Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead comics.
This week Mantic Games shared news about their next release for The Walking Dead: All Out War. As rabid fans of the Walking Dead universe, we here at the Goonhammer compound wanted to share thoughts on this brand new release.
As they have mentioned previously, Mantic is trying to fill in the missing gaps on their already released ranges. This means we are seeing new survivors for the Hilltop (previously consisting of solely Maggie, Sophia and Jesus) and the Saviors (previously consisting of Negan’s lieutnants from the board game). We are also seeing the addition of a new ‘faction’ in the form of Magna’s Group which includes all members, even poor Bernie! Last, but not least, is a Jesus in Kingdom armour both on foot and on bike as the new event exclusive, taking the spot previously held by Chris, Ezekiel, and Lee and Clementine.
First Impressions
The miniatures look great; I am especially happy to see the studio paintjob being closer to how it used to be. When they revealed the Commonwealth I was a little disappointed at the studio paint jobs. The choice of factions to flesh out is also great as it was long overdue for the Hilltop and the Saviors to step into the same spot that Woodbury has held as being quite a numerous faction. Canonically the Hilltop and Sanctuary are two of the largest communities during the war and while I get that they never received as many minis due to the cancellation of the game, the revival of the game immediately called for that fact to be remedied. Magna’s group is also a somewhat iconic group of characters from the later parts of the comics and while a strenuous connection at best, it is very adorable of Mantic to give us the lesbian couple during Pride Month.
But after all the positive I noticed one thing that bothers me, especially with the old Savior models next to the new ones: They look very static and squat. Some of the new male miniatures (bar Marco, Earl and Gregory) look like walking barrels; I am unsure if that is an issue of angle, but especially Davis and Bernie just look so broad and wide. Combine that with some of the more passive poses and they look a little bit like Kinder Egg toys.
The New Factions
Now we’ll take a deeper look at the new factions, the choice of characters in them, and speculate a little.
Magna’s Group
Let us start with the newcomers of this line up, Magna’s group. They were a post time skip addition to the story, finding themselves in the middle of one of Alexandria’s Walker herding expeditions by accident. They are found by Jesus and after fighting off the horde are accepted into Alexandria. It is important to note that Bernie is eaten by the Walkers in this first encounter (he dies on page nine of Issue 127, his first appearance!). They start out suspicious of Alexandria, since it seems too good to be true, but quickly acclimate and join the militia during the war against the Whisperers after Luke is beheaded by Alpha; Connie loses her hand during the war from a Walker Bite. Later Magna and Yumiko accompany Eugene’s group to the Commonwealth where Yumiko outs their relationship to the group.
Knowing all this, Mantic seems to be drawing from Magna’s group across their entire time in the comics; we see an alive Bernie (it would have been fun to get a zombified version too) and Luke is alive too, despite Connie already having her hand amputated which happened after Luke’s death. Mantic mentioned these guys as a new faction, but I would be curious to see if they don’t turn out to be multi-faction. They could be both their own faction as well as Alexandria, since it is the last of the major settlements that needs some more bodies, which this group could handily provide. We have not gotten any rule teasers, so I can only speculate on what their rules will be:
Bernie, whose optimism endures in a world gone dark, offers hope and balance—until the world tests him. – I want to think he will most likely be a throwaway character like Liam from the old starter set; since we know precious little about him I think he makes the most sense as a cheap body with low stats. But if this description is anything to go off of, then he will most likely be a Low Nerves Support survivor.
Magna, the hardened leader, is fierce, pragmatic, and never backs down from a fight. – I would expect her to be a Tactician with some kind of buffing aura for either Nerves or distributing attack dice.
Yumiko, her sharp-witted second-in-command, brings precision, calm, and deadly aim to the battlefield. – Most definitely a Marksman with a Blue shoot die, maybe she will have some kind of ability when near Magna similar to the many blood tie abilities.
Connie, silent but observant, moves swiftly and supports her team with unmatched awareness. – I am not quite sure what to make of her; I would hazard a guess on either tactician or support, but she might also be a runner. However she will definitely only have her one hand for weapons.
Luke, the cultured scavenger, brings creativity and unpredictability to combat and strategy. – He definitely strikes me as the runner of the group with some kind of ability to get more from supply tokens; maybe some kind of ammo hustling ability to support the rest of the team?
Kelly, fiercely protective of the group, rounds out the team with a mix of strength, ferocity, and unshakable loyalty. – It may seem cliché, but I think Kelly will be the high HP Bruiser of the group with some kind of bodyguard ability or maybe a Nerves aura.
The Hilltop
Hilltop is the first new group Rick and company discover after settling in Alexandria. Described as having almost 200 inhabitants they also possess functional agriculture and a blacksmith for making their own melee weapons and tools. As Rick’s luck would have it, they had already been under Negan’s thumb and, in an attempt to make good of a bad situation, Rick and Alexandria make themselves the next target of the Saviors. During the All Out War, Hilltop would become the final battleground; in front of its gates Negan would be defeated by Rick, ending the wear decisively. After the time skip, Hilltop would get embroiled in the war with the Whisperers and be burned to the ground. In an attempt to mend the rift created between the Kingdom and the rest of the communities after Ezekiel’s death, their new leader, William, leads them to help rebuild the Hilltop.
