Game Info
Year
2025
Players
1
Age
14+
Playtime
60 min
Complexity
2.5/5
Collection
Your Tier
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Description
A solo tactical wargame where players assemble a trench raiding party and plot their course across No Man's Land on the WW1 Western Front
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All mentions
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 7
This page: 7
Sentiment:
pos 7 ·
mix 0 ·
neu 0 ·
neg 0
Showing 1–7 of 7
Video CTe0QDWvhlc
Zilla Blitz Other at 21:37 sentiment: positive
video_pk 85640 · mention_pk 219998
Click to watch at 21:37 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
Positive
Pros
- Solitaire
- Campaign
- Strong narrative elements
- Events
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- World War I
- No Man's Land
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Campaign play — Features a campaign system.
- event cards — Incorporates random events that can alter gameplay.
- Solo Play — Designed to be played by a single player.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's checking off a lot of boxes for me and that it's solitire, individual man, campaign, strong narrative elements, events.
- I love to see new games, new companies popping up and see newcomers into the field. It only helps us have more creativity, more innovation, and more people pushing the edge of the design envelope.
- This is a new and interesting direction for them.
- This is a lot of fun. I think it's going to spin great narratives.
- My understanding of World War I combat of course listening to him went up through the roof.
- And this game focuses on the reconnaissance at Verdon as the part of the combat.
- Warfare traditionally was a situation especially as you go farther back in time where you didn't have anywhere close to full information and getting that information and what you did with that information and analyzing that information and making decisions on incomplete information was such a huge part of warfare that really hasn't been captured in a lot of our modern wargaming experience.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video Cq-uK4nvcq0
Zilla Blitz Rules Teach at 0:28 sentiment: positive
video_pk 84563 · mention_pk 214986
Click to watch at 0:28 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Automatic success for carrying wounded pilot back due to distance.
- Successful evasion of mustard gas by all soldiers.
- Found the ruined building relatively quickly.
- Good redundancy in equipment.
Cons
- Encountered barb wire right in front of the patrol.
- One soldier (Eric M) got lost during the 'Missing Man' event.
- The patrol encountered lingering mustard gas, requiring difficult speed checks.
- Two ruined buildings were found close to the trench lines, not useful for the mission objective.
Thematic elements
- Leading a 10-man patrol into no man's land on a mission
- 1915 British trenches during a dark and stormy night
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Campaign play — Mentioned as a way to customize soldier stats with a pool of numbers, suggesting replayability and progression.
- Character Stats — Each soldier has stats like speed, strength, courage, command, shoot, fight, throw, and luck, which are used in various checks.
- Dice Rolling — Used extensively for movement outcomes, event determination, combat checks (speed, strength), and determining individual soldier fates.
- Event system — Rolling dice each time a hex is entered triggers events such as 'Missing Man' or 'Lingering Gas'.
- Modular Board/Map Exploration — The game involves mapping out hexes in 'no man's land' to discover terrain and objectives like the ruined building.
- Random Mission Generation — The initial mission (rescuing a pilot) is determined by a die roll.
- Skills and Equipment — Soldiers can have specific skills (e.g., Marksman, Pugilist, Medic) and carry equipment (e.g., rifle, gas mask, grenades) that modify their abilities.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a dark and stormy night in 1915 and as we huddle in our soggy, wet British trenches, the orders have come down from high command for us to lead a 10-man patrol out into no man's land on an as yet unknown mission.
- Our mission. Rescue a wounded pilot who crashlanded in no man's land.
- We get a three. This is Oh, okay.
- We've got barb wire right in front of us, which is outstanding.
- Eric M, our bomber, has gotten himself lost, stumbling around in the night.
- The air here is filled with lingering gas.
- Everybody's successfully evaded the mustard gas.
- We have officially been successful in our mission.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video eY-ChoeshDQ
Zilla Blitz Review at 0:03 sentiment: positive
video_pk 84520 · mention_pk 214829
Click to watch at 0:03 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Oozes narrative and tells a marvelous story.
- Great variety of events and narrative generation.
- Has agency and control through equipment, soldier stats, and luck points.
- The record-keeping system with whiteboard markers is effective and not tedious.
- Easy to execute and not complex, fitting the 'beer and pretzels' category.
- Oozes flavor and has a good quality of writing.
Cons
- Wide and swingy range of events can be deadly.
- Players who prefer tests of skill or dislike losing might get frustrated.
- The included whiteboard marker is too blunt for writing small text.
- Can be punishing at times due to the dice gods.
Thematic elements
- Leading patrols into no man's land
- World War I
Comparison games
- The Hunters
- Silent Victory
- Western Front Ace
- British Tank Ace
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Campaign play — A five mission campaign game where you're trying to keep your soldiers alive and accomplish missions.
- Dice Rolling — Dice rolls are used for actions, and the game involves making multiple rolls for each patrol member, with the option to use luck points.
- Event system — A set of about 20 events that can happen in no man's land and another set for the enemy trenches, with variety and different consequences.
- Luck points — Luck points are essentially rerolls on actions, with three per soldier at the start of a mission, and ways to gain more during the campaign.
- Record Keeping — Uses laminated sheets and whiteboard markers to track injuries, statistics, and equipment, which was found to be efficient and not tedious.
- RPG Elements — An RPG element where you can designate statistics for your soldiers in the campaign game, allocating points to characteristics like speed and shooting.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This game oozes narrative.
- It just tells a marvelous story.
- The biggest picture, I think, is just what's going to happen to you.
- I felt like the rule book and the gameplay was really easy. I would put this in the beer and pretzels category.
