Rules
Horror Scenario: Lurking Terror
Battle Report 3: Showdown in a Zombie Wasteland
The Mission
This is a lurker mission with a slanted take. The protagonist are played by zombies and the there are six lurkers who take the form of characters fighting it out in the zombie infested world. Each lurker is played by a humanoid character and they all possess the hunter trait. When a kill is scored add the point value of the dispatched model to the hunters score. They will be two measurements of success for this mission; number one is being the surviving hunter at the end of the game and two is obtaining the highest score. Because of the price difference between the hunters an underdog bonus was added (highest point value – character’s point value = Underdog bonus), this is the starting score for each hunter.
I wanted to play test a mission like this to show the versatility of the Lurker Scenario. I am fairly curious to see how long a game like this would take considering there are seven players involved in the game. For special rules I will include vehicles for the Hunters to make use of during the game, as I want this to be a haphazard confrontation between many parties with explosions and car crashes.
Special Rules: There will be three vehicles placed around the battlefield for the hunters to use if they desire; a bike, jeep, and a scout sentinel (sentinel will count BS of driver as 1 representing their lack of skill with the vehicle’s control). These vehicles possess the Obvious rule, by taking control of a vehicle the hunter gains that increase capabilities it offers, but loses its ability to move around stealthly. Zombies will take the role of the “protagonist” and be able to cause zombification (makes sense right) and have his undead ghouls respawn guaranteeing an endless horde of zombies in this apocalyptic wasteland. The one other rule that is made just for this scenario is that the zombie player is not restricted to the 12” deployment zone but may scatter the zombies anywhere on the board when setting up.
Zombies: WS 3 BS 0 S 3 T 3 (4) W 1 I 3 A 2 Ld 7 Armor none
Ravenous, Slow and purposeful, feel no pain, causes zombification, respawn
Point value: 10 per zombie
Zombie player controls all zombified hunters
“Protagonist”: 25 zombies with the respawn special rule.
Underdog bonus: 0
For simplicity sake the zombies with be fixed into groups of 5. All zombies of a group will have to be destroyed for the scout group to respawn.
HUNTERS:
Death watch captain: WS 5 BS 5 S 4 T 4 W 2 I 5 A 3 Ld 9 Armor 3+
Deep strike
Wargear: Power fist, bolter, bolt pistol, Sternguard ammo, frak and krak,
Points: 85
Story: Sent by an Inquisitor to determine the cause of the zombie outbreak. Order to prevent contamination he must destroy every moving body in the area breathing or not.
Tactics: This character is a clear favorite in the game which is in fact his largest disadvantage as other hunters will likely team up to remove the largest contender. Hitting last with a powerfist hurts him as all hunters automatically receive Eternal Warrior due to possessing lurker status.
Strengths: High Initiative, Shooting, Armor.
Weakness: Only Two Wounds, hits last or at base strength, high cost.
Underdog Points: None
Guardsman Marbo : WS 5 BS 4 S 3 T 3 W 2 I 5 A 4 Ld 7 Armor 5+
Fearless, Stealth, Move Through Cover, Hit and Run, Fleet, He’s Behind You
Wargear: Ripper pistol, Envenomed Blade, Demo-charges, frag and melta grenades
Ripper Pistol: does not create a point of interest when fired. Causalities still create a PoI on 6+
Demo-charge – creates Point of Interest with an auto success roll.
He’s Right behind you: Marbo sets up last using the deep strike rules even if he is not the lowest costing Lurker.
Points: 65
Story: Left behind by a fleeing platoon the rest of his comrades reduced to the shambling dead; Guardsman Marbo’s mind snaps under the situation and he no longer distinguishes friend from foe, he is just fighting for his life.
Tactics: Marbo is very threatening to all the hunters, but lacks the durability of the other lurkers. If you mess up with him he is going to get cut down, but with his threatening arsenal and high initiative he has the power to take down the other characters before they can land a blow.
Strengths: High Initiative, Excellent equipment and capabilities.
Weakness: Most Fragile hunter in the game by far.
Underdog Points: 20 points
Kroot Shaper: WS 4 BS 3 S 4 T 3 W 3 I 3 A 3 Ld 8 Armor 6+
Eaters of the dead, field craft, infiltrate,
Wargear: Eviscerator + Slugga
Field Craft: Kroot can move through trees without hindrance and woods will recieve a mince to the modifier for detection or reaction for obstruction due to trees.
Eviscerator: counts as a powerfist that rolls and extra D6 for vehicle pen creates a point of interest with a 4+ roll whenever used.
