Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

2014 · Zombies

Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

Players lead small factions of survivors trying to keep a weakened colony alive through a harsh winter in a zombie apocalypse. The game mixes group objectives and secret personal goals: the colony must gather supplies, resolve crises, defend against external threats, and maintain morale while each player pursues hidden motivations that may help, hinder, or even betray the group. Play is meta‑cooperative and story‑driven, with frequent difficult decisions that trade communal welfare against individual needs; an optional fully cooperative variant removes secret objectives for a purely shared goal.

Players
2–5 best 4
Playing time
60–120 min
Age
13+
Complexity
3 / 5
6.6 on Ludoyafrom $63.99Science FictionBluffingTraitor GameNarrative Choice / ParagraphArea Movement

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya
565
Plays logged
612
Players
1h 44m
Average play
201
In collections
20
On wishlists

6.6/10

from 124 Ludoya reviews

  • Fun6.0
  • Interaction6.0
  • Replayability6.0
  • Uniqueness6.0
  • Looks6.0
  • Accessibility10.0
  • Daniel7.0

    4

  • AmberKnight8.0

    Great game with right balance between cooperation, competition, and suspicion. Works better when all players are engaged in the story.

  • Mestremuten6.0

    Rating: 3/5 Production value: 3/4 Is the game in my collection/Love to have?: 0/1

Read the reviews and rate it

Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

If I complete my secret objective but the colony fails or loses morale, do I still win?

Yes — when the game ends any player who has completed their secret objective wins even if the colony failed; only players who have completed their secret objectives at game end are winners (pages 2, 14).

When and who draws or reads Crossroads cards — do they trigger during actions or only at the start of a turn?

At the beginning of each player’s turn the player to their right draws a crossroads card and keeps it secret; if the active player meets the card’s trigger at any time during their turn the drawer reads the card aloud and the active player must choose an option (page 12).

How many zombies get added to the colony each round and where do you place them?

During the colony phase add 1 zombie to the colony for every 2 survivors there (rounded up) and place zombies one at a time into entrance spaces in order (entrance 1, then 2, etc.), with overruns killing the lowest-influence survivor at the colony if no spaces or barricades remain (pages 12–13).

How does spending food to boost action dice work — and can an exiled player spend food this way?

A player may spend one or more food tokens from the food supply to increase any one unused action die by +1 per food token spent (page 11); an exiled player, however, cannot spend food tokens to increase action die results (page 14).

How does exile voting work and what happens to an exiled player (including ties)?

A player may once per turn initiate a vote to exile another player; all players simultaneously cast thumbs-up or down, ties are broken by the first player, and if a player is exiled they draw an exiled secret objective and gain several restrictions (cannot add to crisis, cannot spend food tokens to boost dice, cannot vote, etc.) (pages 11, 14, 15).

Opens Ludoya's rules assistant, which reads this game's rulebook.

Game facts (players, playing time, age, credits) from BoardGameGeek.