Friday 5 August 2016

Zombicide: Black Plague Abomination and Necromancer

The two most powerful enemies in the Zombicide: Black Plague core set are the Abomination and the Necromancer. Let's take a closer look at them.
The fearsome Abomination requires a minimum of 3 points of damage to kill and killing it earns the Survivor 5 experience points. There is no Damage 3 weapon in the Zombicide: Black Plague core set. To slay the Abomination, the Survivors must throw Dragon Bile in its Zone and ignite it with a Torch, creating Dragon Fire. This will kill the Abomination and anyone else standing in that Zone, including Survivors. Incidentally, Samson, the dwarf Survivor can also kill an Abomination if he reaches Red Level and uses a Damage 2 weapon in conjunction with his +1 Damage: Melee Skill.
If an Abomination wounds a Survivor the damage may not be prevented by an Armour roll. Ouch!
Being the most evil of all opponents, Necromancers do their best to spread havoc and seize power. They don't have time to battle survivors on their own, and try to flee as soon as they are discovered. Necromancers follow these special rules.
  • The Necromancer is treated as a Zombie for game purposes.
  • The Necromancer has 1 Action per Turn, 1 wound and grants 1 experience point to the Survivor who kills him.
  • A Necromancer comes with his own infected army. When a Necromancer appears, put an additional Spawn token (on its "Necromancer" side) on his entry Zone. Then, immediately resolve a regular Zombie Spawn for it. From now on, the Necromancer Spawn Zone is active: it spawns Zombies in the same way a standard Spawn Zone would. 
  • Each subsequent drawing of additional Necromancer Zombie cards, no matter the type, gives an extra Activation to every Necromancer on the board until they flee or die.
  • The game is immediately lost if a Necromancer manages to escape once there is a total of 6 Zombie Spawn Points on the board (including the Necromancer Zombie Spawn tokens).
  • A Necromancer tries to flee the board. If there are no Survivors in his Zone for him to attack during his Activation, he moves 1 Zone toward the nearest Spawn Zone (NOT his entry Zone), ignoring any Survivors he might see. if several escape Spawn Zones are at the same distance, choose one.
  • A Necromancer escapes the board as soon as he activates on his escape Spawn Zone. Replace the Necromancer Spawn token it introduced on the board with a standard Zombie Spawn token.
  • Killing a Necromancer slows down the invasion. If you manage to kill it, choose a Spawn Zone (including its own Necromancer spawn Zone) and remove it from the board. If the Necromancer Spawn Zone is still on the board after this removal. replace it with a standard one. In special circumstances, all Spawn Zone tokens may end in the same Zone. In that case, the Necromancer still comes with an additional Necromancer Spawn token, but flees as soon as he activates.
I have lost more games by having a Necromancer escape than by any other means. They have to be stopped at all costs, but this is not always possible. Worst case scenario is that a Necromancer spawns adjacent to a normal Zombie Spawn token. It has happened to me and unless your Survivors are close by you can't stop him escaping. The Abomination is very hard to kill, which makes him a serious threat. The Necromancer is very easy to kill but only if a Survivor can reach him in time.
With the introduction of the new expansion sets you can form a Cabal of Necromancers, allowing you to field more than one Necromancer on the board at the same time. I'll cover this topic in a later post.

15 comments:

  1. Very tasty Bryan. The Necro looks really fiendish and evil, that`s really nicely executed. The Abomination looks terrifying.... hey can you tell me what that thing (looks kinda like a neck tie) hanging down the front is: Is he chewing on a dangling spinal cord?

    Two more excellent pieces from BP under your belt. I bet you`re dead pleased by the way they have come out. I know I would be.

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    1. Many thanks, Steve. The thing that looks like a neck tie on the Abomination is a length of rope. It isn't clear, but it goes round his neck as well, so I guess when he was human he was hanged. You could paint it as a spinal cord or a length of intestines. That would be most fitting!

      I am pleased that not only have I painted these two but all of the figures from the core set. That's a huge relief!

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  2. Very nicely done Bryan, The Necromancer has come up a treat and I love the shiny sticky looking gore on the Abomination.

    Top work sir!

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thanks, Roger. Tamiya Clear Red is the zombie painter's best friend when it comes to painting gore. I usually mix it with a bit or red, crimson or black depending upon how fresh I want it to look.

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    2. Thanks for the tip Bryan, noted.

      Cheers Roger

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  3. Necromancers all seem to be dressed in Purple! (Yeah I painted on in Purple back in my D&D days). Maybe they have a dress code. Never seen a necromancer wearing yellow, not sure it would look good.

    As fro the Abomination he is pretty fearsome looking and I can imagine some small elation when players manage to put him to bed (Permanently).

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    1. Fair comment about the Necromancer's choice of dress colour. In my defence, I simply copied his colour scheme from the rulebook.

      You are absolutely spot on about being elated when a Survivor kills an Abomination. The problem is that it isn't easy to find Dragon Bile and a Torch to kill him. You often have one but not the other or can even go through a full game without finding either, leaving you with no other option but to run away from him.

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  4. Nice work Bryan on them both. I am not so keen on the abomination the previous game versions were better aesthetically in appearance. The Necromancer is a cracking model and will come in useful in Frostgrave and other games if you choose to experiment with other rulesets.

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    1. Simon, I think a lot of the ZBP figures would be usable in Frostgrave - heroes as well as zombies.

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  5. And Zombiecide gets harder to resist....

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  6. terrific work on the Necromancer Bryan, especially that face. Tip top stuff that clearly shows the ole peepers are performing well :-) The abomination looks suitably gory too, and doubtless those blood-dipped hands will cause many a viewer nightmares as you've got a terrific red going on them both. Loving this series. Absolutely loving it!!! :-)

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    1. Cheers, Simon. Yes, my eyesight is still good and I have a very steady hand. Both are vital for my hobby. You'll be pleased to know I have a lot more ZBP goodness planned for my next few posts. I have some interesting conversions to show, which I'm sure you'll appreciate.

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  7. Of the two, I think I prefer the Necromancer, although the Abomination is quite cool too. Interesting look at the rules - one you run from, the other runs from you - both appear to be pains in the a$$ for players. And time-travelling supers versus medieval zombies? With these posts, Bryan, you are spoiling us...

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    1. Many thanks, Jez. You are right - they are both pains in the ass. The superhero crossover is something I've been planning for a long time. I just needed a few Necromancers to make it happen. As soon as I get my new ones painted up I'll run the scenario.

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