A few weeks ago, I entered a competition held by Mantic Games. It was simple really, just visit their website, create an account, and add up to £300 worth of goodies to your wish list. This I did, adding the appropriate amount, give or take a few pounds, of ‘The Walking Dead – All Out War’ paraphernalia. I did so without any thought of actually winning – I can’t remember ever winning anything worth more than a tenner on anything other than the Lotto – and maybe I could have been a bit more imaginative with my list.
Imagine then, my great surprise and delight when on Monday morning I received an e-mail from Mantic congratulating me on my win, everything on my wish list! What? Me? There must be some mistake; is this a scam or a hoax?
Anyway, I confirmed my address and phone number and the very next day a rather large parcel turned up covered in Mantic’s very own, personalised parcel tape! Needless to say, it didn’t take me long to rip in.
Here’s the contents of my wish list…
The Walking Dead All Out War: Days Gone Bye Atlanta expansion – Adds Dale, Allen, Donna, and Jim to the game, recreating the early exploits of the Atlanta group.
The Walking Dead All Out War: Prelude to Woodbury expansion – A solo adventure featuring ‘The Governor.’ It covers the period before he became the boss of Woodbury and includes solo event cards that can be used with the core game and other expansions.
The Walking Dead All Out War: Made to Suffer Woodbury expansion – Contains a series of scenarios covering Rick’s run in with ‘The Governor.’
The Walking Dead Call to Arms: The Saviors Faction Pack – Brings Negan and a few of his buddies to the table. Though being labelled up as a Call to Arms Faction Pack, this contains the Survivor cards required to add them to the All Out War game.
The Walking Dead All Out War: Anthology – A 176-page book packed full of all the updated rules found across the whole game. It also has new scenarios and features campaign modes, including co-op and solo play.
The Walking Dead All Out War: Scenery Booster – Replaces all the cardboard scenery from the core set with 3D plastic: cars, barricades, and supply counters.
Red Brick Terrain Ruined City – Coming in at a whopping £100, this modular terrain enables you to fill a battlefield 4’x4′ with dense, modern terrain, including ruined buildings, signs, bins, fences, and much more.
So, as you can see, I should have plenty of content for The Walking Dead to get some pretty comprehensive games in, but also the terrain is close enough in scale to use with Marvel: Crisis Protocol. The cars are the same wheelbase, though not as wide or ‘chunky’ as those included in Marvel, but everything else looks right at first glance.
The Ruined City should also provide a backdrop for something I’m getting for Christmas, so I’m well chuffed with that.
Okay, I’ve got a lot more added to my painting list, but at least all the figures are pre-assembled and I’m more than happy to ‘play grey’ until I start on them. But before that, I’m going to bang some quick unboxing posts of them all, it’s the least I can do to show my appreciation to Mantic for hosting such a great competition.
What else can I say? A great and wonderful early Christmas present, thank you very much Mantic Games!
And, to everyone out there reading this, ‘Have a great Festive Period, stay safe, and be lucky.’
Merry Christmas!
The Solo Meeple 
Crikey, that’s brilliant, Justin! 🙂 Well done you! Plenty to look through there for Christmas. Hope you have a good one!
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Yeah, it is, thanks John.
I’m just glad the miniatures don’t all need assembling and we should be able to get some games in over the festive period😀
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Holy crap, well done on winning and what a load of great prizes! And happy Christmas to you!
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Thanks Matt, I’m chuffed to bits😁
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Wow, that’s some haul!
I may not be able to say “well earned” in this case but I can certainly say Well Deserved!
Hope you have a wonderful, city building Christmas and New Years!
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Thank you Azazel.
Definitely not well earned, you’re right there!
Have a great Festive period yourself – loving all the Flames of War posts you’ve been trotting out, keep ’em coming😎
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Congratulations Justin, such a great surprise just before Christmas, Hope you and the family have a great and safe Christmas.
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Thanks Dave.
It certainly was a surprise. You never expect to win these things, and to think, I almost deleted the e-mail as a scam!😧
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Man, I got an email about this contest and I thought, “Who ever wins that will be very lucky indeed but I know it won’t be me.” Little did I know that it would be someone I know! You lucky dog! 😀 Those TWD minis should be fun to paint and using terrain in MCP is very smart. TWD doesn’t have destroyed/worn down buildings like I tend to favor in Fallout and that is smart of you to use it to your advantage. Truthfully, while I gave TWD a very brief shot several years ago, I’ve certainly thought about going back to it and giving it another try because I’d love to have a Zombie themed wargame to play from time to time. Maybe you’ll tempt me further as you paint up and play TWD in the coming months. I’ll be curious to hear what all is in the Anthology as that sounds pretty intriguing!
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Lol, that’s the same approach I usually take, thinking it always happens to someone else. The only reason I entered was because I was going on their site anyway to take a look at TWD expansions, lucky I did!
It’s one of those games that where the starter set gives you a feel for the game but you really need more to make it shine – I have high hopes.
All the scenery should come in handy, but I’m not looking forward to all that painting😶🌫️
I’m just starting to write up the unboxing now; I’ll keep the Anthology until last, just to build up the excitement for you😁
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I may have looked over TWD releases myself today thanks to your bad influence 😀 I agree that you need some of the expansions for the game to get interesting. Its cheap to buy the starter box but that doesn’t give you a lot to work with and neither does Prelude to Woodbury unfortunately. One thing I will say is that when I see the Walking Dead cards, the simplicity of the game draws me in again. It looks fun and simple to play which is appealing. Ahh… This is all very tempting, mate! 🙂
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Yes, definitely light in the core boxes, but you can pick the expansions up at a reasonable price. The minis are quite well done too, and no assembly 😃
It does seem complex when you first go through the rules, and indeed, it does have a fair amount of them, but it flows nicely, at least in the few run throughs we’ve had so far. I’m keen to play more…
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I like the size of the boosters too. You can paint up 3-4 minis and have them done which is really nice. You are tempting me to join you on this zombie adventure. I’ll be curious to see how your next game goes. Hopefully you’ll be painting some minis to tempt me even further too? 🙂
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That’s a good point, they’re just a nice size to turn around quickly, and yes, I will be painting them. When, though, is a different matter🙄
I’m working through some unboxing posts at the mo, but hope to get a few games in soon🙂
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I was out of town when the news came out (and hence my slow response to this as well) but you better buy as much TWD as you can get because its going out of print soon 😦 I won’t be taking the plunge on the game as a result sadly. I’m still looking forward to experiencing it vicariously through you however 🙂
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Yeah, I was just writing about this in my next post, typical eh!
Still, I’ve got plenty to play with here and it’s not like it’s my only game😉
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You’re in good shape for sure. There’s little reason to start but if you’ve already got some, there’s plenty of reason to keep going or buy what you can afford while its still available I say. Now I wonder if Mantic didn’t pick your name “randomly” because of what you wishlisted! They wanted to offload some TWD stuff early I think 😉
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That very thought did indeed cross my mind🤔
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That must mean you’re a bit cynical like me 😀
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😉
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Fantastic, what a great Xmas bonus! I never go in for competitions because, well, I’m sure I’ll never win…
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Lol, that’s been my thinking, but now I find myself entering everything I come across!
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that is way cool; a nice way to win something worth a bit over a tenner!
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Thanks Dave, the timing couldn’t have been better, what a great X-mas pressie!
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