Here at BigBossBattle, we’re big fans of Zombicide: 2nd Edition. We raved about it in our review, we ranked it highly in our list of the 15 Best Dungeon Crawlers and we even enjoyed the stupid digital spin-off. Heck, we love CMON’s zombie blaster so much that we even painted our entire collection of miniatures. You’d think that with all our love for this great game, the new Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ expansion would be an absolute shoe in – but as with any good zombie apocalypse movie, things don’t always turn out as you’d expect.
Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ is the second campaign expansion to be released for Zombicide: 2nd Edition since the Kickstarter, following on from Zombicide: 2nd Edition – Rio Z Janeiro and the first new bit of content since the rather crazy Zombicide: 2nd Edition – Monty Python’s Flying Circus. As with its Brazilian themed sibling, Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ is set in the titular city, in this case the famous French capital, and features new characters, new zombie models and a small slew of unique rules.
Covering those elements in more detail leads us to discover six new characters (plus a companion who could be proxied by literally any other model) and I must say, the sculpt variety and quality has never been higher. The standout among these is probably Marianne, who carries a French flag aloft above her, making for a large, attractive and highly detailed table presence.
Now whilst I may be wrong, I don’t believe there are any outright new abilities among these characters, although as always it’s the combination of the model (and the story it evokes) and the combination of abilities on offer that makes character choice interesting. You can always swap characters in and out of your Zombicide: 2nd Edition games, and if nothing less Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ offers new, better sculpts and some additional diversity in terms of body type and ethnicity.
There are some new zombies too – with two models each for walkers, runners and brutes. Whilst it’s nothing new to see a Zombicide: 2nd Edition expansion without additional abominations, I have to say that I had hoped for one. Additionally, five of the six new zombies are purely cosmetic additions that have no new rules despite their unique sculpts (owners of the Kickstarter Reboot Box may have hoped for “Daily Spawn” style effects) and this is a shame.
The one zombie that does differentiate — a walker — is known in Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ as Marie Antoinette. Marie’s sculpt is fantastic, with a headless corpse holding its own head aloft, complete with furious, screeching facial features. The rules for Marie are challenging, and she comes with a guillotine token that acts as an additional spawn point. This is a simple, challenging mechanic that simply means you’ll need to prioritise killing Marie above almost any other target.
In addition to these new models, Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ also comes with a slew of new tiles depicting iconic Parisian features such as The Eiffel Tower and the Catacombs. Linked to these, there is also a selection of semi-secret envelopes that correspond to the ten connected missions that span the campaign. New map features include trees that add an element of danger, with the potential for zombies to fall from them when you least expect it, but the tower itself is little more than an elevated space that funnels zombies and allows for a bit of sniping.
What does differentiate Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ from other iterations in the series are the catacombs which famously run under Paris and date back to Medieval times. The key new mechanic for Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ is that of night and day (or light and dark). When on the streets of Paris players must deal with a clock that ultimately runs from day to night (causing zombie behavior to change). In the catacombs, as long as the lights are on then the zombies act as if it’s daytime, but thanks to the notoriously flakey power supply, the lights will frequently go out…
Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ also includes six additional dice to bring the All-Out rules in (and this could be reason enough to purchase at least one of the expansions) as well as a whole new set of items that include a variety of baked goods such as croissants and baguettes (hence my dough-centric subtitle above). A few new Pimpweapons are also added, as are six new starter weapons. As always with Zombicide: 2nd Edition, you can sort of mix and match these with item cards from other expansions (and the base game) to suit you.
In summary then, Zombicide: 2nd Edition – PariZ offers a fun, engaging campaign that existing fans of the series will lap up. Ten new missions across new boards with two wildly different settings (Parisian streets and Catacombs) and all the trappings that come with any new campaign in this series. If you’ve seen a Zombicide: 2nd Edition campaign before, then you already know what to expect. Where I was perhaps a bit less impressed was in the zombie rules and features. Most other Zombicide: 2nd Edition expansions have come with new zombie types or sometimes new abominations, and I was disappointed to find just a few new sculpts and the relatively simplistic Marie Antoinette as the only zombie with new rules.
Zombicide: 2nd Edition – Pariz is available now.