Eater of the Dead: Must feed if it finds a suitably body
Points: 54
Story: Was commissioned by an unknown party to acquire a zombie specimen. He now is cut of in the zombie wasteland fighting for his life.
Tactics: This character has 3 wounds and powerfist like hit last weapon. This character is most vulnerable to the zombies as with a lack of armor or high toughness it is hard to see him coming off on top in a conflict with 5 ghouls. His field craft will be quite the perk for getting the jump on the other hunters.
Strengths: Field craft and 3 wounds
Weakness: Loud Eviscerator and lack of armor.
Underdog Points: 31 points
Colonel Schaeffer: WS 4 BS 4 S 3 T 4 W 3 I 4 A 3 Ld 9 Armor 4+
Fearless, Combat Master
Wargear: Master-crafted power weapon, plasma pistol, carapace armor, frag and krak grenades.
Combat Master: All combat rolls against Schaeffer are subject to a mince 1.
Points: 85
Story: Schaeffer dropped into the zombie crowded area in the hopes of retrieving any man left behind only to see that his guardsman have been reduced to the walking dead. Enraged by his men fate, Schaeffer vows to end the zombies’ existence and send their souls to the Emperor.
Tactics: Perhaps even a stronger contender then the marine. Schaeffer has a reasonable toughness, initiative and armor value. His plasma pistol and master-crafted power sword combined with his combat master perk also give him a strong edge against all comers.
Strengths: All around tough character.
Weakness: Might be targeted by other players, low strength.
Underdog Points: 0
Generic Ork Nob: WS 4 BS 2 S 4 T 4 W 2 I 3 A 3 Ld 8 Armor 4+
Furious charge
Wargear: Choppa, slugga, and ‘eavy armour
Points: 25
Story: There’s a big fight and he’s an ork. He might not be sure how he got there himself.
Tactics: Decent fighter and durability. The ork nob will basically let the other guys duke it out first and he will finish them off.
Strengths: Furious charge gives strength 5 and initiative 4. Low cost gives tactical edge.
Weakness: Only two wounds with little in the way of ballistic capabilities, relatively low initiative.
Underdog Points: 60 points
Scaly: WS 4 BS 3 S 5 T 4 W 3 I 3 A 3 Ld 9 Armor 5+
Regenerate
Wargear: Speargun, discus, claws and teeth.
Regenerate: If Scaly is wounded roll a D6 at the start of its turn. One a roll of a 6 it regains one wound. This ability will not restore from the dead.
Speargun: Range 18 Str 6 AP 4 Assault 1 Get’s Hot
Models hit and wounded by speargun are carried backwards D6 inches and spend the next turned pinned even if they are fearless.
Discus: Range 9 Str 5 AP 6 Assault 1
Points: 50
Story: The oddest character occupying the battlefield. A warrior from primitive species located in the dredges of Nercromunda Hives, he is out of place on a planet 1000 of light years away from his home. What he is doing here and why is a mystery. It is almost like a cruel god is orchestrating events for its own sadistic entertainment.
Tactics: With low initiative he is likely going to have to react to the other hunters, but with strength of 5 and 3 wounds he is not going to be a push over. His speargun is probably the scariest gun in the game.
Strengths: Tough and scary, regenerate.
Weakness: Low initiative, lack of sophisticated equipment.
Underdog Points: 35
Battle report
Table: played on a 4’ by 5’ battlefield that was fairly cluttered with woods and other terrain. Jeep, sentinel, and bike are placed near center.
Setup: First the protagonist sets the 25 zombies in scout groups of five. Because of the nature of this scenario the zombies are shattered throughout the board rather then being confined to a 12” deployment zone. The lurkers are then placed with the highest value placing first follow by progressively lower costing hunters. There was roll off between Colonel Schaeffer and the Deathwatch Captain as they both shared the same point value. The Marine won the die off and is considered to be a lower value then Schaeffer, which would have him going 4th instead of last.
The lurkers are placed coming from the table edges, Marbo deciding to take the risk of being detected early by deepstriking onto the board in an attempt to get access the abandoned sentinel. A scatter roll placed him near a pack of zombies offering him a problem at the very start of the game.
