Fright Night Gaming

With many gaming nights falling on Friday or Saturday, and Halloween this year being on Friday, it seems a shame not to put up the panzer divisions for one weekend and do some horror themed gaming instead. With that in mind here are a suggestions for what I think are the best currently available horror themed board games to hit the table with.

Last Night On Earth (Flying Frog Productions)

There have been many, many zombie themed board games over the years, both professional and amateur, but none have been as solid as Last Night On Earth. Oozing with personality and production values, Last Night captures the zombie genre perfectly on the tabletop.

What makes the game work boils down to a couple of things. First of all, you have an actual zombie player (or players, it handles zombie teams quite well). Most games force the zombies to randomly shuffle around, making the gameplay be more about avoiding zombies than having to face down the hordes of rotting undead. By having a player control the zombies, and also giving that player action cards that can be played on the heroes of the game, you have zombies that are actually threatening.

Then you have the fact that the game is scenario based. Escape out of town in your trusty truck…if you could only remember where you put your keys. Defend the house against the corpse mob until dawn. Go on the offensive and burn the zombie nests out. Each scenario requires different strategies, from both the human and the zombie player, and the chaos that ensues from what happens as the scenarios play out will often remind you of a crazy movie unfolding on your table.

A Touch Of Evil (Flying Frog Productions)

The follow up to their first game, Last Night On Earth, A Touch Of Evil is also a horror themed game but it’s not simply Last Night all over again.

Taking place in an early 19th century village that is besieged by evil, Shadowbrook, players take on the roles of monster hunters while the system plays the adversary. So yes, while Last Night was a tactical zombie game this is a pure adventure game (think games like Talisman, basically simplified RPGs played as board games). Players travel the map, collecting loot, killing monsters, investigating the secrets of the town elders (elders being a stretch since you do have a nubile young maid amongst them), all in preparation to confront the Big Bad which can either be a headless horseman, werewolf (a particularly nasty villain), scarecrow, or the quintessential vampire.

The game can be played either competitively or co-operatively, although it still pretty much plays the same, it’s just that bad guy is much tougher in co-op mode, plus you can trade items. Like most adventure games that amount of randomness may be a turn off for some, but personally I think the wacky chaos of adventure games is what makes them special.

Arkham Horror (Fantasy Flight Games)

Arkham Horror is another adventure game. The Fantasy Flight version is actually a new edition, as the game originally was put out in the early eighties.

A Touch Of Evil owes quite a bit to Arkham Horror. Like in that game players are attempting to defeat an ultimate evil before it destroys them (and in most cases, the universe too). Unlike the Hammer-esque horror of Evil though, Arkham Horror is all about Lovecraftian nightmares, jaunts to other worlds, and shattering your sanity.

Characters race through the streets and outskirts of Arkham (or other locations with the many expansion sets), sealing interdimensional gates, battling monsters, collecting ancient tomes, all in an effort to build up enough power to fight the Great Old One threatening the world. While it’s not quite a tabletop version of the Chaosium RPG, Call of Cthulhu, with the proper group it can be just as entertaining from a role-playing aspect.

Arkham Horror does have a few drawbacks. One, you need a table the dimensions of your average aircraft carrier flight deck to hold all the boards, cards, counters, and character cards. Two, it’s long. A game of Evil can be knocked out in a little over an hour, whereas in Arkham Horror you’re probably first getting started after an hour. Finally, this is not a game you should expect to win. While that does stay true to its roots, from a gaming perspective it can be frustrating to some players.