Pandemic: On the Brink (2013)

Pandemic on the Brink expansion by Z Man game provides additional content for the Pandemic base game. The expansion includes: option to increase player count to 5, 7 new role cards, each with their own special abilities, the option to add a fifth player, 8 new events, 5 petri dishes to hold the viruses and three completely new modules that increase the difficulty and replayability for those that already own Pandemic.

The three new modules include:

The virulent strain challenge:
Base game epidemic cards are replaced with expansion cards. These add an additional effect to the most prevalent virus, on the board when the first epidemic is drawn, making it more difficult to cure. The effects are cumulative and with 8 cards to choose from, each game is different.

The mutation challenge:
2 new mutation cards added to the discard pile. When drawn, they add a new purple virus to the map. To cure the virus, players collect 5 city cards with one containing the mutation. Three Mutation cards are added to the events deck. When drawn, 3 purple virus tokens are placed on the net city card. with only 12 purple virus tokens, the game can end quickly if players don’t cure the mutation.

The Bio-terrorist challenge:
Saboteur player is added, utilising hidden movement on their own paper, pandemic map. The Bioterrorist takes a turn after each player and can infect cities, with the mutated virus, sabotage research bases and move. However, when the Bioterrorist occupies a hero’s space they are spotted, place their pawn on the board and can be arrested by the other player. This module cannot be played with the mutation challenge.

The Bio-terrorist wins if heroes lose the game. So now, it is not just the game, but a player who the heroes must defeat.

The Expansion adds so much to the game: more decisions, greater depth and increased replayability.

Number of players 1-5
Age range 8+
Game length 45+ mins

Requires pandemic to play.