Attack of the Mutant Moss from Outer Space!

Attack of the Mutant Moss
from Outer Space!

Inventor: Ian Hedberg, 2011

Ranks: (?)

Sowing: Single laps

Region: USA

Attack of the Mutant Moss from Outer Space! is a two-dimensional sowing game, which was created by Ian Hedberg (USA) in 2011. The growth of "moss" has a "leave-a-trail" mechanism akin to the sowing in mancala games. The zombie-themed game involves many unusual features. It was suggested to use some form of modular board to keep the game fresh for replays.

Story[]

"Oh no! An alien pod crashed in the middle of a cemetery, unleashing sinister space moss sealed within. Luckily, a gang of grave robbers happened to be on the scene. Can the grave robbers kill the moss’ vital splooge gland before the moss spreads outside the cemetery and terrorizes the city? Or will they be overcome by the fearsome zombies it creates?"

Ian Hedberg

Rules[]

The game is played with two teams. It’s best if each team has the same number of players. One team controls the moss and the zombies. Players may freely confer with teammates in public and in secret.

Components:[]

1 game board
50 green moss cubes
1 purple splooge gland token
10 grey zombie pawns
10 black open grave cubes
4 player pawns (different colors)
3 dice
1 red flamethrower cube
3 orange fuel tank cubes

Setup:[]

The moss team puts a splooge gland on the spaceship icon on the board. In turn order, each robber chooses a pawn and places it on one of the starred starting spaces. A robber puts the flamethrower cube on the flamethrower space and the fuel tanks on the fuel tank spaces. Turns alternate moss-robber-moss robber until each player has had one turn, then the cycle repeats. Note that a moss player must go first.

Moss player’s turn:[]

Grow the moss. The moss player takes 3 moss cubes (6 if it’s the first round of the game). If there are not enough cubes in the supply, the player can remove moss cubes from the board to get enough, if they wish.

Then the moss player places the first cube in a space adjacent to any moss cube on the board. Each cube after that must be placed adjacent to the last cube placed (that is, the second must be adjacent to the first, the third adjacent to the second, etc.)

If there is a moss cube on the open gateway space, the moss wins.

Produce zombies. If there are moss cubes on tombstone spaces, the moss player can make zombies. To make a zombie, they remove the moss counter from the tombstone, replace it with an empty grave marker, and put a zombie in an empty space adjacent to the tombstone. Note that you cannot put moss cubes on top of open grave markers and, thus, each grave can only produce one zombie per game.
Move zombies. The moss player can move each zombie up to 2 spaces. Zombies can move through and share spaces with moss. If a zombie moves next to a robber, it attacks the robber. The robber rolls 2 dice and picks the highest one, and the moss rolls one die. Compare the rolls. If the robber picked higher, the zombie’s attack failed. If the moss won, the robber is knocked out and skips their next two turns.
Move splooge. The moss player may exchange the splooge token with an adjacent moss cube.

Robber’s turn:[]

During their turn, each robber may:

Move their own token up to 4 spaces.
Attack adjacent moss. Up to 3 times during their turn, the robber can remove a moss cube adjacent to them.
Attack splooge. The robber can attack splooge just like moss cubes. If the moss has no more splooge glands, the moss team loses the game.
Kill zombies. To do this, at least 2 robbers must be adjacent to the same zombie. Follow the procedure under zombie attacks twice. Robbers aren’t stunned on a loss. If the robbers won both times, the zombie is removed from the board.
Pick up flamethrower or fuel tank. If a robber is adjacent to the flamethrower cube or a fuel tank cube they can pick up the cube and put it in front of them.
Use flamethrower. A robber with a flamethrower cube and one or more fuel tank cubes can lose a tank permanently to burn moss. They start by burning moss adjacent to them, then moss adjacent to that moss, then moss adjacent to that moss and so on until 10 moss cubes have been burnt. Splooge can’t be burnt.

If a robber ends their turn adjacent to moss, the moss’ toxic spores sicken them. A sickened robber can only move 3 spaces and can only attack 1 moss during their next turn.

Object of the game:[]

The moss team wins if a moss cube gets on the space where there’s a hole in the fence. The other team plays the grave robbers battling the moss. The robbers win if they destroy all of the moss’ splooge glands.

External Links[]

Description on Board Game Designers Forum