Dead of Winter’s next expansion turns the co-op hit into a team war for survival

Dead of Winter is proof that there’s still life to be found in the otherwise rotting zombie genre, and a newly-revealed expansion for Jon Gilmour and Isaac Vega’s dice-rolling masterpiece looks set to zap another spark into the undead.

Unlike previous expansion The Long Night, Dead of Winter: Warring Colonies isn’t a standalone spin-off, meaning you’ll need the original box to play with the 100-plus survivors, crossroads, item and crisis cards included in the set – plus a copy of The Long Night to make use of the two new game modes included. And you’ll make to make use of them.

The first is the titular Warring Colonies variant, which pits two teams of humans against each other.

Each side has unique objectives and must battle for control of locations, using a new fighting system that involves tactics cards, bullet tokens and a 12-sided dice, but will also be forced to team up with their rivals every round through the presence of joint-colony crisis cards.

The colonies take turns at the same time, with a sand timer included in the box to encourage timely play.

The second original module, which can be used alongside the colonies mode, introduces a lone wolf player who acts as a team on their own, with their own individual den and the ability to complete missions to impact both sides of the conflict while also pursuing personal quests.

To account for the team-based mode, Warring Colonies expands Dead of Winter’s player count up to 11, but also raises the minimum group size to four.

There’s no information yet on when Warring Colonies will be out, but we’d put money on it being sometime this year. (Please!)