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Plagues everywhere

 

PandemiC

 

On the Brink

 

Not all of us play for the same team! The 1st expansion for the game Pandemic introduces several new elements into the game. First and foremost there are 6 new characters with varying abilities to influence the course of the game. In relation to the characters there is now the possibility to play with 5 instead of a maximum of 4 in the basic game. There are also new event cards as well as a 7th epidemic card for all that consider themselves expert in the game, it makes the game more challenging and more difficult. The most important novelties are the three independent scenarios, all of them make the game much more interesting and a lot more difficult, but still winnable. The basic rules of the game stay the same for the scenarios, but there are of course some additional rules.

 

The first scenario is called „Virulent Strain Challenge“. This introduces completely new epidemic cards that change one of the four diseases to a virulent strain. Chosen for this change from normal disease to a virulent strain is the disease that is represented by the most disease cubes on the board.  The special feature of those cards is that they introduce an additional unique effect for the virulent strain that is either a one-time application or is effective for the rest of the game. When an infection card for this disease is drawn, an additional second disease cube is placed for this disease.

 

„Mutation Challenge“ is the second of the new scenarios. This game introduces a new fifth purple disease which multiplies in unpredictable ways. Take care! The cubes for that disease are limited and that can get dangerous fast. Because of that new disease there are two new ways to win the game – players must agree on one before the stat of the game. One of the victory conditions is to find a cure for all 5 diseases. Victory condition 2 demands tat you find a cure for all four of the basic disease and extinguish the new purple disease. Extinguish means, there is no purple cube lefton the board. To find a cure for the purple disease you must collect one city card each in the color of the other four diseases and one city card from a city where the new mutation can be found.

 

If you like a very challenging game you can combine the scenarios „virulent strain“ and “mutation“ in one game. But you mind end with a much shorter game that way, because the end comes faster than you would think possible.

 

The last new scenario is „bioterrorist“, In this scenario one of the players embodies the bioterrorist and tries to win together with the game against all other players. SO it is one player against all others, the bioterrorist hinders all players, because he has a turn after each individual turn of any player – so the game runs player A – bioterrorist – Player B – bioterrorist – and so on. This sequence makes winning the game especially hard as the bioterrorist commands his own actions to add additional purple disease cubes to the game to obstruct the play of all others. The attractive feature of this scenario is, that the bioterrorist can lose despite all other players having lost the game, because for him to win with the game purple disease cubes must be present on the board at the end of the game.

 

All three of these scenarios have their own distinctive flavour and add other challenges to the game. My personal recommendation would be for new players of Pandemic to approach these scenarios one by one. All three feature different challenges for the players but in my opinion the bioterrorist scenario is the most difficult of all, because you lose one player to the game itself and must concentrate on several features at the same time. But try them out yourself, my first and utmost recommendation is to play them all and play them often, because they are fun to play.

 

Isabella Schranz

 

Spieler         : 2-5 Spieler

Alter            : ages 10 and up

Dauer           : approx. 60 min

 

Autor           : Matt Leacock, Tom Lehmann

Grafik          : Josh Kappel, Regis Moulun, Hans-Georg Schneider

German title : Pandemie Auf Messers Schneide

Preis            : ca. 25,00 Euro

Verlag          : Pegasus Spiele 2009

                     www.pegasus.de

 

Genre                    : A game of placement

Zielgruppe             : For experts

Mechanismen         : Avoid pandemic my moving and using markers

 

Kommentar:

Try the scenarios seperately

All scenarios can be combined

Can only be used together with the basic game

 

Vergleichbar:

Shadows over Camelot, Scotland Yard

 

Meine Bewertung             : 5

 

Isabella Schranz:

This first expansion of Pandemic is a full success! I had a lot of fun with it and liked all scenarios.

 

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