The Mortis Horde

[Brother Tyler]

Way back when kill team was first introduced in 4th edition, I created a scenario called "Hive of the Dead" in which a kill team had to fight through a horde of plague zombies to rescue an Inquisitor and his retinue. That concept has been modified through the years/editions, and I'm currently working on a variant that is based on the Space Marine Adventures games. That's not why I'm here right now, however.

 

For quite some time now I've had the urge to take Kill Team and mix it with Space Hulk, replacing the Genestealers with plague zombies. One of the main problems with this idea, however, is that Space Hulk isn't easy to come by these days. While many of us are fortunate enough to have a copy or two, many more do not. However, with the release of the Shadowvaults, Into the Dark, and (soon) Soulshackle Kill Team boxes, and with the separate release of the Boarding Actions terrain for the Warhammer 40,000 game, many more players have access to suitable space hulk terrain. Even better, that terrain is better suited to the plague zombies because it allows hordes of plague zombies to surround and devour their foes. Moreover, cool human (not transhuman) models are available in each set, most of which come with boomsticks (the best funnest weapon for killing the walking dead).

 

So I've been working on rules for using plague zombies in Kill Team. Since GW is giving all the bespoke kill teams nifty names, I'm going with "Mortis Horde" instead of the more banal "Plague Zombies." I'll change that if I can think of (or if anyone else suggests) something better.

 

The concept is that the "regular" player takes only a fire team. Since many of the factions don't have fire teams, those will be limited to 1/2 the normal number of models, only 2 of which can be non-standard. 1 of those non-standard models might be a Leader. For example, an Elucidian Starstriders kill team normally consists of 10 models, so a fire team would be 5 models. I might take the Voidmaster and the 4 Voidsmen for my fire team. That's totally notional at this point - I need to take a closer look at the various factions to see if that's appropriate. The Mortis Horde player, meanwhile, has a very large horde of (mostly) slow moving ravenous plague zombies. These will typically be represented by blips until the other side can see them, at which point they are flipped over to reveal the number of plague zombies that are placed on the board. Or they might reveal a frenzied zombie (sprinting zombies are the WORST). The regular plague zombies aren't very fast, but there are a lot of them. There are fewer of the frenzied zombies, but they show up often enough to screw up your plans. Worse - the horde of plague zombies doesn't end. While the number of blips and plague zombie models that might be on the board at any one point in time is limited, all of them can be recycled throughout the game.

 

The plague zombies are hard to kill, too. They have the Revoltingly Resilient rule that some other Nurgle models have. Each time they would lose a wound they roll one D6: on a 5+, they don't lose that wound.

 

Also, and I haven't quite worked this out yet, enemy operatives that die during a battle might rise again, turning on their previous teammates and joining the plague zombies. That bit increases my rules from the 4 pages that I currently have, but it's nice and thematic. An enemy operative that turns into a Plague Zombie comes back as a frenzied zombie, but with their normal Sv and W values.

 

The only weapons the plague zombies have is their hands and teeth, but the more plague zombies there are around an enemy operative, the better they are. The goal of the plague zombie player is to use their weight of numbers to their advantage, surrounding their hapless foes and turning them into meat. Every time a plague zombie causes an enemy operative to lose a wound, that enemy operative also gets a pox token. At the end of the game, each enemy operative that has any pox tokens rolls one D6: if the result is equal to or lower than the number of pox tokens that they have, they turn into a plague zombie and are removed from the dataslate. Some enemy operatives don't have to make this roll (e.g., Necrons and Drones) and some get to re-roll due to their transhuman physiology (e.g., Adeptus Astartes and Heretic Astartes).

 

The plague zombies don't get ploys, equipment, etc., but they get to bring more plague zombies onto the board each turn (in the form of blips). They also don't worry about experience or casualties or bases of operations or any of that stuff. As the campaign progresses, though, there will be more and more of them in scenarios. For anyone that has been wondering what happened to all of the crews of the various craft that have merged into the Gallowdark, problem solved (not that that helps you any).

