Hi everybody. Short-term lurker, been interesting in starting a campaign off. I've done a trial run with a group and they seemed to enjoy it with Illumination.

Now I'm looking to start my own Zombie-based campaign. There will be fast-types and slow-types, but more importantly, I'm wondering how exactly to deal with a big horde of zombies, as the system doesn't look like it can easily handle large amounts of anybody, what with keeping track of damage for everybody.

Are there existing rules, or has anybody got any suggestions?

How about taking a page from the Shale Crows and treat the horde it self as an npc and not the individuals that make it up?

For a Horde, it will have wounds equal to the number of zombies that comprise it. Each successful head shot or attack on a zombies head will automatically destroy that zombie and, as such, inflicts 1 wound point of damage on the Horde. For explosives or area effect attacks which stand a chance of destroying the head of the zombies, roll damage as normal. The Horde would have a soak equal to the TB of an average member plus the AP of said member plus some number to represent the additional complecation that the head must be destroyed and missing arms or legs will only slow said horde member down as opposed to stopping them (perhaps 4?).

As long as the Horde has more then 3 wounds (three members) it will gain a +30 to it's WS for attacks only (would zombies parry?) but attacks as a single entity with only one dice roll. The Horde scores a number of hits equal to 1 + 1 per DoS just like full auto fire. These hits can then be allocated to any opponent within attack distance of the Horde at which time the target can parry or dodge as usual -note, the horde can dissipate somewhat, as long as they are all still roughly in the same area and the horde can fan out to engage as many foes in that area as possible. If the Horde members leave the area of the Horde, they become their own little Horde, their number is removed from the main Hordes wounds, and they are rolled for separately until they rejoin the main Horde.

So, if three PC's are faced against a lumbering Horde of Slow Zombies of approximately 20 zombies, the Horde would have wounds of 20 and a +30 to it's WS. As it lumbers up to the PC's they begin calling out head shots. As you cycle through their turns two of them make the shot and two zombies fall and the Horde is down to 18 wounds. Rinse and repeat until the the Horde makes it to the PC's (they should be backing away, but you never know). At that time, the Horde finally gets to attack. It makes it's WS roll with 4 DoS which means 5 attacks make it through. As all the PC's got swarmed, the GM divides the hits as evenly as he can, 2 per character with the last only getting one hit. Parries and dodges are rolled for with everyone succeeding. Two PC's are left getting hit once. Damage, etc is calculated as normal. The PC's fight back bashing in heads reducing the Horde by another 3 wounds, and the combat goes on.

Would something along those lines perhaps work for you?

I have used zombies extensively and I used the mook rules from CC, just give them 1 single wound (wounding hit kills), or if you want them a bit tougher they have to be wounded twice or once with a hit that inflicts 10 or more wounds.

Works Great!!!

Santiago said:

This. Horde/Swarm rules if you actually want the PCs to be scared and/or overpowered.

I agree, the swarm rules would work really well.