Is Season 2 + Toxic City mall a good combo?

[green_destiny]

Hi everyone,

So my first zombicide set is season 2. Me and my friends are enjoying it although most of my players are new to game boarding. So I was just wondering if Season 2 and getting a Toxic City mall expansion is a good combo?

Imagine I'll be having berserker zombies that can only be killed thru melee and toxic zombies that is safely killed by range attacks. It will further add to the difficulty of the game and will entail new strategy among the players. Toxic zombies can be deadly in closed quarters such as the prison tile maps. Add the berserker abomination and toxic abomination to the mix.

So I'm wondering this combo is too much for casual gamers?
Another feedback that I got was the TCM expansion is a lot more suitable to Season 1 not season 2.

Your thoughts please?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Wyrmypops]

We played the original Zombicide all the way through the campaign it had. Then did the same with TCM, that made things interesting and different. Additional challenge in how we had previously played, not always being able to rely on sweeping chainsaws to clear a zone. The skills the TCM survivors had complimented the new tactics necessary to deal with everything.

Then we played the Prison Outbreak campaign. Again that had us having to switch up our methods to deal with berserkers, and enjoy new skills and equipment.
The encounter cards in Prison Outbreak do throw up the occasional Toxic and regular zombie without even adding in the previous decks but it's largely berserkers.
The mix of zombies had become very challenging. Mostly due to the target priority, if a berserk walker is present you can't shoot at the toxic runners or fatties, unless you're a Sniper.

Since then we've played some of the scenarios downloaded from the GG site. With a big deck made up of all previous decks. The challenges are still there with the mix of zombie types, but the amount of berserkers you have to deal with is much less.

Some things we found a challenge when incorporating a new boxed set were the skills. Learning which characters could fill certain roles well and what equipment would be best to have in their hands rather than another.
For casual gamers it might be a good idea to have a copy of the skills on paper to have as ready reference so they can be looked up without having to go through to the book and lose the mission page. Whoever owns the game is likely to have read up on any new element the games bring in, like barricades and security doors, but it can certainly help to have another player that has read the book the night before too.

 

[green_destiny]

The mix of zombies had become very challenging. Mostly due to the target priority, if a berserk walker is present you can't shoot at the toxic runners or fatties, unless you're a Sniper.

I agree this is a strategic challenge for the players as well. For my players, for them the chainsaw is a gem, I guess encountering toxic zombies can make them think otherwise. Thanks for the tips!

If we continously play zombicide and enjoy it, I might opt to eventually buy the TCM expansion (oh common, it comes with 4 tiles only?).

 

[Wyrmypops]

The TCM missions have their tiles alongside those from the original game. I think some of the PO missions used tiles from both of those older boxed sets too. Or the other way around, with PO tiles used in later TCM mission. Or both. My memory ain't what it was, it used to be a whossname, colander type thing.
Could always wing it with what tiles you have though.

There are some ways a character with a heavy bunch of melee skills can still perform well against Toxics. There's a gasmask card allowing them ignore the toxic spray, and some of the characters with TCM get a Toxic Immunity skill for the same effect.
Some of the later character can also get a Point Blank skill, allowing them to shoot berserkers if they get close enough. So at least they can enjoy the rest of their shooting skills and equipment if they have them.

 

[green_destiny]

yeah that's one thing i'll prefer to buy the expansion than just the toxic crowd pack because i would need the equipments such as the gas mask. got it, thanks for the tips!

 

[guerra]

Like a lot this zombie mix, and you have to specialize the survivors in your crew to be able to deal with all kinds of zombies.

It is important to state that the weapons, both in TCM and S2 helps to deal with these kinds of zombie.

PS: the Point Blank skill can be very useful, specially to kill the Berzerker Abomination with a 3 damage ranged weapon...

 

[green_destiny]

Like a lot this zombie mix, and you have to specialize the survivors in your crew to be able to deal with all kinds of zombies.

It is important to state that the weapons, both in TCM and S2 helps to deal with these kinds of zombie.

PS: the Point Blank skill can be very useful, specially to kill the Berzerker Abomination with a 3 damage ranged weapon...

Yes point blank skill + PA gun will rock!

 

[guerra]

Or point blank + magnum + hollow point...