Game Play:
Hunters play order: Ork 1st, Scaly 2nd, Kroot 3rd, Marbo 4th, Deathwatch Captain 5th, Schaeffer 6th
Turn 1 Hunters: The ork, kroot, and scaly advance forward and take cover in nearby woodland (being in cover halves detection range). Schaeffer moves around a rock outcrop towards the debris of a crash shuttle. Marbo and the DeathWatch captain both detect a group of zombies; Marbo starting right in front of one group due to a shattering deployment and the marine using his initiative of 5 to see a mob of ghouls gathering by a discarded jeep. Marbo placed a round from his ripper pistol into the zombie’s head dropping the corpse to the ground, he then launched himself into combat with the rest of the zombie mob. The marine loads his bolter with hellfire rounds and fires at the 5 targets striking two. One zombie falls, but the other absorbs the shot despite the horrific damage the ammo had inflicted on its bare torso.
Combat: Marbo hacks one of the zombies to pieces only to leave three shambling figures to gaze angrily at him (All models count as independent characters, so Marbo attacks were directed against the one zombie he had in base to base contact and the other zombies could not strike at him). (Marbo earns 20 points, Deathwatch earns 10 points)
Turn 1 Zombies: Two point of interest are created, one by Marbo due to the extend combat with the ghoul pack and the marine due to him blasting away at the zombie mob by the jeep. Marbo’s fight goes unnoticed by everyone but the kroot who elects to stay put as a zombie pack stood between him and the disturbance (If the kroot decided to investigate he would then move towards the PoI during his movement phase). Two packs of zombies are drawn to the Deathwatch Captain’s bolter and move to investigate the commotion. This caused major grief to the Ork Nob who was hiding from a zombie pack in an outcrop of trees only have the ghouls stumble right into him following the bolter’s retort.
Combat: The mob of zombies storm into the woods and discover the Ork, snarling and groaning they stumble through the trees and tear at the greenskin. The nob lashes out with its choppa and slugga but while successful disemboweling several of the walking corpses, fails to dispatch any of the ghouls who fall upon him and tear a chunks of flesh from its frame inflicting one wound on the brute. The ork passes its break test and renews its efforts. Marbo’s combat with the three zombies causes no fatalities, as neither were able to inflict wounds on each other.
Turn 2 Hunters: The scaly moves to take advantage of Marbo’s situation clearing the trees and advancing on the besieged guardsman. The kroot advances deep into the trees to distance himself for the zombies, by the looks of the tabletop the shaper could emerge victorious by laying low and letting everyone kill each other. Both Marbo and the ork were trapped in combat with their undead opponents. Schaeffer moves to the shuttle wreckage away from all the action. The Marine seeing that he was drawing too much attention decided to hop aboard the abandon jeep flee the scene. Reasoning that the speed and protection offered by the vehicle would offset the attention that driving around would be sure draw to him. (All the vehicles had the obvious rule, which increases the opponent’s detection range when spotting the driver). The marine guns the jeep into a pack of zombies crushing all 5 of them under his wheels, but the shock was too much for the old jeep and it was destroyed by the marine’s callus treatment. The marine stumbles out of the destroyed vehicle only to be eyed by the dead glassy glares of the 4 remain zombies from the original zombie pack.
Combat: The combat between the zombies in the ork inflicted no wounds on either party as the wild bucking of the ork proved to difficult for the zombies to pin down the greenskin and the ork’s choppa failed to vanquish the zombies despite spilling their entrails and opening their torsos with great wounds. Marbo kills two of the ghouls and bats off the attack of the last one in the mob.
(Marbo earns 20 points, Deathwatch earns 50 points)
Turn 2 Zombies: A pack of zombies stumble onto the board threatening Schaeffer (the mobs slain by the DW marine are respawned and emerged near Schaeffer, but they could not assault until next turn). The scaly’s aspirations of capitalizing on Marbo's predicament was curtailed as a pack of zombies close in on the subhuman. The pack of zombies assaulted the Deathwatch marine by the burning jeep. Another pack swarms the scaly.
Combat: The ork kills one of the zombies and suffers no wounds in return. Scaly tears the head off one of the zombies but is then pulled by the weight of numbers and dies at their cold hands. Marbo struggling to finishes of the last ghouls suffers a mishap and the ghouls tears a chunk out of his side with its filthy hands. The four vengeful zombies slam against the Deathwatch Captain’s armor but fail to overcome it while the Marine crushes one with his powerfist.
(Ork earns 10 points, scaly earns 10 points, Deathwatch earns 10 points and the zombies earn 50 points for slaying the scaly)
Turn 3 Hunters: Kroot moves towards the end of the woods in an attempt to distance himself from the zombies. Schaeffer closes in on the zombies eager to get his chance to draw blood and launches himself upon the ghouls vaporizing one with a shot from his plasma pistol. The ork, Marbo and the captain where each trapped in their own combat with the ghouls.