- Overall picture, bottom line, thumbs up for me. I really like this one.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video d_wNkoT7bms
Zilla Blitz Discussion at 3:50 sentiment: positive
video_pk 84390 · mention_pk 214411
Click to watch at 3:50 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Really impressed with narrative variety
- Creates tension and story
- Offers decision-making
Cons
- Initially thought it might be too dice-heavy or repetitive
Thematic elements
- Squad patrols into no man's land
- World War I
Comparison games
- Hunters and Silent Victory
- Aces, Western Front, Ace
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dice Rolling — The host initially anticipated a lot of dice rolling but found the game offered more narrative and decision-making.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- This reminds me of Coin Light. And the game that comes to my mind is Root. And not that this is the same thing or a spin-off, but it's got a Root type feel.
- I've read through the rules looks very accessible and pretty easy to jump into.
- Production values on this one are really high.
- I really appreciate I think Fal has a nice touch on accessibility, depth of gameplay, quality of components, just really putting things together in a nice package that builds some very interesting things with good gameplay and a lot of accessibility.
- 42% tactical, 30% operational, 29% strategic.
- My favorite game of all time is Combat Commander, which is a tactical level game.
- I'm split between the different scales. Given the time I'd play them all, I love the idea of grand tactical, but don't have the space they generally acquire.
- Wow, it's taking a while here. Oh, we've got Arvin Runstein5707.
- New to these games. So, still learning, but strategic seems like my jam.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video yqXIU6pqoVk
Zilla Blitz Top List at 9:06 sentiment: positive
video_pk 83430 · mention_pk 210244
Click to watch at 9:06 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Provides an emotional rush
- Spins amazing narratives
- Highly enjoyable and surprising
- Creates vivid mental imagery of the action
- Fun and exciting gameplay
Cons
none
Thematic elements
- Leading a squad of soldiers on missions
- World War I trenches
- spins amazing narratives
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- campaign game — Features a campaign mode where skills can advance.
- narrative generation — Generates compelling narratives during gameplay.
- objective-based missions — Different objectives like rescuing a pilot or destroying enemy positions.
- Squad leadership — In charge of a squad of soldiers.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- My criteria for this particular list is enjoyment. The games that pulled me in and captured my attention, had some sort of an emotional rush, or just created great memories.
- Gettsburg, A Time for Heroes from Worthington Publishing, a fantastic Gettysburg game.
- Old School Tactical Volume 5. If by the way, if you are curious about this one, there are four volumes before this. They're all, I imagine, very good, but this has just been my experience with the system so far.
- Combat Commander is number three on the list, and it might be one of the games I'm most excited to continue playing in 2026.
- This game, I I think part of the reason why I liked it so high and why I put it so high is that it has opened up my eyes to the potential of the Cold War Modern Combat series and families of games, which to be fair, I haven't really explored yet.
- I could probably rank these games in almost any order and be happy with it. So, I wouldn't take the rankings of the games so seriously.
- Traces of Victory. Uh my top game for 2025 and just I can't say more about this game. You should check it out if you like operational World War II level combat games.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video AHYQut3tVQs
Review at 0:02 sentiment: positive
video_pk 78655 · mention_pk 191544
Click to watch at 0:02 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- The game is primarily solitaire.
- The campaign game allows for leveling up characters.
- There's a good variety of mission types.
- The player aids for events are fantastic and will speed up gameplay.
- The rule set appears clean and not overly complex.
- The components and art capture the theme of WWI trench warfare.
- High replayability due to varied events and missions.
Cons
- The heart of the game is solitaire, with no opposed play.
- There is an element of fate and luck that can influence outcomes.
Thematic elements
- Leading a 10-man team of raiders into no man's land and enemy trenches.
- World War I
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Campaign — The game features a campaign where players can level up characters with experience if they survive raids.
- Dice Rolling — Combat and most actions are dice-based, with success usually requiring a roll of fives or sixes.
- Hand Management — Players manage luck points to re-roll dice or avoid adverse events.
- Modular Board — The map is built with terrain hexes that are mapped as players explore.
- Player Progression — Individual soldiers have skills and stats that can be improved, and special skills can be acquired.
- Set Collection — Players can identify enemy units by bringing back insignia and uniform elements.
- Solo / Cooperative Play — The game is primarily a solitaire game but can be played two or three player cooperative. There is no opposed play.
- Variable player powers — Each soldier has unique stats and can have special skills.
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- So, here's Trench Trade spread out in front of us.
- And then these other two sets are very similar mostly.
- Uh, but that's a look at these and we can see each one.
- So, a lot of different variety of things that can happen here, which makes me think that the replayability and the depth and the sense of narrative that this game can generate sounds really enticing.
- So, uh solitary rating of course for this one would be a 10 out of 10.
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Video hUXDwfjMC2k
Zilla Blitz Discussion at 0:23 sentiment: positive
video_pk 38326 · mention_pk 115380
Click to watch at 0:23 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- solo play appeal
- campaign progression
- tactical focus
Cons
- limited details in transcript about specific rules
Thematic elements
- solitaire tactical patrol deployment
- World War I Western Front
- campaign with solo play and raid progression
Comparison games
- Point Blank
- Upfront
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- counter-based units — each Patrol consists of individual counters to represent soldiers
- solitaire play — solo-focused gameplay with campaign progression
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- this sounds like a lot of fun
- this is going to be marvelous
- I can't wait to get a group of people over to play the whole Mediterranean theater
- this looks really, really good
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Showing 1–7 of 7