Looks like there's a bit of confusion going on in the world of Warhammer 40k players! With the release of the new Chaos Space Marines codex, people are trying their best to come up with the most effective and efficient unit and list builds possible, but it seems some are just too eager to do so and are forgetting the most important rule of list building: READ YOUR BOOK!
So everyone's all excited about the new Plague Zombie unit that Typhus can make. Here's his "Plague Zombies" rule verbatim:
Plague Zombies: Any Chaos Cultist units (see the army list, page 95) in the same army as Typhus can be nominated as Plague Zombies. Plague Zombies are Chosen Cultists that have the Fearless, Feel No Pain and Slow and Purposeful special rules, and cannot purchase options. They are armed with a single close combat weapon - any guns are used strictly for the purposes of clubbing their victims to death!
Notice the highlighted section, "and cannot purchase options" above. What people are misunderstanding is that the ability to buy extra models in a Cultist unit is listed under the heading "Options:" on the bottom of page 95. The Plague Zombie rule clearly states that you cannot take options for cultist units that are nominated as Plauge Zombies in an army with Typhus in it. This would clearly include the "option" of purchasing extra Zombie models. Therefor any Plague Zombie units you see in future games of 40k will always be 10 models deep, presumably to prevent multiple 35-model bog-down blobs from being a thing in 40k. As mainly a loyalist player, I have to say, na-na-boo-boo. :P
Nice. I'll pass this around. :)
ReplyDeleteSweet! Thanks! However, beware, many MANY People are misinterpreting how you pay for the unit by saying something along the lines of "but if I make it a larger unit first, then apply the Plague Zombie rule after they're over 10 models...". Apparently people are trying to interject the concept of "timing" into army lists and that's just silly.
ReplyDeleteI know what they're really trying to say, but rules as written state that plague zombies cannot purchase "options" which includes weapons, icons, and more dudes (again, it all falls under "options").
Hmmmm.... Well if that becomes valid, I may take a special and heavy weapon and then bring my TAC squad back down to 5. I mean, I bought them while it was at 10, right? :P
ReplyDeleteLOL! Yeah, exactly. :P
ReplyDeletewhile i agree that this is how we must play it for now, i think the intention was clearly not to only allow units of ten zombies. it will almost certainly be FAQed the other way. poor rules writing strikes again!
ReplyDeleteAtreides, I agree...somewhat. I think we all wanted to see hordes of zombies running (or walking) around the tables in 40k. However, 35-man Zombie units with Fearless and Feel No Pain for just 150 points is probably the most time-consuming, and ultimately unbalanced thing you could put on a table right now. With Fearless, they're not running away or losing extra models EVER. With Feel No Pain, they're only going to lose approximately 2/3rds of what they normally would unless you're hitting them with S6 weaponry (which would ignore FNP because it's double their toughness). With the unit potentially even having 4+ cover in a ruin near an objective, 35-man zombie units might just be a bit over-the-top. I'm not saying I don't want to see 35-man zombie units, but they better not have straight-up fearless due to how amazing it is in 6th. I hope I made my point clearly! :D
ReplyDeleteI see both sides. The only thing that would leave me to believe that GW would release the rule broken would be if there was a finecast zombie model. But seeing as there's no way for them to make gobs of money on something people can convert or buy from an alternate source for a fraction of the price, then it makes sense to they'd leave it limited :P
ReplyDeleteWow. Goatboy even respected RAW for this! Whoa!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.belloflostsouls.net/2012/10/goatboy-csm-thank-goodness.html
More input:
ReplyDelete35 zombies might not be impossible to kill, but they are DIRT cheap and would be ridiculous to have 140 of them coming at you for 600 points. You wouldnt be able to chew through them all fast enough and then they would bog you down forever, allowing the marines in the army to have free reign of their targets. It would be pretty silly. And how many S6 guns do you have in your army? If you're guard maybe a lot, everyone else, not so much. "nominate" in this case is obviously NOT before deployment, it's when you're writing your list, because it says they can't TAKE options. If it were after deployment, it would say they can't USE any of their optional gear.
Extra models are options in that codex, and the codex says (on page 90, number 7) anything listed for a unit is an option. The extra guys are listed there, hence they are options, and that's illegal because Plague Zombies cannot purchase options, and what's the first option listed? More models. YES, we'll probably see an FAQ to allow 35, but until then RAW is quite clear.
Trust me, I'm on board with 35-zombie units but it's just not RAW, regardless of how hard we want it to be.
you can add extra zombies it was fixed the FAQ
ReplyDeleteYeah it certainly was, but this article was written well before then. As you can see, your comment is three years after my last comment lol.
ReplyDelete