Zombie Apocalypse

[Ienai]

I've read around quite a bit now and understand that Zombies are not the best unit to do this with in 8th.. or 7th...

However, here is what I'm thinking about doing.

4-6 corpse carts with the (-spell casting item)
about 400-600 zombies with a mix of Ghouls in these points

3-4 Necromancers for rebuilding

1 vampire geared up to ride with a unit of 12 blood knights with a BSB

Outnumbering is the game. I was thinking about running units of Zombies in about the 100-140 range

I want to cover the field in zombies.

The army will be run with refused flank positioning and I plan for the hammer of the army to run through as much as they can.

I know the majority of everyone here is going to ignore this or say it will never work.. but think about it a little bit before you respond.

Swarming is the name of the game. And we have swarms.

 

[RedDuke]

Nice idea. However, 3-4 necros and one combat vampire means weak magic defence (the level bonus will play a big role in dispelling, I guess) and no magic offence apart IoN spamming, while you are also very dependent on magic for movement. Such a slow army, in fact, could make difficult for your hammer to survive various turns of shooting and magic. This really depends on your ghouls units, then, but consider you won´t have many points for them, as 400z + 4cc already equal an army on their own, not including characters.
As far as the hammer is concerned, I would not trust frenzied units so much. True, now they can reroll in presence of the BSB, but in case they fail, the charge is now uncertain: they have to move against everything within 19", even if the chances to fail and move just the highest d6 are very very high.
But all really depends on your actual setup. So, being in your shoes, what I would rather ask myself is whether such an expensive army is equally enjoyable to play

 

[Ienai]

Well, I do know that I've always wanted to field a HUGE zombie army list. I don't see how my opponent wouldn't have fun against it.. They would be killing TONS of stuff. I would just bring it back and whittle them down over the rounds.

I know that the zombies are not going to kill much. But! With the numbers I'm planning on running they should be able to get some attacks back.

Also, I could run all the carts with unholy loadstones... if I set it up right that will give an addition +1 zombie per cart in range right? And if I cast the spell successfully say three times.. that could end up being a goodly amount of free zombies.

I don't like skeletons much... so if I don't run the ghouls I'll just add another blood knight unit if I can afford it. Or just more zombies

If this plan does not pan out :grave: then I'll most likely be switching to Beastmen or Bretonnia.. but they come with their own set of problems as well...

With Beasts I'd want to run an all mino army..

So.. either way my army will be expensive... money doesn't matter... I just want to play what I want to play.. and be as competitive as I can while doing so.

Also.. I was hoping that -5/-6 from the bale fire on the corpse carts would help my level 1 necros dispell a lot better!

Reading through the rulebook and the codex tonight to figure out the best setup for this army. I figure.. sure the high elves are going to kill like 15 zombies... but I'll just add more than they can kill in my magic phase...

 

[Campbellstein]

There are a few "every model in the unit" spells that could hurt like hell for a unit of 100 zombies.

 

[Evil Dead]

I just have problem seeing how you will be able to maneuver well on the board with 8th having a lot mor terain on the table top.

 

[Fodderboy]

Multiple lodestones on your carts do not stack. You only get one bonus zombie per IoN/SUH casting.

 

[Chunky Von Waffles]

If you were ever to fight another Vampire Counts army...

Curse of Years.

140 dice please

 

[Fodderboy]

On par with creating Nurglings via a toughness test

 

[Dklyn]

Looks fun, not sure how effective it is. It's hard to critique without a specific list down (what heroes you use, how much zombies/Corpse carts will you use vs how many ghouls etc) It would be interesting to see a workable build for this.

I would recommend using the carts to keep magic down.

Some problems you'll have to overcome with your build: by capping PD at 12, and with needing 2 PD per Nehek (at least to get it off reliably) you could expect 6 Neheks. You may get more with 1 PD, but then again, remember that the opponent will dispel some. This means that you would rez 6d6 +24 zombies at best which sounds like a lot until you see how many you would probably lose Remember you lose them from wounds AND CR

 

[Count Darvaleth]

Umm, where exactly are the Necromancers going to go? They can't go in zombie units after all.

 

[Gneisenau]

Can you imagine shooting a single Purple Sun along a battleline like this?


I think it's a fluffy idea, but it might be one of the worst armies we can field in 8th edition. Outnumbering is useless with Unit Strength and autobreaking gone. Outranking is good, but without winning combat, it's useless as well.


Still, it could be fun!

 

[Ienai]

Well... I'm still working on the basics of the army.. and yeah.. some spells will totally destroy my army lol!