Combat: The zombies fighting the ork finally managed to get the best of the brute and pull it down biting mouthfuls of his hid off as it underwent its death spasms. Marbo finishes off the last zombie. The marine defended by his power armor, pulps two more zombies with his powerfist. Schaeffer cuts off the head of one zombie and successfully batted off another ghoul’s assaults.
(Marbo earns 10 points, Deathwatch earns 20 points, Schaeffer earns 20 points, and the zombies earn 25 points for slaying the ork)
Turn 3 zombies: Both the bodies of the ork and the scaly remain still, but preserve the potential to arise as a zombie. The group of zombies that were slain by Marbo respawn and are drawn by the combat involving the Deathwatch Marine and their undead brethren and move to investigate the combat. Another respawning group emerge behind the kroot and detected the alien, but they could not assault on the turn they arrived. The mob of undead that killed the scaly move toward the kroot’s hiding place. It seems that the shaper’s attempts of sitting out the battle have not gone according his plan.
Combat: The two zombies charge into Schaeffer and assist their brethren in its conflict with the Colonel. He kills both of the charging zombies and uses his combat master trait to avoid the lashing of the remaining ghoul. The Deathwatch marine crushed the last ghoul in base-to-base contact with him, but more mobs are moving towards him.
(Schaeffer earns 20 points, DW earns 10 points)
Turn 4 Hunters: Marbo hears the prolong conflict between Schaeffer and the zombie and moves to catch the colonel while he is distracted fighting the ghoul. The kroot moves to assault the zombies that are on his trail. The marine moves away from the jeep towards the center woods.
Combat: Schaeffer couldn’t manage to slay the last zombie, but managed to keep the ghoul from grasping onto him. The kroot takes two wounds from the zombies before he is able to cut down two of the zombies with his eviscerator.
(Kroot earns 20 points)
Turn 4 Zombies: Neither of the ork nor scaly arise, but they still could reanimate during the game. A unit of zombies is respawned near to the marine coming from the same spot the marine deploy. A zombie mob trails the DW marine. Zombies swarm the kroot.
Combat: The zombies tear apart the kroot and feast on his flesh. Schaeffer’s combat is unproductive.
(Zombies earn 54 points)
Turn 5 Hunters: Marbo advances towards Schaeffer and attempts to shoot him in the back while he is fighting a zombie but misses as the Colonel dodges both a zombie thrust and inadvertently the ripper shot as well. Marbo curses his aim and charges Schaeffer. The deathwatch marine moves towards the center of the table.
Combat: Marbo attacks Schaeffer and scores a wound on the colonel with his poison blade. The colonel turned on the guardsman and attacked with his mastercrafted powersword but failed to take Marbo’s last wound. Marbo’s distraction was all the ghoul needed and it clamp down on Schaeffer and tore out the man’s throat (the lone zombie took two wounds off Schaeffer killing him)
(Zombies earns 85 points by killing Schaeffer)
Turn 5 Zombies: The deathwatch marines is now paying for his bold actions as three zombie packs move towards him and one manages to detect his presences. The pack charged the marine.
Combat: The marine kills one of the zombies and suffers no wounds in return. The zombie that slain Schaeffer advances on Marbo is cut down with little effort from the guardsman. Kroot and zombies fail to inflict wounds on each other.
(Death Watch Marine earns 10 points, and Marbo earns 10 points)
Turn 6 Hunters: Marbo moves and fleets away from the point of interest that was created by slaying the zombie. He heads right towards the sentinel nearing the besieged marine.
Combat: no causalities.
Turn 6 Zombies: A pack of zombies is respawned from the group that was slain by Schaeffer and Marbo. The scaly and ork nob rose from the dead, their features made even more inhuman by them joining the ranks of the unliving. The zombie ork travels through the woods to greet the deathwatch marine who is fighting for his life in a cluster of zombies. The zombified scaly moves to confront Marbo who is down too his last wound due to his rough treatment invoked on him by his first confrontation with a zombie mob.
Combat: The marine is assaulted by another zombie mob while still fighting off another group. The marine dispatches three of the charging ghouls and yet again is shielded by his power armor. Which removed all the zombies from base to base with him.
(marine earns 30 points)
Turn 7 Hunters: Marbo regretfully used his demo charge on the scaly zombie, blowing the zombified brute to bits of reeking gore. Marbo had aspirations of using the demo charge on the large mound of zombies that held the marine at its center. But in his weaken condition it was unrealistic to think that he could take out the scaly made even more durable due to the zombification process or hope to avoid the undead monster. The deathwatch marine attempts to move away from the zombies and uses hellfire shots to gun down the last two them from the mob that assaulted the marine.
