The Zombie Hoards

[The Third World]

These rules are something I came up with for an upcoming game I am going to host: they are not official, but if they became official it would be great!

My zombies have the following special rules:

6: There is no rule 6: See Section VI.

7: Resistance and Movement Rule: Because only destroying the brain is effective against a zombie and they are shambling and slow they count as wearing Heavy Armor. They cannot wear an additional set of armor unless they died in it, in which case their speed is 1/4 of what it would normally be. (.5x.5 = .25: simple math folks.) This adds 2 points to their cost.

8: Immunities and Weakness: As necromanticly reanimated bodies Zombies are immune to many forms of special damage, including but not necessarily limited to: Vacuum, Poison, Diseases, Drowning, Starvation, Radiation, Negative Energy, and Necromancy except that used to control them or by a Necromancer with them under his control. This immunity expressly DOES NOT extend to the following: Holy Water, Acid, Fire, Cold, Electricity, Positive Energy, and Healing Magic, which hurts them instead of healing them. This adds 2 points to their cost.

9: Infection: Zombies have a special attack, they gain a 1d4 supernatural disease attack: they must roll an attack, if they exceed the target's armor then the target is infected with the zombie plague and will become a zombie its self. If they have grabbed a target the roll is made on a d10. The Plague cannot be cured by any known means, or unknown one for that matter, except the target blowing their own brains out. If this is done and there is a magical means of resurrecting the target they will be cured. This Adds 1 point to their cost.

10: Intellect: Brik Wars Zombies are semi intelligent, they will pick up weapons and shields and carry them around to use on enemy Minifigs. Even guns and shields will be used correctly. However they will not drop any weapon or other item once carried, continuing to fight with guns that have run out of bullets and so forth. They also will pick up the first weapon they come across, and use it thereafter no matter how crappy it is, it is common to see zombies fighting with screwdrivers and lug-wreches instead of real weapons. Zombies however seem to have some kind of magical affinity for the weapons they bear. Those with tools instead of real weapons will quickly find how to best apply them to deconstructing the fortifications of living Minifigs... (Points cost as per weapons carried.)

11: Behavior: Brik Wars zombies do not form units, they always fight as a disorganized horde. They also do not use tactics to speak of, Zombies must always advance at top speed toward the nearest living mini fig that they can see and attempt to attack it when in range with whatever they are carrying. Those without conventional weapons will always try to infect any living minifig they encounter. If a zombie cannot see a living minifig to attack they will follow any zombie they see moving at full speed. If no zombie within range is moving with purpose they will wander 1 inch in a random direction, unless that would take them out of visual range of all other zombies around them, in which case they will move 1" toward the closest other zombie instead. (For this reason Zombies are almost always encountered in groups of at least 2.) Brik Wars zombies neither join nor leave alliances. When operating alone they will always work with other Zombies, merely because they do not attack them and both groups attack the living minifigs. This is Important: Zombies NEVER attack each other, EVER! They also Cannot become 'Peaceful', they will simply mill about indefinitely until living minifig's are spotted. Zombies do not construct things nor can they man vesicles, or other crew served weapons. These behavior Restrictions Reduce the Zombie's points cost by 2.

12: Eating: When Zombies kill a living minifig through means other than infection they will stop to feed on the Corpse. All zombies that saw the death will head for the corpse and try to eat a part of it. The normal minifig consists of nine pieces. Legs, Vitals, Hands, Arms, Torso, and Head. Each zombie will eat one part and then move on, in the order listed above. These parts are instantly digested and absorbed by the Zombie, leaving them ever hungry for more, through they will not consume more than one part from a single corpse. If the zombie hoard has not eaten all of a corpse in 1d6 rounds then the corpse will reanimate as a zombie, if it's legs are gone then it will crawl on it's arms or stumps of arms one inch at a time. If it's arms are gone but not it's torso it will slither 1/2 inch along trying to bite anyone it finds and infect them. If only the head is left a unique event happens: the zombie head becomes a proximity mine with a trigger range of one inch, exploding like a standard explosive when a living minfig comes within range but instead of killing those who's armor it overcomes it infects them with zombie plague. This last ability adds 1 point to the zombie's cost.

13: Necromancers: Many of the behavior rules above are partially or totally voided by having the Zombies be led by a Necromancer. Necromancers are treated as officers, and tend to command Zombie units. Alternately Necromancers can be Heroes. In both cases they tend to have Supernatural Dice for their magic abilities. Zombie units must stay in formation with their necromacer and each other. A necromancer can make a use4 roll to seize control of uncontrolled zombies they encounter, this roll can be made on any zombie that the necromancer can see, and counts as an attack. If the roll succeeds that zombie moves at top speed toward the necromancer and once in range becomes part of their unit. Zombies do not normally join alliances, but those led by necromancers CAN. However they cannot use benies for Inevitable Betrayal: the necromancer can though... Zombies DO NOT attack each other, even if ordered to do so by a controlling necromancer, doing so will cause the necromancer's control to be broken, and the zombies will turn on their 'master'. Necromancers can order their zombies to drop or pick up weapons and shields, however any unattended weapons or even brick-a-brack that unarmed zombies encounter will be picked up by the zombies, making getting a horde of poorly armed conscript zombies equipped with standardized gear a challenge. Zombies led by a necromancer will not attack the necromancer or his allies unless ordered to by their necromancer or if his control is broken. They move where their necromancer bids them instead of using the normal zombie movement rules. Necromancer led Zombies still stop to feed when they kill a living minifig, trying to stop them doing so takes a use4 check, which if it is failed causes the necromancer's control to be broken.

What does everyone think of this?

[Alcatraz]

Great! I love this idea! Maybe you can show a demo battle!

[The Third World]

I am going to go you all one better than that. I am going to use these rules to run a series of forum battles right here on this BBS! I mean the best play-testers for this game are right here, aren't they? Why wouldn't I use the resources available to me?

[IVhorseman]

CONS:
The eating rules are a bit needlessly complicated, and for flavor reasons, I think that they shouldn't be able to use weapons: only bites. The problem with THAT idea though is how slow they are, since if they've gotta bite, any brikwarrior will easily kite around them. Maybe they can be allowed to sprint? Keep in mind that only a few kinds of brikwars weapons run out of ammo, so a zombie with a gun is the equivalent of an armored rifleman. OR you could make it so they'd need a necromancer if they want to learn to use weapons.

PROS:
Literally everything else. Armor is a good way to represent zombitude right down to the shuffling feet. Infection is perfect. Everything else is perfect and awesome.

[stubby]

There are rules for aiming specifically at the head, if you want to do it that way instead of the Heavy Armor thing. It's a 1/3 minifig, so -2 to hit.

Also consider the advantages of Stumble Dice when zombies are staggering around randomly.

[alphafalcon541]

Want to try this. (Rushes to find zombies, Terrain, and friends.)

[Maker of Carnage]

I'd like to propose that zombie leftovers crawl toward each other and build themselves into big-ass zombies.

[Zupponn]

I'm confused. What is this zombie hoarding?

[stubby]

brains OBVIOUSLY

[IVhorseman]

Smart Zombies have regular minifig stats.

[Apollyon]

You don't recognize him from using "thew" again? It's steampenguin, using an alt to get around being banned. Alt deleted, posts deleted, 7-day IP ban. We'll see if it sticks a little better this time.

What a relief. I wonder if he will find a camera within the 7 days?

[stubby]

It'll be even easier - now he has all the time in the world