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So a friend and I struck up a conversation about how fun it would be to see things from 40k bring the pain to the basic staple of horror, the humble zombie. But then we got to thinking (as we often do) the thing about 40k is that we always have unlimited ammo and never are faced with situations where we couldn't possibly hope to win so it really is better to flee (via warhammer fantasy ect). Being avid zombie survival enthusiasts we thought that despite how much power and perfected arts of killing these badasses of 40k are they would have to be put under a slight scope of realism. Soon that train of thought turned to statlines which invariably turned to survival outcomes. So here is what i purpose, i give a few realisitic restrictions (ammo, tactics, and objectives) and you guys tell me how you think various troop squads would fair. Sounds simple right? well if you are willing to give it a try take a look below

Alright, before i outline the rules let me be PERFECTLY CLEAR. We are all aware that people in the 41st millenium are trained to face infinitely worse than your standard horror zombie. I use the term because most people can picture the intensity of the event and how numerous the foe is. What i would like to clarify is this "zombie" is somehow a minor threat to your force almost anything out there can kill one (even a Gretchen, maybe). However, this enemy is nearly endless in number even by Ork or Nid standards. So by no means is erradication an option, the purpose if your 40k badasses to complete an objective that does that job for them (like blowing up a whole Hive City with demo charges for example). I understand for some of you who live off the fluff of your armies this isn't a conceivable option, but please just use your Imagination

Squad types: Troop choice only, anything else probably has too much of an advantage or isn't suited for the challenge. (don't get tricky keep it basic please)
Squad size: Minimum size allowed, anything larger will not be dramatic enough
Upgrades: Leader characters & any basic wargear/weaponry options (No vehicles, as we know these can take more of a beating than most hordes can give.)

Before you choose your crack team of zombie killers you may want to consider the basic rules of this little game of ours. A large series of advantages are what determine how likely they may survive this mission, if you don't agree with our list of advantages let us know and we are certainly open to a change but i can't see many having problems with them. Keep in mind you are going into an overrun territory to complete a mission and get out.

# 1 Advantage: Leadership, we mulled over it for awhile and thought that honestly leadership was probably the most important thing in this mission as the horde is nearly endless and death is certain for a few of your troops. The ability to make crack decisions can save lives. Obviously fearless works here, but to less of a degree as a marine with leadership 10 and they shall know no fear. Basically a good leadership or means to keep bad leadership in check is always the first things we considered.

#2 Advantage: Special rules, this is broad but we thought infiltrate was honestly one of the best basic rules out there for obvious reasons.

#3 Advantage: Effective Firepower & Wargear, While this should go without saying the power, range and mobility of your gunfire is paramount to overcoming the horde without being hurt. That being said, keep in mind no gun possesses unlimited ammo (unless I am mistaken) and your troops will eventually be forced to face the horde in close combat once and awhile, just no way around it.

#4 Advantage: Statline, No way around it stats make the man! Someone with a high init and strength could make the argument that if he possesses inferior guns he might be able to counter-act it with the concept of how well they fight in close combat. of course all stats are taken into account but the major ones are Init, Att, WS, BS, Strength which is your ability to say you are better than the zombies so you have little to fear.

#5 Advantage: Armor & Toughness, While I will say for the sake of argument the medical abilities of the 41st millienum have found ways to deal with the 'zombie virus' thus we have no turned squady loophole death from massive damage will happen as the horde keeps growing and growing. The ability to never feel the enemies blows is one of your last lines of defense. One that again according to fluff might make you feel like it's impossible to be touched but assume these undead possess means which invalidate your army pride.

Alright, so that wraps up the rules. I will go ahead and post what I think would be a good Ork force and state how I think they did according to the rules of this.

'Ard Shoota Boyz (146)
10 Boyz (1 w/ Big Shoota, all w/Stikkbombs)
1 Nob (Big Choppa, Big Shoota & Bosspole)

Leadership: The orks would start fearless due to mob rule meaning they would listen to the nob till he has at least lost a boy. Yet as time goes on in the mission he'd have less and less control over the boys having to assert his authority over them with his bosspole.

Special rules: Mob rule helps the orks get into the city pretty easy feeling confident, The Waaagh will help the attack vital points when the Nob says to with more speed than the typical foot solider.

Wargear & Firepower: The stikkbombs will help the orks always have the upper hand against when they close in close combat. the Shootas and big shootas while inaccurate are able to used on the move very well and the amount of fire that will actually hit vitals on the enemy is sure to carry a wallop enough to more than likely kill it's target. The Nobs Big Choppa will be devasting to these zombies killing the majority that gang up on his boys while the rest of his squad mops up the field.

