u/formicini

Context: Due to cost I can only order either one, with Lockdown just a tiny bit more expensive (~$20 more). I'll mainly play semi-co-op 2 player (we already have many co-op games and want to try something different), but will try to rope more people into playing. I have played both games twice and have some opinions of my own, but want to hear from people with more experience.

Based on prior posts on forums and social media, I see most people prefer the original over Lockdown but because of some reasons that might not be applicable specifically to me:

• The "Alien" movie experience. I love the movie but it was a long time ago when I saw it and it doesn't hold a special place in my heart or anything, it's just a very good movie in my collection of very good movies.
• Complexity. We are quite familiar with Ameritrash in general so memorizing rules comes a lot easier. After 1 game of Nemesis I have remembered most rules, and in the 2nd game I mostly look up at the FAQ and ruling compilations more than the rulebook. We have 1 game of Lockdown and besides forgetting the Main Gate open condition I don't think we have made any mistake, but still not able to remember all rules surrounding the escape means during the 2nd game.
• Better miniatures. I don't really pay much attentions to miniatures during play mainly because painting them will be too costly and without colors they are mostly blobs of gray at a distance for my untrained eyes.

I'm mainly interested in atmosphere, tactical decisions, and whether the direction of gameplay would nudge players to co-op or non-co-op (preferrable to non-co-op because I have meaty co-op games already). These I feel like can only be determined after a player has played both games many times that they no longer have to stop the game to check for rules and have started recognizing good basic strategies for the games.

Experienced players, what's your take on both games? Which one is better in the long run? Which one plays better at low and high player count?

Context: Due to cost I can only order either one, with Lockdown just a tiny bit more expensive (~$20 more). I'll mainly play semi-co-op 2 player (we already have many co-op games and want to try something different), but will try to rope more people into playing. I have played both games twice and have some opinions of my own, but want to hear from people with more experience.

Based on prior posts on forums and social media, I see most people prefer the original over Lockdown but because of some reasons that might not be applicable specifically to me:

• The "Alien" movie experience. I love the movie but it was a long time ago when I saw it and it doesn't hold a special place in my heart or anything, it's just a very good movie in my collection of very good movies.
• Complexity. We are quite familiar with Ameritrash in general so memorizing rules comes a lot easier. After 1 game of Nemesis I have remembered most rules, and in the 2nd game I mostly look up at the FAQ and ruling compilations more than the rulebook. We have 1 game of Lockdown and besides forgetting the Main Gate open condition I don't think we have made any mistake, but still not able to remember all rules surrounding the escape means during the 2nd game.
• Better miniatures. I don't really pay much attentions to miniatures during play mainly because painting them will be too costly and without colors they are mostly blobs of gray at a distance for my untrained eyes.

I'm mainly interested in atmosphere, tactical decisions, and whether the direction of gameplay would nudge players to co-op or non-co-op (preferrable to non-co-op because I have meaty co-op games already). These I feel like can only be determined after a player has played both games many times that they no longer have to stop the game to check for rules and have started recognizing good basic strategies for the games.

Experienced players, what's your take on both games? Which one is better in the long run? Which one plays better at low and high player count?

I got tired of putting the correct zombies in the correct insert spaces and so intend to use some cardboard lying around to make an organizer where each zombie will stay in its own tiny hole. I usually bring the game box to another place to play and so it has to be flipped vertically to fit inside my backpack, so it might be flipped a few times per month.

Should I purchase foam core (not cheap around here) to make padding for my new box, or are the zombies sturdy enough to be moved about against cardboard?