 

The enemy operatives have two optional battle honours, however. Any enemy operative that gains a Combat or Marksman Battle Honour can instead choose to take the Zombie Hunter Battle Honour. When an enemy operative has this Battle Honour, plague zombies roll two D6 (instead of one) when making a Revoltingly Resilient roll from wounds this enemy operative causes, taking the lower result (i.e., this operative is more likely to kill the plague zombie). And if an enemy operative that has the Zombie Hunter Battle Honour later gains another Combat or Marksman Battle Honour in the campaign, they can take the Zombie Slayer Battle Honour. Now they force plague zombies to roll three dice when making that Revoltingly Resilient check.

 

This is still at the concept stage - I only came up with the idea yesterday (and it distracted me from all of the other stuff I was supposed to be working on). It is intended to be developed as a short campaign. I definitely need to create the blip counters. And since not everyone has plague zombie models, I might include zombie tokens/standees, too. And then I need to develop scenarios and playtest. Another thing I'm working on for this is a Gallowdark map tool, much like the deployment maps file that I created for Warhammer 40,000. This tool will enable me to create Kill Team scenario maps using the Gallowdark terrain, including blocks for creating walls, doors, etc. This will be made available for download once I get it finished.

 

Since this is still at the early stages of development, I'm quite open to your ideas, especially for scenarios and anything that you think will be complicated (and which needs to be streamlined). I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible. Also, there are a few factions whose rules I don't have (Moroch, Chalnath, Into the Dark) so I won't know where my fire team rules might need to be adjusted for them.

[Brother Tyler]

Eureka! I figured out how to incorporate the rules for seeing if "killed" enemy operatives rise again as plague zombies, and without increasing the page count.

 

First, any Mortis Horde models within 1" of the fallen enemy operative roll one D6 to see if they stay to eat the corpse. On a 4+, they stay. Otherwise, they move on in search of new food. If any Mortis Horde models stay to devour a fallen enemy operative, that enemy operative is slain and is removed from the dataslate.

 

If no Mortis Horde models remain to devour the fallen enemy operative, the model is laid on its side or marked to show that it has fallen. During the Strategy Phase of each subsequent Turning Point, the fallen enemy operative rolls 2D6 to see if they rise again. As with the post-game Virus test, some models are immune to this based on keywords (ARCANA ASTARTES, BUBONIC ASTARTES, DAEMON, DRONE, NECRON, and NURGLE); and some models get to roll 3D6 because of their transhuman physiology (ADEPTUS ASTARTES, ADEPTUS CUSTODES, HERETIC ASTARTES, and SANCTIC ASTARTES). If the result is equal to or less than the number of Pox counters they have, they become a Frenzied Zombie with their normal Sv and full W. They are considered slain and removed from the dataslate, but are controlled by the Mortis Horde player for the rest of the scenario.

 

If no Mortis Horde models remain to devour the fallen enemy operative and that enemy operative doesn't rise again during the battle, they might live! But first they have to pass the post-game Virus test.

 

All of the above falls under the (currently named) JOINING THE HORDE rule. This rule is referenced in the Unique Actions of the Plague Zombie and Frenzied Zombie datacards.

 

The post-game Virus test is exactly the same as above, but also allows for one re-roll per living MEDIC that deployed in the scenario.

 

I had to revise the Virus test from what I described previously because I realized that most models have more than 6 Wounds, rendering a D6 roll pointless. As it is, the tougher an operative is (i.e., the more Wounds it has), the more likely it is to become a plague zombie if it is "killed" during the battle. C'est la vie.

[sitnam]

Given the simplicity of the zombies, this might actually make a neat Solohammer ruleset too. Perhaps some sort of action system similar to what the AI has in Warhammer Quest fit in well.

 

Id love to give it a try, particularly once I get my ITD set painted up.

 

The beauty of zombies is that you could use a ton of sources to acquire a horde. Poxwalkers are an obvious choice, but cheaper third party alternatives also exist. Even AoS Deadwalkers could fit the bill

[firestorm40k]

This sounds tremendous fun!  I built a multitude of 'plague zombies' (conversions using the old WFB zombie kit, cadian and Catachan parts) for a campaign just over 10nyears ago, and I also have 40 or so Poxwalkers in my Death Guard army - so this is a mode I'll definitely try out at some point 

[Brother Tyler]

So...things that need to be done:

• Develop missions (includes layouts, special rules, etc. - eminently do-able with the Gallowdark Map Workbook, though I'll have a special version for this campaign)
• Develop tokens (blips, zombie standees, zombie entry point markers, turned player model markers, etc.)
• Develop "hobby guide" (e.g., recommendations on models to use)
• Develop campaign rules (fire teams, etc.)

