Welcome Gangs of Night City to Cyberpunk 2077, and Gear Up for More Zombicide

Welcome Gangs of Night City to Cyberpunk 2077, and Gear Up for More Zombicide
• While clearing images from my phone the other day, I ran across this image of Justin Timberlake's next CD from Gen Con 2019 and was like, oh, yeah, is that still going to be a thing?

From gallery of W Eric Martin

Turns out the answer is no, Cyberpunk 2077: Afterlife – The Card Game will not be a thing as publishers CMON and CD Projekt RED have pivoted from a card game to a board game, with Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City from designers Andrea Chiarvesio, Eric M. Lang, Alexio Schneeberger, and Francesco Rugerfred Sedda being the game that CMON will next crowdfund on Kickstarter. Here's a quick take on the game:
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Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City is a big box strategy game with miniatures in which gangs fight for control of a city, with the city also being a living part of the game.

Board Game: Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City

In the game, players assume the role of a gang leader, with you organizing your gang members to take power in the city. Your actions affect not only your game and your opponents but the city itself. Each gang has different attributes and goals, giving each player a different gaming experience.
To date, Chiarvesio and Rugerfred Sedda have written three designer diaries detailing what they're actually adapting from the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, how they attempt to mirror that game's unfairness to players, and what players are trying to do.

CMON also hosted an hour-long presentation about the game, which featured a huge number of viewer comments about the cost of shipping and how no one will pledge for this game up front given the fallout from the shipping costs for the Marvel Zombies Kickstarter campaign. We'll see...

Board Game: Zombicide: Gear Up
• In other CMON news, the company is taking a cue from the rest of the game industry by releasing a flip-and-write game — Zombicide: Gear Up, from designers Jordy Adan and Marco Portugal. Strangely, CMON has no information about this game on its website or any social media that I've seen, but a sample copy landed on my doorstep, so I know it will exist. I've even played a solitaire game, so I can offer this game overview:
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To set up, each player takes a survivor card, which shows four weapons, along with damage, armor, and ammo tracks. Determine the level of play (easy to nightmare), then give each player the appropriate number of random regular and special zombie cards to place next to the "third street level" of their card. Shuffle the ten turn cards, then lay out nine in a row, placing seven spawn cards by the last seven of these cards.

On a turn, reveal the next turn card, which shows which color weapon each player activates. Each weapon has a "hit shape" (typically a polyomino), and you must fit the hit shape into the outline of a zombie to use it, with no overlaps to any damage you've dealt previously. Some zombies might then advance toward players, moving from their third street to their second one. If a zombie is on your "first street" and would advance, you take damage equal to the unmarked red stars on that card. If you mark off ammo or armor on a zombie, you circle those symbols on your survivor card; you can spend one ammo to mark off a single zombie space, and you can spend armor instead of taking damage.

After the third turn, you reveal the first spawn card, which will put more zombies in play, with players collectively deciding how to add those cards to their third streets. Whenever you mark off the final space on a zombie card, remove it from play, then upgrade one of your weapons, perhaps gaining the ability to use it multiple times or gain armor when you cover red stars.

Board Game: Zombicide: Gear Up
Victory in an easy-level solitaire game

After nine turns, reshuffle the ten turn cards, then lay out nine of them, along with the level 1 and 2 boss cards under the final seven turn cards. Place the boss in front of one player. During a turn, if the boss is in front of you or if you have an activated long-range weapon, you can attack the boss instead of zombies close to you. If you defeat the boss before the ninth turn ends in the second round, you win; if not — or if any player is killed by damage — then you lose the game.

For the solitaire mode of Zombicide: Gear Up, take companion cards for three survivors not in play and place them next to your survivor card. When a turn card has a smiley face on it, you can activate the power of one of your companions, in addition to your own weapon. Each companion can be used only once in a round.

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