All Things Zombie (or ATZ) is a new rulebook, produced by Two Hour Wargames, based on their "Chain Reaction 2" game mechanics.
The game itself takes it's queues from such films as "Dawn of the Dead", "28 Days Later" and "Resident Evil", being based in a world where the majority of the population has succumbed to some form of plague which has turned them into flesh eating zombies.

It seems to me that games involving zombies are a little bit of a niche genre, so I find it strange that 2HW should produce a dedicated set of rules for this genre - especially when zombies are already covered in "Chain Reaction 2".

However, these rules show how versatile the CR2 system is, by taking the heart of the system and then surrounding it with a set of campaign rules.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Two Hour Wargames family of rules, they all have a basic structure:
The rules are designed to be cinematic in feel. Characters are split into two types: "Stars" which represent players, and "Grunts" which represent everyone else.
Stars and Grunts usually have a single stat: Reputation (or Rep). Rep can be best described as experience, and controls the character's skill in combat, morale and reactions.
The Heart of the THW system are the "Reaction Tests". These are tests that are taken at various times in the game and control how characters react. These situations include sighting the enemy, being fired upon, being charged etc. Reaction Tests control how characters react - the results of a Reaction Test is dependent upon the Rep of the character. However, it does mean that troops do not always react how a player wants them to.
The only exception to this are "Stars" (The model representing the player), who can react in how the player wishes, given the choices in the reaction test.
The rest of the game mechanics are built around Reputation and Reaction Tests.

ATZ consists of a 52 page rulebook which is broken down into several sections.

• The first section of 26 pages covers all the basic rules for the game: set-up, movement, combat, use of vehicles and buildings and reaction checks.
• The second section of 13 pages details the campaign system, including setting up encounters, scenario selection and special rules for zombies.
• The third section of 7 pages details some advanced rules including performing tasks not covered elsewhere in the rules and character advancement. There is then a detailed example of a an encounter to give an example of how the game works in practice.
• The final section is a 6 page Quick refernce section for use during play.

The rules are instantly recognisable as belonging to the Two Hour Wargames family by their layout. However, whereas in the past THW rules layout has tended to be somewhere between confusing and downright annoying, the layout of ATZ is clear, well thought out and excellently cross referenced with a good index. Each section is summarised by a box entitled "The Least You Need To Know", and as a nice touch, there are new boxes: "Ed Sez", which pass on tips throughout the book particularly pertinent to fighting zombies.

There are changes and additions to the rules from Chain Reaction. Probably the biggest is Attributes - these are special skills that give either benefits or disadvantages during the game. initially, only "Stars" are allowed Attributes, but as the game progresses, "Grunts" (non-player characters) my gain attributes as they rise in reputation.

Attributes include such things as being Ambidextrous, a Crack Shot or Having Nerves of Steel. Alternatively they also include being Clumsy, a Drunkard or even a Wuss!

The second change is the generation of random characters. This is easier to do for a game like ATZ, where there is essentially a single type of character - survivors of the zombie plague.
Characters are randomly generated by using a table in the rulebook, in conjunction with a d6 and a pack of playing cards. The tables help identify a character in three different ways: Reputation, Armament and Attribute. This gives a large number of variations of characters to play with a minimum amount of effort. An excellent idea.

The final major change from CR2 is the campaign environment. There are some new rules for players reaction to zombies (some players may even be driven mad by their exposure to the undead), a new set of tables for generating scenery for scenarios and rules for meeting zombies and other survivors during play (You can kill zombies with guns, but gunfire can also attract more zombies, so what do you do?). These additions are simple, certainly add to the whole atmosphere and playability of the game.

All together, All Things Zombie is a worthy addition to the THW stable of rules. For those who like THW rules for their solo play potential, ATZ is almost the best solo experience yet (However, see my Nuts! review for further comments) - indeed, the way the rules are set out it almost screams out for solo play.

It's not entirely good news. I think that THW have missed a trick with their campaign system, since the game is supposed to start 2 years after the initial outbreak of Zombie plague.
One of the most interesting times I find is the start of a zombie plague outbreak. Government troops attempting to contain the outbreak, civil panic etc. Certainly, there is nothing to stop you doing this sort of thing, but it would have been nice to see it included in the campaign system. Think of the Resident Evil films as an example fo what I mean.

ATZ is well written, produced and makes for a good game. It's nice to see that the production values of THW are improving, and this is one of the nicest rulebooks yet. If you are seriously into Zombie games then these rules are a must.
However, if you already own Chain Reaction 2. then you can get by using those rules for Zombie games. The rules for using Attributes in CR2 have now been published on the THW Yahoo! group as a PDF download, so it's not an essential purchase - more of a nice to have...

Ultimately, I remain unconvinced about ATZ's long term appeal. It's a ruleset that will probably be something like HLBS's Saurian Safari...great to play every once in a while, but very much a pick-up then put-down affair.
That in itself is not a reason not to buy these rules. After all, they are designed to give quick, fun games. As always, given that criteria, THW delivers the goods...

As an additional note, THW have now produced a very nice range of 15mm figures as a starter set for this game - check out their website for more details.

The rules are available, either in PDF format or as a hardcopy, from Two Hour Wargames. As a huge bonus, there is a massive online community on Yahoo, which provides excellent support and a contant stream of ideas - almost a reason for owning a set of the rules on it's own!