Here's the first draft of the Mortis Horde plague zombie (not campaign) rules:

 

   

(click for full size versions)

 

My goal (perhaps not tenable) is to have a four-page set of rules for the faction, with all of the rules needed during the game on pages 2 and 3.

 

I realized that my adjustment to the Virus test for the JOINING THE HORDE and ENEMY OPERATIVE CASUALTIES sections (see page 4) might have been okay the first time. With a damage of 2/3 and the Pox Vector ability (see page 3) giving a pox token only when a wound is lost (the intent is one pox token per attack, not one per wound - I may have to reword Pox Vector), and with most models having fewer than 10 wounds, the Virus test on one D6 might be appropriate.

[Brother Tyler]

Tokens/markers I think I need:

• Blips (blip on one side, 1, 2, 3, or F on the other)
• Fallen/Wounded (skull/blood drop on one side to show that an operative has been "killed," Nurgle icon on the other to show that the operative has become a zombie)
• Entry Points (plain on one side, 1-6 on the other for random entry used in solo play)
• Hidden Setup Markers (objective marker on one side (?), what you find on the other - might include caches, bodies, nothing, or plague zombies) (these might be done via a chart instead)
• Plague zombie standees/markers (regular plague zombies and frenzied zombies)
• Pox markers (smaller than blips, will probably have a Nurgle icon on both sides - show that an operative has been wounded by the Mortis Horde zombies)

[Brother Tyler]

First marker completed (?):

The side with the single skull marks an operative that has been reduced to 0 or fewer wounds and which has pox tokens. Models marked in this way roll every turning point to see if they rise as plague zombies.

 

The side with the three skulls indicates that the operative has turned into a plague zombie and is controlled by the Mortis Horde player (or the AI in a solo game).

[Brother Tyler]

Second marker completed (?):

This is the pox token that an operative will receive any time a zombie causes 1 or more wounds. It's the same on both sides. Where the Fallen/Zombie marker (above) will be about 1", this one will be about 3/4".

 

I decided that my original idea of a Nurgle icon would be confusing since that icon is on the Zombie marker (above), so I changed it to the blood drop.

[Brother Tyler]

Third marker completed (?):

I went with an actual blip instead of a larger auspex readout for the front/blip side.

 

The reverse (green) side shows 1, 2, or 3 plague zombies or a frenzied zombie. The exclamation point for the frenzied zombie is red to differentiate it from the white "1" for the plague zombie.

 

These markers will be 1".

[Brother Tyler]

Fourth marker completed (?):

There are six entry point markers. Each is blank on one side, with a black number 1-6 on the other. The blank side is for normal play when a player is controlling the zombies, allowing the player to choose where to bring blips/zombies onto the board. The numbered side is for solo play, allowing a D6 to randomly determine where blips/zombies are brought onto the board.

 

These will be about 1".

[Brother Tyler]

After thinking about it a bit more, markers for hidden setup probably won't be necessary. In all likelihood, the existing objective markers will suffice. If mission development creates a requirement for hidden setup markers, it won't be a problem to whip some up (I may have some prepared just in case).

 

I'm not overly worried about the zombie standees right now. My focus is on some basic campaign rules, including the guidelines for creating fire teams (most important for those factions that don't have fire teams).

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, a late addition to the tokens/markers. I realized that at least one of the missions will require the player's operative(s) to escape at a certain point on the map. Since the regular objective markers are likely to be used for other purposes, I needed another token/marker. So I've lifted a token/marker from another project:

 

 

This will be a double-sided 1" marker.

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, now for the fire team rules. I have the Compendium, Nachmund, and 2022 Annual books, so the following will be built based on those books. I'll have Shadowvaults and Into the Dark [and hopefully Soulshackle] soon. If anything below doesn't work for factions in other books, please let me know. Note that these are descriptive rather than prescriptive. This is not for Matched Play so we're not going to get bogged down in trying to develop watertight rules.

