I needed some generic monsters for a campaign I was running. I was running campaigns back to back, and I wanted to make them feel distinct from one another. I didn't want to re-use the same 2 enemy armies I'd already used, and I'd already used an army that normally is an ally as an opposing force. In other words, I wanted a nasty threat unlike anything my players had yet encountered. So I decided to use my favourite enemy, a zombie horde.
I didn't want to just use Poxwalkers and other soldiers of Nurgle's army, which would have been the obvious choice. First of all, I don't currently own any of those miniatures. Secondly, while I'm a fan of Nurgle (or at least Ku'Gath the Plaguefather, I don't have the time or money to buy, build, and paint a whole new army just to have a fun new enemy in a casual campaign.
Luckily, Zombie miniatures are pretty common these days, especially with games like Zombicide helpfully flooding the market with 60 miniatures in a single box. Here's how I use zombies in my games of Warhammer 40,000.
Zombie uniforms
Admittedly, the standard set of zombies from Zombicide don't exactly look like members of the grim dark future, dressed as they are in the remnants of business suits and gym clothes and skirts. However, they also don't not look like members of the grim dark future. There are a lot of planets in the Imperium, so who's to say one of them hasn't developed a vaguely 1950s clothing style? The design of Warhammer 40,000 borrows heavily from World War 2, so it's actually pretty believable once you see the "normal" zombie miniatures on the table.
If that's still too much a leap for you to make, there's also Zombicide: Green Horde with orc-ish zombies (obviously not Warhammer orcs, but you could just say the afflicted humans have been horribly disfigured). Alternatively, Zombicide: Black Plague has a medieval theme, which could fit in nicely as the population of a feudal world. In other words, there are several options, and with little to no creativity, you can find a way to make it work.
Datasheets and detachments
At first, my intention was to just use a Death Guard detachment for my zombie army. The first (2021? 2022?) Death Guard Combat Patrol seemed like a good fit. It consisted of 2 model types for rank-and-file infantry (Poxwalkers and Plague Marines), and 1 of each leader (Folgoth Grelch and Typhus). Assign Poxwalkers to Shamblers and Plague Marines to Runners, use Folgoth Grelch for a Fatty, and Typhus for the Abomination, and start playing! Except, I didn't end up doing that.
The "problem" with using Nurgle detachments for zombies is that they tend to lean on a theme of miasma and sickness. Classic zombies are about the insurmountable and persistent horde, the risk of being either torn apart or turned into a zombie, and the terror of witnessing corpses reanimated. There are some elements that cross over, but Nurgle is definitely a different feel from what I was going for. So I wrote my own detachment, or at least most of a detachment. I based it on existing Death Guard detachments, borrowing numbers and features, some of which are barely disguised through theming. I didn't design special Stratagems, but I did drum up an army rule, detachment rules, and datasheets for each model type.
Having played the army several times now, I think it's pretty interesting, and not just a little formidable. The army has the Scout 5" ability, so the horde starts its advance before the game even begins. They also have the Stealth ability, which imposes a -1 to Hit penalty on Ranged attacks.
For the first few turns of any game, with some luck and very powerful weapons (in other words, more than just a lasgun), you can force a good number of zombies off the board. It feels great for the opponent and bad for the zombies. But after a Move and an Advance and a Charge, the zombies are suddenly in base-to-base contact with its prey, and a bunch of melee bonuses kick in. Not only do they hit hard, they regain a zombie for each enemy model they remove from the board. So the horde is here, and it's hitting hard, and it's growing.
But wait, it gets worse (or better?) At the end of each phase, the zombies ignore all outstanding wounds. That means you might hit a Runner with a good shot and deal 1 wound, but at the end of your Shooting phase it's like nothing happened. You have to deal 2 wounds to a Runner, within a single phase, to remove it. The Fatty and Abomination, with 4 and 6 wounds respectively, are obviously much worse.
The only strategy that's worked for me so far when playing against these zombies is to sacrifice units. Send a unit of shock troops to engage with the zombies while another unit rushes over to the objective. The problem is, I sometime end up wasting a bunch of effort trying to take down the Abomination and forget to focus on objectives. It can be a tough game. The zombies aren't un-beatable, by any means. I've had victories against it, but usually at a very high cost.
Download the detachment
If you're a Zombicide player, or you happen to own a bunch of zombie miniatures, feel free to download my undead detachment and give it a try:
This is fan material, and is not supported, sponsored, or even sanctioned by Games Workshop. Have fun.
Photo used by permission of the Unsplash License.