Dead of Winter: The Long Night

2016 · Zombies

Dead of Winter: The Long Night

A small colony struggles to survive in a frozen wasteland threatened by the undead, hostile raiders, and a secretive pharmaceutical facility. Players manage survivors, gather resources, and defend the colony while making difficult choices about exploration and containment. Teams can send survivors to scavenge for supplies, investigate the hazardous Raxxon complex for powerful items and dangerous enemies, or invest in colony upgrades and defenses. The game includes new survivors, scenarios, and threats and can be combined with components from the base game to increase variety.

Players
2–5 best 4
Playing time
60–120 min
Age
14+
Complexity
3.3 / 5
7.6 on Ludoyafrom $83.24Science FictionBluffingCooperative GameTraitor GameNarrative Choice / Paragraph

On Ludoya's tables

Full stats in Ludoya
161
Plays logged
192
Players
1h 51m
Average play
100
In collections
9
On wishlists

7.6/10

from 50 Ludoya reviews

  • Garfield8.0

    #54 This game heavily depends on your group. We had a betrayer that was doing absolutely nothing to sabotage us. That was kind of boring. And I had the personal goal to have exactly 4 survivors. Which are the rarest card at every location. This is a very difficult goal compared to others. But it's a very thematic game and I like the semi-coop part. But I don't like to discuss every action for 5min. [c] Theme: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Gameplay: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]A lot of decisions you can make --> Interaction: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]Sometimes even too much... --> Artwork: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Good --> Luck: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Card drawing luck, dice rolling --> Strategy: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]It's a coop --> Components: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]I'm a little bit disappointed. Just cardboard figures --> Play duration: ★★★★☆ <!-- size 7]Very good --> Easy to teach: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]A lot to explain --> Setup time: ★★★☆☆ <!-- size 7]Depends on the scenario, but normally it's quite fast --> No downtime: ★★☆☆☆ <!-- size 7]Sometimes too much with 5 players, especially if someone in your team wants to discuss everything --> Replay value: ★★★★★ <!-- size 7]Different roles, goals, scenarios etc. , great! --> [/c]

  • Dave Babler8.0

    This game still ranks as one of the best thematic/mechanic synergies I've ever played.

  • Dmitry Elin8.0

    Органайзер.

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Rules questions

Answered from the rulebook by Ludoya's rules assistant.

Do action dice belong to individual survivors or to the player?

Action dice belong to the player, not to a specific survivor: you receive 1 action die plus 1 per survivor you control but keep and spend them from your personal unused/used die pool (so you can spend multiple dice on one survivor or split them among survivors). (Rulebook p.8)

When I add cards to a crisis, do cards that don’t match the prevent symbols still count?

Yes — when resolving a crisis each revealed card with a matching symbol is worth +1, and each card without a matching symbol subtracts 1 from the total; if the final total is less than the number of non-exiled players the crisis happens. (Rulebook p.12)

When exactly do I roll the exposure die?

You roll the exposure die immediately after a survivor moves to a new location and immediately after a survivor kills a zombie. (Rulebook p.11; example on p.9)

If a survivor is bitten, how does the bite spread work?

A bitten result kills that survivor and the bite then spreads to the survivor with the lowest influence at that location; that player may either kill that survivor immediately or roll the exposure die (blank stops the spread, any other result kills and the spread continues). (Rulebook p.11)

How are zombies added to the colony and what happens if an entrance is full?

Zombies are added one at a time in order to entrance 1, 2, 3, etc., wrapping back to entrance 1 as needed; if the entrance to receive a zombie has a barricade, destroy the barricade and remove the zombie instead, and if there are no empty spaces or barricades the entrance is overrun and you kill the survivor at the colony with the lowest influence. (Rulebook p.13)

If a player is exiled, can they still vote or add cards to crises?

No — an exiled player cannot vote and cannot add cards to the crisis; they also cannot spend food to boost dice, and several other limitations apply (they draw an exiled secret objective and move their colony survivors to non-colony locations). (Rulebook p.11, p.14)

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

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