 

• Instead of using a full kill team, the Mortis Horde campaign uses fire teams.
• If your faction's rules are based on fire teams (e.g., most of the factions in the Compendium), simply use one of those fire teams.
• If your faction's rules are not based on fire teams, use the following steps to create your fire team:

1. Determine the total number of operatives that may be in your faction's kill team (including Leaders).
2. Divide that by 2, rounding up. The result is the number of operatives in your fire team.
3. At least 1/2 of the operatives in your fire team must be of the basic type for your faction. These are typically the type that are not limited in the kill team (except by the size of the kill team).
4. Up to 1/2 of the operatives in your fire team (rounding down) may be other types of operatives available to the kill team. These include the LEADER and other non-basic types of operatives. Note that you are not required to have a LEADER in your fire team.
5. Any additional limitations in your faction rules continue to apply. For example, operatives that are limited to one per kill team are one per fire team.

In the examples below I'm quoting directly from the rules as published. Some of these have changed via balance dataslates, but I'm not including those changes below. These are simply to illustrate the process above as applied to different types of kill teams. When you create your fire teams, use the most current information based on the published rules and any applicable balance dataslates or rules corrections. The top section of each example is from the published rules. The description of the resulting fire team is described at the crux .

 

Example 1: Space Marine Kill Team (from the Compendium)

 

A SPACE MARINE  kill team consists of one fire team selected from the following list:

• INTERCESSOR
• ASSAULT INTERCESSOR
• INCURSOR
• INFILTRATOR
• REIVER
• HEAVY INTERCESSOR
• TACTICAL MARINE
• SCOUT
• DEATHWATCH VETERAN

 A SPACE MARINE  fire team for the Mortis Horde campaign is simply one of those fire teams.

 

Example 2:  Grey Knight Kill Team (from the Compendium)

 

A GREY KNIGHT  kill team includes one GREY KNIGHT JUSTICAR ... It also includes four GREY KNIGHT  operatives selected from the following list:

• GREY KNIGHT WARRIOR...
• GREY KNIGHT GUNNER...

Your kill team can only include up to one GREY KNIGHT GUNNER operative.

 

 Since a GREY KNIGHT  kill team consists of five total operatives, a GREY KNIGHT  fire team consists of three total operatives (1/2, rounded up). Two of those (1/2 or more) must be GREY KNIGHT WARRIORs. The third may be either a GREY KNIGHT JUSTICAR, a GREY KNIGHT WARRIOR, or a GREY KNIGHT GUNNER. The limit of one GREY KNIGHT GUNNER applies, though it's redundant since only one operative in the fire team can be something other than a GREY KNIGHT WARRIOR.

 

Example 3: Intercession Squad Kill Team (available for free download from Warhammer Community)

 

1 INTERCESSION SQUAD operative selected from the following list:

• ASSAULT INTERCESSOR SERGEANT...
• INTERCESSOR SERGEANT...

5 INTERCESSION SQUAD operatives selected from the following list:

• ASSAULT INTERCESSOR WARRIOR...
• ASSAULT INTERCESSOR GRENADIER...
• INTERCESSOR WARRIOR...
• INTERCESSOR GUNNER...

Other than [ASSAULT INTERCESSOR or INTERCESSOR] WARRIOR operatives, your kill team can only include each operative above once.

 

 Since an INTERCESSION SQUAD  kill team consists of six total operatives, an INTERCESSION SQUAD  fire team consists of three total operatives (1/2, rounded up). Two of those (1/2 or more) must be [ASSAULT INTERCESSOR or INTERCESSOR] WARRIORs. The third may be either an ASSAULT INTERCESSOR SERGEANT, an INTERCESSOR SERGEANT, an ASSAULT INTERCESSOR GRENADIER, or an INTERCESSOR GUNNER. The limit of one ASSUALT INTERCESSOR GRENADIER and one INTERCESSOR GUNNER applies, though it's redundant since only one operative in the fire team can be something other than a [ASSAULT INTERCESSOR or INTERCESSOR] WARRIOR.