Combat: No models in combat.
(Marbo earns 50 points from slaying the undead scaly, marine earns 20 points)
Turn 7 Zombies: The demo charge created a point of interest that was an auto success for investigation rolls. A zombie Schaeffer rises to his feet and moves toward the noise with the assistance of another pack of freshly spawned zombies. The marine remains the focus of many zombie packs including the ork. One pack of zombies detects and assaults the captain.
Combat: Marine uses his powerfist to kill another zombie while their attacks continue to fail to over come his armor.
(Marine earns 10 points)
Turn 8 Hunters: Marbo flees from the PoI he created and enters the woods in order to sneak up on the conflict between the marine and the zombies.
Combat: Marine kills another zombie and is protected by his armor.
(Marine earns 10 points)
Turn 8 Zombies: The kroot rises from the dead and another zombie mob respawns near the zombie kroot. The kroot moves towards Marbo. This caused a new predicament for Marbo as the zombie kroot is moving to block his path to the marine. The zombie ork assaults the marine while he is fending off some zombies.
Combat: The zombified ork manages to cleave though the marine’s armor and gives him a wound. The marine turns and prepares to vanquish the ork with his powerfirst but the rent in his armor is exploited by the zombies who force him to the ground and tear at his flesh slaying him. The game ends with Marbo being the lone surviving hunter.
Conclusions: The main reason for playing out this mission was to see how my Lurker Rules handle multiple players with the inclusion of special rules and vehicles. It was a bit of a headache keeping tract of 7 agendas as I played all the parties. The game length took about 2 hours but a lot of time was spent documenting and some confusion with the dice – having to roll for 7 players for patrolling was a bit confusing and I and to make repeated references back to a piece of paper to see whose die was whose. Also I believe 7 players would have played a speeder game, rather than one person attempting to play as 7 people.
One aspect that didn’t arise from such a game was that no allegiances were made between the players. I just played with the notion that all the other players would just try to screw each over. Under normal circumstances the players would be making and breaking allegiances, which would add a lot to the game. Both in direct confrontation and patrol movements. “I promise to kill you last” and “Hey Ted move those zombies away from me and I let you get the jeep” only for the player to immediately board the jeep after the zombies clear way and run over Ted.
The zombies played a larger role in the game then I expected them too. They actually caused the demise of all 5 of the fallen hunters. Perhaps starting with 25 zombies who could respawn was a bit much for the 6 hunters. Having every fallen hero rise from the grave as a zombie to mess with the hunters really threw some monkey wrenches into the game.
Marbo won the game as the sole survivor. But honorable mention has to be given to the deathwatch captain who managed 18 zombie kills before being overwhelmed by the ghouls. Point wise the zombies were the winner earning 299 points in slain hunters with the Death watch marine second earning 180 points followed by Marbo who earned 110 points of kills which due to his underdog bonus is raised to 130 points.
Some entertaining moments emerged thought the game. One was when the deathwatch marine boarded the jeep and then immediately destroyed it by driving it through a mob of zombies. Another was the bittersweet sacrifice of the demo charge by Marbo as he used it to destroy the zombified scaly. Watching as a pack of zombies attracted by the marine’s bolter stumbled on the surprised ork and snagged him was entertaining. As was watching Marbo fumble his attempt to backstab Schaeffer only to have a single zombie dispatch the legendary colonel.
The ending was fairly anticlimactic with the marine being bested by the zombies due to the undead ork’s intervention. Marbo was in a precarious position between a zombie kroot and a zombie Schaeffer. Marbo really wanted to get into the sentinel which would have offered him protection against the run of the mill zombies, but he could not face entering the vehicle and drawing attention to himself with a zombie scaly and kroot walking around as the sentinel would be his tomb if it was wrecked while it was stuck in the middle of a zombie mob. Another mild regret was how little of a role the vehicles played in the game, but maybe next time we could have a little mad max style confrontation. Stealth was the most important factor of the game, and the hunters didn’t want to trade their stealth for the benefits a vehicle offers.
All in all, the game plays in a manner that I am pleased with, next time I post one of these battles I will try to snag one or two of my friends and pressure them into having a game with me. I have a First Blood inspired mission staring Guardsman Marbo all ready to go, but I am waiting on having a friend available to actually play this one out.