With the Evil Dead 2 board game in chaos, Army of Darkness steps up to make the tabletop groovy

The future of the long-anticipated Evil Dead 2 board game may be looking increasingly uncertain, but there’s still a chance to bring some grooviness to the tabletop.

That’s because Army of Darkness, the time-travelling sequel to the gore-splattered comedy-horror cult classic, is getting its own board game adaptation.

Army of Darkness: The Board Game is coming out of Dynamite Entertainment, a studio that has nothing to do with controversial Evil Dead 2 maker Space Goat.

The company has been publishing comics based on the 1992 movie for over a decade, recently moving onto the tabletop with board games based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Reanimator, comic book heroine Red Sonja and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ jungle lord Tarzan.

Army of Darkness will be a co-op game where up to four people control Ash and his pals, fighting off hordes of Deadites commanded by Evil Ash and Evil Sheila, just like in the film.

Players can upgrade their defences using modern tech from Ash’s car, moving around the castle to fight the swarming living dead. They do this by playing cards simultaneously, programming series of actions that then play out in order. Combat is resolved using dice.

The aim is to survive long enough to defeat Evil Ash and save Sheila by using the Necronomicon, with matches taking between half an hour and 90 minutes.

The gameplay has been helmed by the team behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Board Game at Lynnvander Studios, and will include a whole bunch of miniatures. Expansions have also been confirmed.

No release date has been given for the project beyond ‘2018’, and there’s no word on whether it will pass through Kickstarter first – although it seems likely.