 

So playtesting/development questions:

1. Is the basic intent clear?
2. Is the basic intent accurately conveyed in the rules/process?
3. Do the examples help to convey the intent and rules/process?
4. Are there any published kill teams in other books that won't work under the process as described? Or which might require either an example or specific rules in the campaign?

Whether or not the fire team rules above give the player a chance will have to be determined in playtesting. To be honest, while most missions use a fire team, it's possible that some may use a kill team (using the normal rules); and some may involve an individual. In those cases, the player will choose one of the operatives in their fire team.

[Lysimachus]

I wasn't sure about only using half teams, but I suppose it makes sense to give the feel of a few desperate individuals against the horde?

 

It's very different for the non-Compendium teams to be forced to use mostly 'standard' warriors. In most teams there are enough specialists to choose from that a basic dude isn't actually seen very often? But again I suppose simplicity is probably not a bad idea.

 

How would you work Equipment Points? Cut them entirely, or allow 5 rather than 10? (Think I'd be inclined to go for the latter, as it's nice to have a few options to play with?)

[Brother Tyler]

To be honest, I hadn't even thought about Equipment Points. Unless/until playtesting leads to some other conclusion, I'll just go with your idea of 5 rather than 10.

 

There are probably some other things that I omitted and really need to look into.

 

I think that there will be some missions in which full kill teams are used, and those kill teams will be created as normal. The early missions in the campaign, however, will focus on the desperate actions of both individuals and small groups (fire teams) against the horde. Picture the classic zombie movie progression - the main protagonist finds himself alone against the walking dead (e.g., Shaun bumbling through his neighborhood as the zombie apocalypse started). They survive and link up with other individuals (e.g., Shaun and Ed linked up for some gaming, then fun with zombies and records), the group eventually growing in size to be comparable to a fire team (e.g., Dianne, David, and Barbara join Shaun and Ed). They might then become even larger or temporarily link up with another team (e.g., Shaun's group meets Liz's group). The full kill team missions will (may) occur at the end of the campaign.

 

And eventually I think I'll build rules for the Mortis Horde as a normal Kill Team faction for Matched Play (or even for Warhammer 40,000). That will come further down the road, though. For now I want to focus on the narrative Mortis Horde campaign.

[Brother Tyler]

I've been working on some mission ideas for playtesting. A key observation I've made is that creating good maps isn't easy, especially when you're limited to the terrain pieces that (I think) are common to all of the Kill Team boxes set in the Gallowdark.

 

I'm envisioning the campaign following the normal progression: 9 total missions, in 3 groups of 3. I'm looking at the first group as solo adventures - the Survivor player (adopting the language of Zombicide) uses 1 operative from their fire team in each of the missions. The concept is that the first group of missions portrays the efforts of each individual to link up with the rest of the fire team (so mission 1.1 would feature 1 operative, mission 1.2 would feature another, and mission 1.3 would feature a third). Players could run each of the members of their fire team through these missions if they want, but that's unnecessary. Missions 2.1-3.3 would feature the full fire team (and some might feature a kill team). The solo missions are intended to teach the basics of the campaign, especially focusing on where it is different from a normal Kill Team narrative campaign (i.e., the zombies).

 

This mission is intended to be the hardest of the three solo missions, forcing a lone operative to start at a locked security door, fight their way through to the control panel (conveniently located at the opposite corner), reactivate power, and then get back to the security door to escape. I'm not totally satisfied that I have the map or difficulty level right, but playtesting will help with that (I know that I'll be playtesting, but I hope that others are willing to try it out). Some initial changes I'm considering are to the blips, probably including some 3 and ! (frenzied zombie) blips. Missions 1.1 and 1.2 will be more limited, so this one should really introduce the whole range of blips/zombies to the player.

 

The image and pdf of the mission are below. I'll provide a download file with tokens/markers soon.

 

Anyhoo, if you have time and want to playtest and tell me how to improve this, it would be greatly appreciated (the .pdf is attached below the image).

 

 

 

Mission 1.3.pdf

[Brother Tyler]

The files for playtesting can be seen here.

[Brother Tyler]

On 2/12/2023 at 6:57 AM, Lysimachus said:

I wasn't sure about only using half teams, but I suppose it makes sense to give the feel of a few desperate individuals against the horde?