Statline: While I imagine not much quicker in wits than a Zombie with init, the ork is no doubt stronger (espeically charging) and much meaner in a fight with his WS and attacks. When forced to fight in close combat they should have more than enough strength to break through the lines of the undead and keep rushing to the objective despite carrying shootas. It was worth the sacrifice in close combat to know i can deal with my enemy at range a bit.

Armor & toughness: This is obviously something this squad has in spades. While not quite up to snuff with a space marine these orks are able to confidently risk any damage for a reward to the mission.

My thoughts on them: Well, I would say that the mission would probably be a 65% win vs. 35% loss for the orks. The main problem is leadership, the orks will start strong and the have the ability to hold onto their boyz for awhile but I imagine distractions or infighting in the delicate situation would be the largest concern for this squad. I think they have more than enough firepower to deal with a horde and keep moving with very satisfactory damage being dealt, a main concern is what the orks would do when they ran out of ammo but considering how well off they are in close combat I feel the orks could overcome the issue with sheer force and toughness.

Well that was it! Give it a try guys I wanna hear how you think you -or others- would do in this situation. We have a few guesses as to who would do well and who wouldn't but we want to see your posts to find out.

208 points for 5 Genestealers and a Broodlord (fully kitted out)

Leadership - 10 is pretty solid, with only a 1/12 chance of failing.

Special Rules - Infiltrate 4tw.

Wargear and Firepower - Obviously there are no guns. Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, (BL) Implant Attack and Acid Blood... *fearsome* in CC.

Statline - Will pretty much always go before a Zombie, 20 attacks on the charge with a high WS and STR to go with it, plus Rending...

Armor and Toughness - decent armor saves (not amazing, but if nothing ever hits back..) and a 4 or 5 T and you've got okay survivability.

Taking off Toxin Sacs (if you want to rule that it won't hurt zombies) drops it down to 190 points - but if TS can work against Necrons, it should work against Zombies.

Fluffwise stealers pop up where you least expect them, so should be able to come out right where they want to and rip things apart.

165 points

Imperial Guard Platoon

PCS w/ 4 flamethrowers

2x Squads with flamethrowers

Special Rules: Orders, FRFSRF

Leadership: Average, will go when the going looks bad though. Support from flamethrowers to cover retreating squads.

Wargear and firepower: Lasguns. The closest thing to unlimited ammo, and easily replenishable with and fires around, and easily the most reliable weapon out there. Flamers will run out eventually

Armor and Toughness: Before zombies, some armour, average toughness

Necron warriors.
Don't have the codex, but Zombie bites aren't gonna worry a metal skeleton.

And (in the fluff anyway), they wouldn't get intimidated by a shambling horde of undead.

Fine, 10 Grey Hunters. With flamers, only 160pts.

rigeld2 wrote:208 points for 5 Genestealers and a Broodlord (fully kitted out)

Leadership - 10 is pretty solid, with only a 1/12 chance of failing.

Special Rules - Infiltrate 4tw.

Wargear and Firepower - Obviously there are no . Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, Toxin Sacs, (BL) Implant Attack and Acid Blood... *fearsome* in CC.

Statline - Will pretty much always go before a Zombie, 20 attacks on the charge with a high WS and STR to go with it, plus Rending...

Armor and Toughness - decent armor saves (not amazing, but if nothing ever hits back..) and a 4 or 5 T and you've got okay survivability.

Taking off Toxin Sacs (if you want to rule that it won't hurt zombies) drops it down to 190 points - but if TS can work against Necrons, it should work against Zombies.

Fluffwise stealers pop up where you least expect them, so should be able to come out right where they want to and rip things apart.

yeah, we agreed. genestealers were gonna be hosses in this mission with the ability to more or less assassinate most of the Zombies to get into the territory I imagine something like the hivefleet were obtaining the purest sample of this genetic code to inflict on the Imperium of Man... under their control of course Muhahaha thanks for following the format.


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Dark Apostle 666 wrote:Necron warriors.
Don't have the codex, but Zombie bites aren't gonna worry a metal skeleton.

And (in the fluff anyway), they wouldn't get intimidated by a shambling horde of undead.

We thought the Necron would be powerful in this option but a unit of warriors did lack a few potentials not necessarily crippling but we felt like the Zombies and the cron would go about the same time and the cron rely on being able to outlast their enemy and in this circumstance (not all mind you) the enemy will never tire or weaken. While bites aren't dangerous, pushing, smashing and pulling joints out would. Again you have to think of these as 40k style zombies not our style. But yeah I think they would probably make it, though without having a natural leader it might come close.

Grey Knights Terminators with Justicar Thawn
-Heavy Flamer
-Halberds to keep the horde away

These guys rock in at something like ~300 points and will never ever ever under any circumstances fail at anything they try between plot armor and actual statline.


