Sunday, October 16, 2011

Night of the Living Damned

The following mission is based on some stories I heard about last year, where players played games against zombies. I can only blame myself for this.

Night of the Living Damned: A variant mission for Halloween


Set-Up:
Before the start of the game, players must decide who will be the Zombie Lord. The Zombie Lord (or ZL) will be in charge of the Zombie Hordes (see below), forgoing the use of a Survivor Unit (see below).

Terrain is set up by the players (note: not the ZL) normally, but once it is placed the ZL may place up to nine Explosive Barrels, two Shrine Markers and three Transports. These must be at least 12” away from any board edge.

The players then select their Survivor Units. These may be any non-vehicle unit chosen from anywhere in their codex, with a point total of no more than 200 points. Any restrictions on minimum or maximum model size are suspended, as well as any 0-1 or any other requirements/restrictions to use the units. Any unit that is normally required to take a transport or be held in reserve are ignored, as well as any rules that would allow the unit to Deep Strike or Infiltrate. Instead, these units gain the Scouts special rule. No Survivor Unit may be held in reserve.

Once the players have selected their units, they then pick which short table edge they will all deploy in. If there are any issues, they will vote, with the ZL casting a tiebreaker vote. The opposite short table edge is the Zombie Lord’s table edge.

Deployment:
The players may deploy their Survivor Units anywhere within 12” of their table edge, at least 6” away from any other Survivor Units. Once the players have deployed, the ZL may deploy one Zombie Horde for every Survivor Unit, plus one additional one that is placed in reserve. The Hordes must be placed at least 18” away from any Survivor Unit. If a Horde is unable to deploy, they are placed in reserve.

Once all units have been placed, the players roll off to see who gets the first turn. There is no Seize the Initiative, and the ZL always goes last.

Mission Special Rules:
ZL reserves:
If there is a Zombie Horde in reserve, it automatically arrives, with no roll required. It enters play from the Zombie Lord’s table edge. Only one Horde may arrive each turn, even if there is more than one in reserve.

Every Man For Himself!:
During the first turn, no Survivor Unit may shoot, assault or use any ability that would cause another Survivor Unit to take a wound or remove a model as a causality. Once the first turn is over, however, the players may shoot, assault and otherwise attack the other players freely. It is in fact encouraged. During the game, units may fire into assaults that do not contain friendly models. To do this, nominate the unit as normal. Having rolled to hit, you will need to determine which of the units engaged in the assault was actually hit. Roll another die for each hit. On a roll of 4+ means the shoot has hit the unit targeted. Any other result means the other unit has been hit, and the shots will be resolved against them. If a unit would normally be forced to fall back because of shooting causalities, the affect is ignored as the combatants have more important things to worry about! Units may not assault a unit that is already engaged in an assault, even if the assault contains no friendly models.

Turns are done normally, with each player going through their move/shoot/assault phases. However, assaults are only resolved during those players’ turns, not during any other player’s turns.

Any unit falling back falls back towards the players’ deployment zone. Once the unit reaches the board edge, it automatically rallies.

Special terrain/items:
Explosive Barrels:
During the shooting phase, a unit may target an explosive barrel. If the unit scores a hit from any attack, the barrel detonates, causing a Str: 5 AP: 4 hit to any model within a D6 inches of the barrel. The wounds must be allocated to the models in range. The barrel is then removed from the board.

Shrine Markers:
Any unit that is in base contact with a Shrine Marker can only be assaulted by a Zombie Horde if the unit passes a Leadership test. If the Horde fails, it may not assault this turn.

Transports:
Transports are really the remains of other transports that have been wrecked or abandoned by others who have fled the Zombie Hordes. They are the same as the vehicle modeled, but with -1 AV on all sides, and have no usable weapons. In addition, the vehicle has a chance of dying on the unit. However, the Survivor Units may cram in models that the vehicle was never designed to handle out of sheer desperation. Any model that is on a 40mm base counts as being two models for the sake of transport capacity. Example:
Wrecked Rhino – Tank/AV; F:10/S:9/R:9, 10 model capacity, 2 fire points.

Whenever a transport moves, it only moves a D6 inches. If a 1 is rolled, the transport suffers the Destroyed – Wrecked! Damage result.

The first player who’s unit reaches the Zombie Lord’s table edge wins the game. If all the Survivor Units die, the Zombie Lord wins.

Zombie Hordes:
WS: 2/BS: 2/S: 3/T: 3/W: 1/I: 3/A: 1/Ld: 5/Sv: 5+
Composition: 20 Zombies Unit Type: Infantry
Wargear: Flak Armor, Lasgun, Close-combat weapon

Special Rules:
Fearless, Feel No Pain, Slow and Purposeful/Relentless

I live again!:
After any models that take an unsaved wound or are otherwise removed as a causality that was caused by the Zombie Horde, roll a d6. On the roll of a 6, place another Zombie model in the horde. There is no limit to the size of a Zombie Horde.

I hunger:
Zombie Hordes must move towards the nearest enemy unit, and must try to assault an enemy unit whenever possible. They may choose to shoot or run in the shooting phase, however.

Without End:
Whenever a Zombie Horde is removed from play, place a new Zombie Horde in the Zombie Lord’s reserves. It enters play as if it were a new unit. These new units may only be 20 models, but may grow larger as above.