 

It's very different for the non-Compendium teams to be forced to use mostly 'standard' warriors. In most teams there are enough specialists to choose from that a basic dude isn't actually seen very often? But again I suppose simplicity is probably not a bad idea.

 

(After thinking more about this feedback...)

 

Yes, some sense of desperation is desired, but I'm not sure that I need to be as restrictive. Perhaps the fire team rules should be adjusted so that 1 or more models must be of the basic type. This gives players a bit more freedom with their choices, especially since it might not be as fun for them to have to use significantly more of an operative type that they might not have many of to begin with. We could then include an "iron man" version of the fire team rules where at least half of the fire team must be basic operatives, leaving this as an option for players that want to make the campaign a bit more difficult.

 

Looking at the campaign, I'm considering the following:

 

1.1 - solo operative, basics of zombie control (blips), must get from point A to point B

1.2 - solo operative, a little more in the way of zombies (i.e., slightly more difficult than 1.1), must get from point A to point B

1.3 - solo operative, all of the zombie stuff (i.e., slightly more difficult than 1.2), must get from point A to point B, then back to point A

 

2.1 - full fire team, must get from point A to point B

2.2 - full fire team, must search for stuff

2.3 - full fire team, must defend a position from a horde of zombies

 

3.1 - full fire team, must fight their way through zombies to someone important

3.2 - full fire team + someone important - must escort someone important through zombie infested territory

3.3 - full fire team + someone important - must escort someone important through zombie infested territory, but must activate some stuff to make that happen

 

This is all notional at the moment. I'm just trying to build some sort of storyline progression. The campaign is going to have a specific theme, though I'm not sure if it will be the depths of a hive world (most likely) or a ship. I think the hive world gives the most flexibility as the majority of forces of the Imperium can have a strong rationale for being on a hive world and the lore can be written in a fairly generic fashion. For example, I envision mission 3.3 as a sort of escape to a rescue site where the fire team and someone important will be picked up. It might be a landing pad, a clearing that a vehicle can get to (Rhino, Chimera, whatever), or it could just be an escape pod or hangar if the player(s) choose the ship setting.

[Brother Tyler]

The stand-in tokens I'm using for the zombies are actually borrowed from another project, so they include elements that don't make sense here. Those elements can be ignored, however, so this saves me the effort of making up new tokens (though I might get around to that later). I want to focus on playtesting things so it was easier for me to use existing tokens than take the time to create new ones just for this, print them, cut them out, then prepare them (either laminating them if they're double-sided or sticking them to discs/bases).

 

The regular plague zombie token:

 

The frenzied plague zombie token:

 

The triangular shape is for line of sight in the other project and doesn't apply here. Similarly, the numbers are for movement in that other game (where their roles are reversed - the 5 is for the frenzied zombie there and the 3 is for the regular plague zombie). So all that really matters is the differentiation between the relatively intact frenzied zombie (bottom) and the more decomposed regular plague zombie (top).

 

These tokens will be 1" (roughly matching up to a 25mm base) and will have the same image on both sides.

[Brother Tyler]

After seeing how difficult it is for many of us to get various Gallowdark sets (i.e., the FOMO is strong), I've decided that the terrain in the Mortis Horde campaign will be limited to the basic Gallowdark terrain that is common to all sets - the regular walls, pillars, and end walls. Any special terrain will have to be represented by objective markers (if necessary) or abstracted (if possible). Either that or the mission rules will have to provide allowances, possibly by providing some markers that can substitute as the different types of terrain that comes in various Gallowdark kits.

 

Also, I'm adjusting the zombie tokens for the playtest to make it easier to differentiate between the regular plague zombies and the frenzied plague zombies.

 

 

As before, ignore the number, line of sight arc, and (now) the arrow. The green makes it seem "safer" than the red, so this is the regular plague zombie, with the red being the frenzied zombie.

[Brother Tyler]

These are the new markers - either for hidden setup or as proxies for special terrain. They feature a black skull on a blue field on one side and a number (1-10) in black on a blue field on the other. These will be 1" discs:

These replace the orange hidden setup (actually, objective) markers on the playtest map. Having 10 gives a bit more variety, allowing for more options in what these might be when they are flipped over.