Lizard Guy and Centaur knocking down doors in Munchkin 8

Another year, another mass of uncountable Munchkin releases. I think that should be printed on a banner and hung in the atrium that leads to the Steve Jackson Games sweatshop. The group just got done having a jam-packed 2011 with Munchkin Axe Cop and Munchkin Zombies. Just off the top of my head, for 2012, we have the following pieces coming out: Munchkin The Guild booster pack, Munchkin Skullkickers thingy, Munchkin Conan the Barbarian core set, the most anticipated number of them all Munchkin Apocalypse, and lastly Munchkin 8: Half Horse, Will Travel.

I’m sure there’s more, but speaking of that last one, I just saw the first spoilers of the new expansion set and they have magically got me excited for original Munchkin, a core set that keeps growing to numbers that are basically unplayable, making me like it less and less as time goes on. In case you don’t know, I dislike having to shuffle 1,000 cards.

Ya ready? Feast your eyes on these new Races then:

I apologize for the teeny tiny images, but that’s all that’s out there currently. Here are the cards in raw text format:

CENTAUR
Two Left Feet: You may use two footgear.
Leader of the Herd: You may have any number of steeds in play.

LIZARD GUY
Cold-Blooded: “Usable once only” Items that you play to help the monsters count double.
Drop Your Tail: You get +1 to Run Away from Level 10-15 monsters and +2 to Run Away from Level 16 and higher monsters.

In short, Centaur is surprisingly boring, but LIZARD GUY IS FREAKING SPECTACULAR. Like, if this was Magic the Gathering, I’d totally construct a deck just around him. Both his abilities are stellar, and both seem to have the potential to be game-changers, whether it is truly screwing over a fellow Munchkin-er with a +20 enhancer or getting the heck out of Dodge when Cowthulhu shows up. I don’t yet have all the expansions for vanilla Munchkin–I really do need to make a checklist at this point–but this latest one might have join in on all the fun. I totally want to be a High Lizard Guy Thief with the Dagger of Treachery and maybe the Kneepads of Allure. Mmm, yes. That’s exactly what I want to be.

Munchkin Zombies wants brains, and I want to help them eat brains

Munchkin Zombies is debuting at PAX East this weekend, which is very exciting for two reasons: 1) the sooner it debuts there, the closer we zomb-crawl towards a retail release and 2) it’s the first core set in many moons since Munchkin Booty back in 2008 and early musings of it seem to indicate that it is above and beyond a traditional core set. This is great because, while traditional Munchkin gameplay is fine and fun, I was worried that we’d just get that with a zombie skin (ewww gross). That does not seem to be the case. For instance, instead of players playing as Munchkins, we’re actually in control of the zombies and can acquire different mojo that will tell us how we ultimately became part of undead society. Here, take a look at some sample preview cards:

Either way, I’m excited about this despite my wishy-washy feelings towards the zombie epidemic spreading across all media as of late. Guess I can credit that to John Kovalic‘s adorable and hilarious take on the undead. And there’s already an expansion set to drop this fall, along with more themed booster packs for Halloween and Christmas. That’s cool, that’s cool, but first things first: braaaaaaains…