“Outbreak!”
“Pandemic: Legacy” is a co-op, multiplayer game, based on the original “Pandemic” board game. It is an overarching story, played out over 12-24 months; the story time taken to play depends on how well you (the players) play: each month is divided into 2, with each ‘game’ being a half of a month. If you win, you move to the next month; if you lose, you play the 2nd half of the month.
“Pandemic: Legacy” uses the basic rule set of the base “Pandemic” game:
The board is set up into 6 ‘zones’, representing roughly each continent (minus Antarctica), with ‘flight paths/drive paths’ between some of the major cities in each zone.
There are 4 different disease types, represented by colored cubes:
There are 5 different characters that you can start the game with. Each character has a different special ability to start with, with the possibility of adding more, as the game goes along:
Basic Game Play:
Per turn, you can take 4 actions, consisting of any combinatoric of:
1) Movement, via:
- Direct Flight: holding the Player Card for that city, discarding it after you fly
- Ferry/Car: moving between interconnected cities
- Shuttle: moving directly from a city with a Research Center to another city with a Research Center
- Charter: holding the Player Card of the city you want to go to, discarding the card
2) Treat a disease: removing one disease cube from the city (removing all, if you are the Medic)
3) Passing a Player Card to another player, if you are both in the city of the Card being traded
4) Cure a disease: discarding 5 cards (4, if you are the Scientist) of the same color, at a Research Station
One you have taken 5 actions, you draw 2 of these Player Cards – these cards are city cards or Special Event Cards (like the “Airlift” card pictured):
If you draw the Epidemic Card, you must immediately discard the card, advance the infection rate marker, draw the bottom card of the infection deck and place three cubes in that city, and then shuffle the infection discard pile and place those cards on top of the infection deck (according to the Official Rules).
If a city that has 3 cubes on it gets a 4th cube, that causes an “Outbreak”: one cube of the same color is placed on every city directly connected to the source of the Outbreak. This can cause, and has (ugh!) caused, mass chaos, if cities start “daisy-chaining” diseases.
After Epidemics and Outbreaks are resolved, you draw Infection Cards, equal to the current infection rate (marked on the board) and place one disease cube on each city; this can also lead to Outbreaks. Your turn is then over.
“Pandemic: Legacy” adds additional rules to the base game, 25 of which are initially not in the rule book and are hidden.
Our Game Night group has played through the first part of February, after losing January Part 1, winning January Part 2, and somehow winning February Part 1. To hear a little more about our game play, plus a review on other games, check out:
For game rules, here’s a link to them.
I love this “Legacy” expansion so far, even though it was very taxing, mentally. I would recommend playing 2-3 “games” max at a time, unless you have a few hours to play more… and some stored patience.
The Nexus 