If you feel cheesy, Draigo makes Paladins troops for the ultimate survival team. If the Chaos Gods can't touch them, no zombie ever will.

Eldar Jetbikes

Special ability: float

Special weapons and tactics: Rocks/Sharp sticks. Doesn't really matter when they cant hit back.

In a perfect world I would be cruising a couple feet above the ground in a DE Tantalus, cutting things to ribbons while swearing at them. I'm cool like that.

Hox wrote:Eldar Jetbikes

Special ability: float

Special weapons and tactics: Rocks/Sharp sticks. Doesn't really matter when they cant hit back.

In a perfect world I would be cruising a couple feet above the ground in a DE Tantalus, cutting things to ribbons while swearing at them. I'm cool like that.

Lol, true true they would win till they have to get off those things anyway to do the mission unless they wanna risk dangerous terrian the whole time in small corridor & hallways. Though it would be funny to imagine a zombie turning a corner seeing a eldar on a jetbike turn his guns on stating "Hmmm they keep coming this way..."


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Dabedman wrote:Grey Knights Terminators with Justicar Thawn
-Heavy Flamer
-Halberds to keep the horde away

These guys rock in at something like ~300 points and will never ever ever under any circumstances fail at anything they try between plot armor and actual statline.


If you feel cheesy, Draigo makes Paladins troops for the ultimate survival team. If the Chaos Gods can't touch them, no zombie ever will.

Hmmm, don't know enough about the Grey Knights but yes. I do know for a fact we labeled them as being the best for purposes of this mission.

well since the mission was blowing up a hive city an whilst it was inhabited by an unstoppable horde then the IoM would have no worries just blowing that planet to kingdom come sooooo one cycloinc torpedo how many points is that ???

Plague Marines. They serve Nurgle. Nurgle owns zombies. Win.

Anyway, five Noise Marines + Champion, four Blasters, a Blastmaster and a Doom Siren. 175pts and could conceivably last forever unless these were some damn tough zombies.

Durza wrote:Plague Marines. They serve Nurgle. Nurgle owns zombies. Win.

Anyway, five Noise Marines + Champion, four Blasters, a Blastmaster and a Doom Siren. 175pts and could conceivably last forever unless these were some damn tough zombies.

Why even go plague marines, go straight for plaguebearers. I'm not 100% sure but I believe way back when I used to dabble in WHFB Warriors of Chaos, the horrors had the ability to create more horrors from their enemies. If you were to present me with an endless horde of fairly weak zombies, I'm sure the horrors would have a field day turning them into more horrors while taking few casualties themselves. 2 days into the mission you have a planet of horrors. Whether or not they are intelligent enough to get anything done is another matter.

You could accomplish the same thing reasonably well with a Thousand Sons unit after giving Gift of Chaos to the Sorceror. Though you'd get Spawn instead.

Durza wrote:You could accomplish the same thing reasonably well with a Thousand Sons unit after giving Gift of Chaos to the Sorceror. Though you'd get Spawn instead.

Doesn't that only make one spawn though? And you are relying on that sorcerer to never die whereas the horrors can each spawn more of them. Tervigons can also do this (There is a way to make them troops I believe) but they are not reliable and can stop themselves from spawning. Sorcerers can also miscast. I think horrors are the most effective way to counter a weak horde.

Not Blood Angels. As soon as they go a tinsy bit a crazy and start eating the the undead... It's the fastest way to becoming a zombie.

I would pick some imperial guard veterans with shot guns for a classic zombie-human match up!

Cheers.

Biker boss, 3 Biker nobz with painboy and cybork. all have Shoota/skorcha, the nobz and boss have Ammo runtz and Big choppas. When they finally run out of ammo, they are still gonna smash goopy heads.

The counter to your anti Blood Angels: 1 Death Company Dreadnought w/ Blood talons, Heavy Flamer: 135pts.

(not sure if this is "legal", as you need to take a unit of DC to get the dread in-game)

However, it would most likely be the most ridiculously invulnerable unit possible. That, or a CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT.

(Just joking about the CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT, please don't hate on me.)

In all seriousness, the Dread wouldn't be able to complete the objective, because it's insane, but it would most likely kill every zombie in the city. Every. Last. One.

5 GK Terminators, Justicar Thawn, incinerator, daemon hammers.
305 points, cut things down with storm bolters before rushing in and mulching stuff with hammers. The zombies couldn't get to them and they could just bash in the whole city


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Ld 9-10 and psychic powers doesn't hurt either

TheAngrySquig wrote:5 GK Terminators, Justicar Thawn, incinerator, daemon hammers.
305 points, cut things down with storm bolters before rushing in and mulching stuff with hammers. The zombies couldn't get to them and they could just bash in the whole city


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ld 9-10 and psychic powers doesn't hurt either

You sir, are made of win.

nkon117 wrote:The counter to your anti Blood Angels: 1 Death Company Dreadnought w/ Blood talons, Heavy Flamer: 135pts.

