When comparing Zombicide vs Agricola, the Slant community recommends Agricola for most people. In the question“What are the best board games?” Agricola is ranked 24th while Zombicide is ranked 25th. The most important reason people chose Agricola is:
The basic premise in Agricola is simple: players take one of their two starting people and, in turn order, use it to select an action. Once an action is selected, it can not be chosen by other players. After everyone has placed their first worker players place their second, again in turn order, followed by 3rd, 4th, and 5th, if applicable. However, the difficulty in Agricola comes from the relatively limited number of action slots available and the sheer number of things players are trying to accomplish over the 14 rounds of the game.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Lots of expansions
There are additional sets available ranging from new survivor cards to different enemy miniatures, more game tiles, etc.
There is also a medieval version - Black Plague - which offers an alternate settings and slight rule/weapon changes.
Pro Replayability
Prison Outbreak, Toxic City Mall, and Angry Neighbors are all expansion packs you can add to the base game. Extras such as Dog Companions, Zombie Dogz, and VIP (very infected people) add new figures, figures, and equipment. There is also a new version: Black Plague which takes place in a medieval setting (expansion coming in June)
Pro Quality components
The game comes with a bunch of miniatures, all molded out of plastic and have nice detailing as well as individual looks. The cardboard game cards, etc also have a solid think feel to them as well as colorful and illustrative art printed on them with the cards even being double sided. The amount of pieces and the quality of there craftsmanship definitely give a feeling of robustness that earns the game its high price ($89 retail).
Pro Co-op play
Teamwork is essential to completing your objectives - some players will level up towards ranged combat, while others move about quickly. Not all players will be able to open the required doors, and you level up individually but don't let one player level up much faster than the others - zombies seem to thrive off success.
Pro Easy to explain, but very difficult to master
The basic premise in Agricola is simple: players take one of their two starting people and, in turn order, use it to select an action. Once an action is selected, it can not be chosen by other players. After everyone has placed their first worker players place their second, again in turn order, followed by 3rd, 4th, and 5th, if applicable. However, the difficulty in Agricola comes from the relatively limited number of action slots available and the sheer number of things players are trying to accomplish over the 14 rounds of the game.
Pro Has expansions that can add more depth and variety to the game
Players can purchase the expansion, Farmers on the Moor, to add more gameplay options and strategic depth or they can purchase additional card packs to add variety to the minor improvement and occupation decks. This helps keep the game from getting stale and encourages multiple plays to try and experience everything this game has to offer.
Pro High player interaction for this type of game
The very limited number of actions available to take each round, combined with most resources only being available at 1 or 2 spots means that players are regularly interfering with eachother's plans and constantly being forced to reevaluate their strategy after an opponent blocks them. This leads to high amounts of player interaction and keep you very engaged in the game instead of focusing solely on your player board.
Cons
Con Error filled rulebook
The packaged rulebook is not only filled with errors and typos but is also missing a lot of pertinent information to the gameplay. Luckily there is an updated version as a PDF download on the publishers site that has the extra content the printed version is missing.
Con Can be a very punishing game for new players
Even players who love Agricola regularly joke that its name should be Misery Farm. This is because everything that you fail to do will cost you points, yet it is very difficult to do some of everything. This means that new players have a very low chance of beating someone experienced since they won't fully now what to expect as the game goes on and how to plan for it.