But... they are only zombies after all..

Still working on the list. I'll have something up soon for those that are interested.

Thank you everyone for overcoming my expectations. I thought everyone would just come in and poop on my idea. Some did.. but others didn't...

After all this is a game.. and if your not having fun... why play it? Right?
:zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie:

Zombie Fans Unite!

 

[Devo]

I like the idea of tons of zombies. Always have. Pirate zombies, but that's just me.

My idea for using zombies relied on the "remove casualties from the back rank" rule in combat. A couple of vampires in your army with Forbidden Lore (Vamp lore) would be able to get into combat then summon zombies behind the enemy and Van Hel's them in. Your Vamp would strike at a high enough initiative to remove models from the back rank, which means they wouldn't be able to attack the zombies.

A couple of Necromancers on Corpse Carts hanging out between the units could do the same thing, allowing you to focus your vamp points on combat.

 

[Ienai]

There are still things to be concerned about though. I am thinking on messing with leadership modifiers right now.. trying to make the best of the new 'Fear' mechanic.

If I can get them to fail the fear test.. they'll have WS1 and Zombies should be able to hit with their WS2. And if its a horde I'll get a good deal of attacks of.

However, I'll need to split my wizards up into difference lores.. which might not be a bad thing.. Still looking into all the possible ways to make this apocalypse actually pay off and leave a blank look on my opponents face when their elite unit of sword masters just got eaten by zombies... :zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie::zombie:

 

[desfer]

painting 400-600 zombies!!?!!!?!! brrrrr thats scary

 

[dapirateboy]

Totally do it lol i wanted to do something like this to i think the list fits the vc story so well i just started playing vc and love the background but was bummed to hear zombies where crap now. i salute u good sir let the enemy drown in dead flesh! hehe

 

[Brian Mage]

My idea for using zombies relied on the "remove casualties from the back rank" rule in combat. A couple of vampires in your army with Forbidden Lore (Vamp lore) would be able to get into combat then summon zombies behind the enemy and Van Hel's them in. Your Vamp would strike at a high enough initiative to remove models from the back rank, which means they wouldn't be able to attack the zombies.

taht is a tactic i like the sound of!

see, i knew they had a place in my list!

 

[Devo]

It could cause problems, though. If you do break your opponent and they run, you could chase with the unit you have in their front, but they'd just slam into the Zombies, who couldn't chase.

Which leads to a second tactic: summon the zombies behind the unit when you are near to breaking them, but have them facing away from the enemy. When you win, the enemy will flee through your zombies, causing a dangerous terrain test for each surviving enemy. When your turn rolls around again, you can charge in with the zombies, possibly running the enemy down. (Or at least farther away.)

You could then re-form your combat unit to face another enemy (you'll likely have enemies to either side of you also locked in combat by that point), instead of worrying about chasing down the guys that got away. Your combat block is kept around to help kill things!

 

[RedDuke]

Which leads to a second tactic: summon the zombies behind the unit when you are near to breaking them, but have them facing away from the enemy. When you win, the enemy will flee through your zombies, causing a dangerous terrain test for each surviving enemy. When your turn rolls around again, you can charge in with the zombies, possibly running the enemy down. (Or at least farther away.)

You could then re-form your combat unit to face another enemy (you'll likely have enemies to either side of you also locked in combat by that point), instead of worrying about chasing down the guys that got away. Your combat block is kept around to help kill things!

That´s genius!!

 

[Ienai]

Hmmm... I had wanted my Necs to be riding in style on Corpse Carts... but in order to do that they would need to be bought with my Heroes slot choices... hmmm...

Why isn't there a Necromancer Lord Choice? Goodness.... Guess I'll just have to have a decked out Vampire in the Blood Knight unit... which are now $90 for 5.... *sigh*

This army is starting to look very very expensive.

Can't wait until I get off work so I can pour over the codex, pdf, and the rulebook some more. This idea will work. ^_^

 

[Shadowfax]

It would look amazing on the tabletop, that's for sure.


Another trick this army could have up its sleeve would involve blasting Purple Suns through your own Zombie hordes from a Death lore vampire positioned behind the battleline, and recouping power dice from the lore attribute.

 

[Ienai]

I'm starting to think that the black ball of death might be a good idea to get extra dice for my carts and other necros...

Hmm...

Time for bed... I'll do the math tomorrow.

 

[Tharkad]

I was just toying with a similar idea.
If you can find the points Vlad or Manfred could serve as your VC Lord. Decent casting to support with the necros.