(not sure if this is "legal", as you need to take a unit of DC to get the dread in-game)

However, it would most likely be the most ridiculously invulnerable unit possible. That, or a CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT.

(Just joking about the CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT, please don't hate on me.)

In all seriousness, the Dread wouldn't be able to complete the objective, because it's insane, but it would most likely kill every zombie in the city. Every. Last. One.

Well if you actually read the OP, he mentions no vehicles.

19 khorne berzerkers with kharn. Nothing would get through their power armour and they would fly in swinging chainaxes and lopping heads. Also with two landraiders.

DeathReaper wrote:

nkon117 wrote:The counter to your anti Blood Angels: 1 Death Company Dreadnought w/ Blood talons, Heavy Flamer: 135pts.

(not sure if this is "legal", as you need to take a unit of DC to get the dread in-game)

However, it would most likely be the most ridiculously invulnerable unit possible. That, or a CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT.

(Just joking about the CRASSUS ARMOURED ASSAULT TRANSPORT, please don't hate on me.)

In all seriousness, the Dread wouldn't be able to complete the objective, because it's insane, but it would most likely kill every zombie in the city. Every. Last. One.

Well if you actually read the OP, he mentions no vehicles.

Apologies, I kinda just skimmed through it. I had a feeling it would be too good to be true.

Zwan1One wrote:Not Blood Angels. As soon as they go a tinsy bit a crazy and start eating the the undead... It's the fastest way to becoming a zombie.

I would pick some imperial guard veterans with shot guns for a classic zombie-human match up!

Cheers.

Groooovy

10 Wraithgaurd and 1 Warlock Spirit seer. (its the minimum number to be used as a troop choice, and it has to have a spirit seer lock to do such as well)

They are Super tough, can't be turned into zombies, and their guns rip demensional warp holes and can kill many things. Oh, Also dosnt run on Ammo so cant run out (hence infinit ammo)

Give the Warlock Enhance and now they are faster and better in combat, or give him destructor to burn hordes of zombies into the ground. Even him with just a shuriken pistol they still have very strong pshycic powers (more so then just one if we go by fluff) and the Wraithblade is just insane at cutting things down.

Besides Wraithgaurd are strong as well as tough, they could crush zombies just by hand if needed. And did i mention they have no blood in which to be infected? yeah. that.

I'll cheese it a bit. Logan Grimnar with 10 Wolf Guard in termie armor. (he makes Wolf Guards troops) 2 with assualt cannons and the rest with wolf claws.

In my army I can take Sternguard as Troops. So rofl?

What about terminators?
Deathwing wins lol.
Deepstrikes in with lightning claws. They win again
200pts usually

Then wolfguard win...

10 gun drones with one configured as a bomb carrier, or 5 as a bomb carrier or whatever...move as jetpacks , are not alive so zombies wont want to eat them, and programmed for avoidance ...go in sets up bomb...problem solved and no lives lost, except some brave gun drones.

So no IC or 15-man Wych squads? And what do you mean by Leader Characters? Sergeants and the like?

Wych Squad with:
Hydra gauntlets
Hekatrix with:
-Agonzier
-Phantasm GL

TOTAL: 100 points

I think advantages 1-3 apply here. #1 is a bit iffy though.
If there had to be just one IC, I would go with Lelith. In the fluff, nothing can touch her.

10 Fire Warriors

1 Shas'ui.

1x Markerlight, 2x Gun Drone, Bonding knife, Photon Grenades for all, HWMT on Shas'ui

Leadership: The Fire Warrior's excellent discipline, combined with the bonding knife, mean that they will follow any and all instruction to the death.

I forget the other things lol.

If troops aren't a limitation, then I would take Crisis suits. They can fly to safety, or just hover above the zombies and go at it with plasma and burst cannon, or cyclic Ion Blaster and Airbursting Fragmentation Projector. Plus I can't imagine zombies damaging the massive XV8 armour, regardless of quantity.

Imperial Guard Veteran Squad
-Sergeant Bastonne
-Heavy Flamer
-Doctrine: Grenadiers

With the stern leadership of Bastonne (and first rank, second rank ), the nigh infinite ammo of the lasgun (rechargeable in a fire with stupidly large clip sizes), heavier carapace armor and a heavy flamer in case the enemy gets too close, I think they stand a pretty good chance.

or

A Deathwing Terminator Squad
-Heavy Flamer
-Thunder Hammers/Storm Shields and/or Lightning Claws