Zombicide Mission Report: 2E M1 – City Blocks

Having already tackled tentacled horrors in Cthulhu: Death May Die and classic dungeon foes in Massive Darkness 2, it was only a matter of time before I shuffled into the Zombicide universe. I’ve been a fan of zombie cinema since high school, so the apocalyptic vibe was right up my alley. For our first playthrough, I dragged in my husband Josh, my sister Sophia, and her fiancé Tom. Spoiler: it didn’t end well for one of us.


2E Mission Rules © CMON Global Limited

🎲 M1 Objectives
  1. Find supplies for the shelter. First, meet both these Objectives:
    1. Get an Objective token with each Survivor (see Special Rules). The game is lost if this Objective can no longer be met (if a single Survivor takes too many of them, for example).
    2. Get 3 food cards (Bag Of Rice, Canned Food, or Water), distributed in any way among Survivors.
  2. Then, reach the Exit with all Survivors. Any Survivor may escape through this Zone at the end of their Turn as long as there are no Zombies in it.

💥 1st Attempt
06/07/25
4 Players: Dan, Josh, Sophia, Tom


2E Character IDs © CMON Global Limited

I loved how quickly we were able to get the game set up—much more streamlined than some of CMON’s other titles. The Zombicide tiles are easy to arrange, and there are only a few decks of cards to manage. For our first session, we selected our Survivors from the 2nd Edition core box. Having played other CMON games is both helpful and a hindrance: the rules are similar enough to feel familiar, but that also makes it easy to confuse which rule belongs to which game.

We spent the first few turns getting used to the mechanics and overall flow. Everything was running smoothly—until it wasn’t. Just as we were about to collect all of the Objective Tokens, we learned the hard way why it’s important to stick together. Josh opened a door with his last action and was immediately swarmed by Zombies activating from the dark zones inside the building. He somehow managed to draw both a Walker Rush and an Extra Activation card, spelling certain doom for his Survivor, Amy. It happened so fast that we felt a bit deflated ending the game that way—but that’s how it goes sometimes.

Overall, we had a lot of fun, although I’m not a huge fan of the auto-loss condition when a single player dies. It doesn’t account for reckless players or noble sacrifice, and it doesn’t feel very thematic—most zombie films or shows don’t end the moment one character dies. Tom’s not a fan of losing, though, so we’ll be back at it soon enough to survive our first mission!


💥 2nd Attempt
06/13/25
3 Players: Dan, Sophia, Tom

For our second attempt, Josh wasn’t available, so Tom, Sophia, and I each piloted two Survivors. This time around, we selected a mix of Actors (Zombicide’s term for both Survivors and Zombies) from the Reboot Box and a few other sets. With the core gameplay now familiar, we jumped straight into the mission objectives.

Unfortunately for us, we ran into an Abomination early on. The Sewer Crocodile had its eyes set on Tom’s Survivor, Hudson. It moved fast—too fast—and Hudson had no choice but to flee his zone immediately or risk the entire mission ending in failure thanks to the killer croc’s speed.

One part of Zombicide I’m not particularly fond of is how vague some of the expanded content rules can be. The Sewer Crocodile’s ability, while it seems straightforward at a glance, left us debating exactly how it worked. Does it follow the standard rulebook activation steps per action, or does it ignore other Survivors entirely for both actions that it takes? A quick search confirmed we weren’t alone—multiple threads offered different interpretations. In the end, we stuck with the standard activation steps, treating the “ignores other Survivors” effect as only applying when determining its destination during a move action. As it turned out, that interpretation allowed us to use Preston’s Tough ability to trap the croc in his zone while negating the wound it would normally deal with each attack.

While Preston held off the Sewer Crocodile—Lizzie sticking nearby as backup—our other Survivors pressed on, collecting Objective Tokens and searching for Food cards. The intensity ramped up fast as we leveled, with zombie spawns becoming more aggressive. Things were heating up.

Once Hudson had gained enough distance from the Sewer Crocodile, Preston and Lizzie broke away and began foraging for their own objectives. We had to stay sharp, though—the zombies were starting to close in from all sides.

Things started to look bleak. With zombie hordes blocking the paths, there was no way to get Preston and Lizzie safely to the exit. But then—just in the nick of time—we found a Molotov. One well-placed throw incinerated the entire tile, clearing a path and giving our Survivors just enough breathing room to make it out. Mission complete.