When All Out War was discontinued in 2022, the last wave of models introduced the first survivors for Hilltop: Maggie, Sophia and Jesus. But given it was the last Wave, this left what was arguably one of the biggest communities with the least amount of survivors. Not only that, but Hilltop has some very iconic characters like Gregory, Earl and especially Dante after the time skip. I am, however, a bit surprised that we are not getting a minion pack; given their large numbers, it would have felt only natural to include some minions with maybe spears and shield. Saying that, I also find it odd that there are no spears or shields in sight; while it makes perfect sense for most of the characters, I cannot help but feel like they could have done Eduardo instead of Marco for this pack. As for rules, I have some fun theories:
Gregory, the self-serving leader, may lack a spine but knows how to manipulate the battlefield. – I swear, I will riot if Gregory does not come with a dual faction for both Hilltop AND Saviors. Besides that, I am fairly sure he will be a tactician with a leader ability and the character ability to use his leader ability if far enough away from the leader, similar to Lilly from Woodbury. However, he will most likely come with low nerves and some ability to increase it when near an ally.
Dante, the loyal guard, brings strength and speed to the front lines. – Dante will most likely be a Bruiser with a blue dice on melee and some kind of bodyguard ability when in Maggy’s Killzone.
Earl, the blacksmith, proves that wisdom and resilience are as powerful as brute force. – I would guess Earl will be a Bruiser as well with some kind of repair ability; maybe some kind of bonus on certain checks like Smash! and such, but he could also just have a bonus dice mechanic as mentioned with Magna above.
Brianna, a skilled fighter with a protective streak, supports with tactical prowess. – Given her role with regards to Maggie in the comics, I would guess she will be a support character with some kind of ability related to Maggie. Alternatively they could make her a tactician. I would be curious if they ever plan to add her son Jonny to the roster, in which case she would have to have some kind of Blood Ties ability.
Harlan, the calm and capable doctor, keeps your team on their feet under pressure. – Harlan is very obviously going to be a support with some kind of healing ability, be that increasing the HP healed from Bandages or something to reuse Bandages.
Marco, a brave young defender, rounds out the team with balanced combat skills and morale. – What it says on the tin, probably white dice across the board with Medium Morale and five HP.
The Saviors Part Two
The Saviors need no introduction; they were the primary antagonists of All Out War (the comic arc, not this game) and would go on to have a shaky, sometimes treacherous relationship with the remaining communities. After Sherry’s failed coup, John becomes their leader and we can assume they successfully integrated with the rest of the communities.
We already got our first Wave of Saviors back when Here’s Negan! came out(I can absolutely recommend it, great game). That Wave included Negan and his Lieutenants; Dwight, Tara, Laura, John and Sherry. The new set features a handful of lesser Saviors characters, all of which serve to fill out the roster and allow the Saviors to feel less like a small group of badasses and instead a large group of mediocre to capable goons that win by sheer numbers, rather than pure skill.
Dwight blazes across the board with speed and deadly precision, striking fast before the enemy can react. – Our second Dwight miniature, and on a bike no less. Unless I forgot about it, we have not had bikes yet in the game; only horses and ATVs. That said, I assume that, similar to those, the bike will be fast but loud, maybe able to run over Walkers and Survivors.
Martin, cold and calculating, an expert scavenger. – Given his description I would have pegged him as a runner, but then you look at his appearance and now I think Bruiser most likely.
Seth is a brutal enforcer whose sheer presence can shift the tide of battle. – Seth could possibly be like Derek and have some kind of executioner ability to increase the Nerves of everyone in his Killzone; maybe instead of a friendly survivor it triggers upon killing an enemy.
Carson may not share the Saviors’ cruel streak, but his medical skill keeps their brutal warriors alive to fight another day. – Similar to his brother Harlan, he will most likely be a Support with healing related abilities.
Davis, a loyal soldier, offers balanced support and firepower where it’s needed most. – I would imagine Davis will be the Marksman of the group with some kind of ability to either buff his own shots or potentially call out targets for his allies.
Mark, scarred but unbroken, fights with vengeance and unwavering loyalty to the cause. – Most likely a High Nerve survivor with some kind of buff drawn from being close to other survivors in his group.
A New Event Exclusive
Alongside all of these new survivors, we get our fifth event exclusive for All Out War; Jesus on foot and on bike in his kingdom uniform, clearly inspired by his get-up post time skip. While an overall great set of models, his on foot sculpts if truly fantastic. It perfectly encapsulates Jesus’s hand to hand combat skill that more often than not border on the flashy and silly.
Final Thoughts
I am generally very happy about this new wave. When they rereleased the game alongside the new Commonwealth, I had reservations about how committed Mantic would be to keeping this game healthy and alive. Not only did I come at this from the perspective of a fan of the game, but also as someone who works in a LFGS. Seeing this new wave of miniatures, my fears have been somewhat put to rest. I am overall very happy to see them flesh out the remaining factions like that and especially at such a scale. But this reveal has left me wanting for something I personally find very important for this game: a proper starter set. The old run of All Out War had the fantastic littler starter set for somewhere around 50 bucks or so, I really really want something like that for the game again.
There is also the matter of the small price increase coming in all the new sets, they will all be the same price as the Commonwealth, but come with two survivors less each. I think we all have enough of whining about prices, so I will spare you that, but I thought it prudent to point out the price increase.
Regardless of my gripes with this release, I am personally very excited to see the new rules for all these survivors and field them on the table again. Some of these guys I have been anticipating since the game’s return like Gregory, Connie and Earl. I want to thank you for taking the time to read all of my opinions and speculations for this newest release. Are you excited for the new wave of survivors? Any one of them in particular? Let us know!
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