As some of you have read in recent posts, Crazy424 likes his meta-lists. The most recent of these takes the form of a couple of HQ choices and lots of Zombies with some Chaos Spawn thrown in for good measure. I'm always up for disproving meta-lists so we arranged a 1500pt, three player 'Battle Royale', Ruby playing his beloved Space Marines, Crazy424 playing a version of the Zombie list (with 100+ Zombies) and me playing mostly Orks (with a Wraithknight thrown in just because Ruby hates it).
The first scary part about playing against the Zombie list is the sheer number of models. Crazy was proxying all of them (not a single correct model to his name) and the deployment was terrifying - his models completely covered one edge of a 72" board at least three models deep! Add to that the extra infiltrating Zombies who appeared with 18" of both of our lines and it makes a formidable sight. Then there's the Spawn who are terrifying in small numbers, let alone when there are 15+ of them nestling between the groups of Zombies. Finally, the presence of Typhus and Huron (???) in a few of the Zombie squads really posed some serious problems when assaulting (lucky I went with Orks then...).
The game was surprising quick to play with Ruby and I concentrating on killing the Zombies while taking token pot-shots at each other. In the end, we managed to wipe out the horde - Typhus and the Ork Warboss killing each other - but we had very little left on the table and we both concentrated a lot of fire-power against Crazy424. In effect, Crazy was playing a 1500pt army against a 3000pt army, and doing very well.
So what did well against the Zombies and Spawn?
Space Marines
Ruby's Space Marines were slightly disappointing, largely due to the proximity of Typhus in a massive group of Zombies. His Vanguard jumped into the combat and managed to cause some damage but Typhus spent two turns picking off the Sergeant, then the Chapter Master, becoming almost unstoppable in the process. As more Zombies and Spawn piled into the combat, the Vanguard were understandably overwhelmed. The Sternguard and Tactical squads then fell like dominoes to the onslaught. The Whirlwind was completely ineffective, killing a single Zombie in the whole game - the Wraith Knight put it out of it's misery in turn 4.It wasn't all doom-and-gloom for Ruby though and his Storm Raven killed a lot (including all of my Lootas) without losing a single Hull Point. His Scouts also did some damage to my Wraith Knight thanks to some good rolling. Finally, even though both units were wiped out, the Vanguard and Sternguard did hold up a sizeable chunk of Crazy's army for much of the game, surviving when we all thought they'd be wiped out.
Orks
The Storm Boyz jumped into combat in turn 1 and beyond 5 Hammer of Wrath attacks, they were wiped out before they could land a single blow - this was more due to poor tactics than the unit doing badly. Surprising, Ork Boyz also didn't fare too well against the hordes, partly because of Crazy's ability to roll 5s and 6s for FNP and partly because the Zombies strike first in combat - correct, even the Dead are quicker than Orks! The Warbikers also did badly against the Spawn - lacking the strength needed to wound the T6 W3 beasts - and being wiped out in the process.However, Nobz with Big Choppas and a Warboss in Mega Armour did very well against the Spawn suffering little in return. My Burnas in a Trukk also dealt out a lot of pain, probably being the hero unit for the Orks. They were only stopped by Typhus and even then, they killed all the remaining Zombies he was with. The Lootas also did fairly taking down some Spawn and Zombies, and taking fruitless pot-shots at the Storm Raven before it destroyed them.
Eldar
For the Eldar, the Wraith Knight killed a lot of Zombies in turn 1, nothing in turn 2 (I forgot to shoot it), the Whirlwind in turn 3, then chased Typhus around the scenery trying to remove his last wound. In other words, it did very well and managed to stay out of combat where it would have been stuck for the whole game. The Rangers and Spiritseer were content taking shots at Ruby's army and killing a Spawn when it charged in turn 3 - the Spiritseer's Fleshbane weapon saving the Rangers from being wiped out.
Conclusion
If you agree to play against the Zombie list in a normal, two-player game, my advice is:- Don't do it!
- Deploy towards the back of you deployment zone - this will give you time to thin down the enemy and will (hopefully) allow you to deal with the Spawn first before being engulfed by the Zombies.
- Have lots of fire-power - Zombies have 6+ armour and 5+ FNP so don't worry about AP values. High Strength weapons will also help against the Spawn.
- If you can, take flyers - the list doesn't have any anti-flyer or shooting units so they should have free reign of the battlefield. My thought was to take the Wraith Fighter to make the Zombies run (the Terrify psychic power removes the Fearless USR) but I haven't had a chance to try this theory.