is rolled when the player is fighting and includes three different outcomes - hit, miss, and headshot. This is rolled along with the Counter-Combat Cube (when fighting a Zombie) or a standard D6 (When fighting a human character or Black Ops). The Counter-Combat Cube's faces read as a hit, miss, bite, or infection.
Combat between Survivor and Zombie consists of combinations between the faces of both Cubes. Two hits will result in damage dealt to both parties; while a miss on one side and a hit on the other will damage one side accordingly [unless a player's Accuracy aspect allows them to re-roll]. A miss by a player and a hit by a Zombie will result in damage dealt to the player if that second accuracy roll misses again. If the second roll hits, the damage is dealt to the Zombie instead. Two misses results in the player losing the ammunition token and no damage is dealt to either side. A headshot on the player's Cube will deal an instant hit to the enemy and will allow a free shot to be used by the same ammo token. Only the Infection face of the Counter Combat cube can override a headshot. If this happens, the player is instantly dealt the enemy's damage +1, and must either lose their next turn (running the risk of being swarmed by more enemies), or to lose three of their Deadpool tokens. The Bite face of the Counter Combat cube allows the Zombie to grapple the player (resulting in an instant loss of whatever shot was being taken by the player as well as its ammo token) and re-roll the Counter Combat cube. The second roll will deal wither the enemy's base damage (hit); no damage, but a loss of one Deadpool token (miss); enemy's base damage +1 (another Bite); or enemy's base damage doubled (Infection).
When battling another human character (in other game modes) or a Black Ops soldier, the Counter Combat Cube is not used. Instead, the regular Combat Cube and a standard D6 are used. Using small values on the Combat Cube's faces, the player's cube value when rolled must beat the D6's value in order to be valid. For example, rolling a hit with a 4 beneath it will only hit the Black Ops if the D6's value is 3 or less. A separate D6 is also added to Zombie combat when a Hazard Zombie is being confronted. The value on the Hazard D6 amplifies the effects of the Counter Combat cube.
After combating enemies in your immediate area (or if you choose to flee when low on ammo or health), another set of Intrigue Cubes are rolled to finish your turn. The Zombie Cube spawns up to 3 new Base Zombies at the Cemetery area of the board. The Infection Cube spawns up to 2 Base Zombies around any Hazard Zombie that is on the board. And the Plume Cube spreads plume counters to outlaying areas starting from the MBI Facility.
The Plume spread acts as a way of keeping players on their toes if by chance they are lucky enough to gain many weapons, ammunition, health kits, and cure cards before the meaty parts of the game reveal themselves. The Plume is always spreading, starting first at the MBI Facility and branching out to all outlying areas. Once the Plume at the Facility reaches it's critical level (four counters), any new counters immediately spread to the nearest area and begin to build up there. As each area's Plume reaches the critical level, any players in that area become affected by the radioactivity.
Depending on the Plume level, a player could potentially lose health poitns or inventory items like health kits and ammunition. Once the entire board has reached critical level, all Zombies deal double damage and require double damage to be dealt to them in order to kill them. Only well-timed Detox cards and a few character abilities (like Ziegler and Lady Stillman) can reverse the effects of the Plume and remove counters before the critical levels are reached.
With all of the chaos going on as each Survivor makes their way through the town to complete their mission, the gameplay could get a little too intense for some people's liking. Endicott Epidemic: The Board Game utilizes a completely customizable experience so that players can create the best scenario that is tailored to how they want to enjoy their game. Removing certain aspects of the game like Hazard Zombies or Plume counters can greatly reduce the amount of suspenseful buildup that could turn players off from a game that could potentially be nearly impossible to win. Inventory management and play deck building are also ways a group of players can ease the difficulty and ensure that the game, if played with all the right moves and strategic plans, can indeed be won without laying at the mercy of the Countdown.
The board game, at its core, is designed for 2-8 players. However, like Infectious Contagion, the board game also allows a single player to enjoy the game experience as the lone survivor of Endicott’s shift from living to undead. Other game modes include a point-based Survivor mode that removes the Countdown and many other aspects of the game to allow players (or factions/teams of players) to battle waves of Undead, tallying up points at the end of each round and crowning a winner after a set amount of battles. Or, players (or teams) can simply battle each other without the inclusion of Zombies (but with a Countdown) in a vastly customizable VS mode.
Coming November 26th, 2011 from TOG Entertainment.
Proudly printed in the USA by Superior Print on Demand.