Ok, let me deliver the bad news first...
Zombies are totally brainless and without any of those attributes that might come with their living and breathing counterparts that actually have a soul driving them onwards. Neither do they have any decent weaponry or armour, they were just villagers in the wrong place at the wrong time :)
The only drive your average Zombie has is where to get his next dinner of brains (maybe with a side order of intestines and some red sauce).
Accordingly, Zombies have an initiative and weapon skill of 1 and, worse still, a strength and toughness of 2 !
So, what's the point of selecting them then ?
Well, first of all you might not want to select them but that doesn't mean you won't be using them during the battle. They are relatively easy to form into a unit from nothing with the Raise Dead spell (casting power 5). Typically you will create units of 6 models with the Raise Dead Spell - you can easily endow this small band to create a large unit using the Invocation of Nehek spell which raises D6 + 4 (ie. an average of 7.5 new Zombies.
The reasons for selecting or raising Zombies are manifold (or zombiefold) :-
1) they may be rubbish in combat but they will never rout and are cheap. Many commanders will pay a lot of points for other unbreakable units.
This makes them an excellent blocking unit allowing your other forces to flank and rear charge enemy ranked units.
2) you can raise units where none previously existed.
This can be useful for capturing table quarters in the latter part of the game or other strategic objectives which might be worth victory points.
3) they are great for providing a missile wall and for blocking line of sight for war machines (they will never panic due to missile fire casualties - the undead never do)
5) they contribute towards the minimum number of core units you must take.
6) they are excellent for overwhelming your enemy and for ruining his/her plans. The thing about the undead is that it's quite easy to restore them to their former unit size after they have suffered casualties. * What this means is that your enemy has to totally destroy a unit before it loses all it's tactical value. A unit of say 4 High Elf spearmen should be little concern to an enemy. Conversely, a unit of 1 zombie should be of concern (depending on it's position of the battlefield) because it can quickly become a unit of 20 or more.
* Zombies can be increased above their starting unit size - there is no need to spend any extra points on vampiric powers to do this.
The Shambling Horde
You just cannot rely on a Zombie to do anything right ! (except when it comes to devouring the dead)They simply refuse to pursue when, or should I say "if" ? they are fortunate enough to be on the winning side in multiple combats **
** they are unlikely to be able to beat any rank and file enemies on their own. They might shift missile troops, skirmishers and stragglers though through their combat resolution bonus..
Instead of pursuing the zombies inflict D6 strength 2 hits for each full rank of 5***. As a result a lot of higher toughness enemies will get away with only 2 or 3 casualities. This makes it even more important that you have other units in the combat to ensure you get the opportunity to properly "run down" the enemy routers.
*** there is no limit to the number of ranks, unlike the limit of 3 ranks for combat resolution. If you have a huge unit of 6 ranks then you will automatically deliver 6D6 strength 2 hits (even that number of hits will on average kill only 2 enemies with a toughness 4 and armour save of 5. Like I said, Zombies are not great in combat)
Using Zombies (summary)
Make sure you have some Zombies to field in every battle, even if you don't select them in your army from the outset.Use them to shield the rest of your army and keep marching them forward. Irrespective of the dangers.
Try to use your Zombies to engage the enemy in the front while your other forces flank charge the enemy.
Make sure your Zombie units are large (a minimum of 20* models) and always take a standard and musician (you really need that rank and standard bonus)
* small units of Zombies are next to useless in combat and will be destroyed very quickly (all undead suffer extra wounds equal to the combat resolution difference when they lose a combat)
Last but not least, embrace your Zombie loses, don't worry about them being slaughtered, there are plenty more where they came from. Besides, they were meant to be sent back to the grave - they shouldn't be alive anyway !
PS. There is one last thing I haven't mentioned in relation to all these undead units and that's.... F E A R !!!
This is one of the most important elements to the game that you need to understand well when fielding either the Vampire Counts or Tomb Kings Army. As such, I feel it is worth writing a whole article dedicated to Fear (and which might well scare anyone facing the undead in battle !) - watch this space...
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