Unit Strategy Review: How to use the Zombies of Morindan

[Joseph Sweeney]

Originally Posted by William099

So this thread mentions that Zombies Rise Again does not work against Large or Huge figures. Now that there are Zombie Hulks shouldn't that statement be adjusted? Bringing back a Zombie Hulk off of killing Nilfiem made a huge difference in my favor at a tourney I took Zombies to.

Well, considering the title of this thread is How to use the Zombies of Morindan, and not Guide of Zombies Galore, I would say no.

[OrcElfArmyOne]

Originally Posted by Joseph Sweeney

Well, considering the title of this thread is How to use the Zombies of Morindan, and not Guide of Zombies Galore, I would say no.

And this is in the classic section, not the customs.

[Owlman]

Love these guys; best moment of all time happened a few years ago. My opponent had a Deathwalker 9000, I had one Zombie adjacent to him. He decides, what the hec, I'll use my explosion SP attack on him. He rolls 1 Skull. I roll 1 shield. Deathwalker rolls...0 shields. My buddy stares in disbelief. LOL!! Bye bye, tin can...

[OrcElfArmyOne]

Originally Posted by Owlman

Love these guys; best moment of all time happened a few years ago. My opponent had a Deathwalker 9000, I had one Zombie adjacent to him. He decides, what the hec, I'll use my explosion SP attack on him. He rolls 1 Skull. I roll 1 shield. Deathwalker rolls...0 shields. My buddy stares in disbelief. LOL!! Bye bye, tin can...

Why would he ever do that? You get 1 less attack die plus you have to defend.

[Owlman]

Originally Posted by OrcElfArmyOne

Why would he ever do that? You get 1 less attack die plus you have to defend.

Lol I have no freakin' clue...But it was still memorable! He just underestimated himself badly! Haha

[mtl1998]

One army I have found extremely successful is:
Airborne Elite-110
Raelin-80
Isamu-10
Zombiesx5-300
Total: 500/21 spaces
This army is very similar to the first sample army.
Basically, use the Airborne to get rid of your opponent's range. I think ranged figures are the largest counters to zombies, so that's my reasoning on targeting ranged figures first (Krav would be a problem). Other primary targets would be the counters listed in the review. After the ranged units/ biggest threats are assassinated by the Airborne, 15 zombies backed by Raelin should hold their own, munching along the way to victory.

[eMCee64]

Originally Posted by dok

Against squad figures or 1-life heroes:

• Onslaught will cause more kills on average than three attacks of 2 against figures with 4 or more defense.
• Onslaught will cause more kills on average than two attacks of 2 and one attack of 3 against figures with 5 or more defense.
• Onslaught will cause more kills on average than one attack of 2 and two attacks of 3 against figures with 7 or more defense.
• Onslaught will cause more kills on average than three attacks of 3 against figures with 8 or more defense.

Against multi-life heroes:

• Onslaught is always better than 3 attacks of 2.
• Onslaught is stronger than two attacks of 2 and one attack of 3 against heroes with 2 defense or better.
• Onslaught is stronger than one attacks of 2 and two attack of 3 against heroes with 3 defense or better.
• Onslaught is stronger than three attacks of 3 against heroes with 4 defense or better.

Asking for help here ... probabilities are not my strong suit.
What is the math supporting these conclusions from Sisyphus' tables?

Is there ever a scenario where the probabilities would ever suggest that you not use Onslaught? (please show your work)

For example ... three zombies on high ground against a 1-life squaddie with 2 defense dice each have a 62.5% chance of scoring a hit with the average damage being 0.958 each. It's not bad, but ... if they use Onslaught their chance jumps to 90.6% with average damage of 2.354.

I just can't find a situation where Onslaught isn't ALWAYS the right choice.
Thanks in advance for the help.

[Dysole]

Sure. So with a 1 life figure, average damage isn't useful to you. The way to calculate the odds of killing it is 1-(probability it survives). Attack of 3 vs 2 kills the figure 62.5% of the time. So it has a 37.5% chance of surviving 1-(0.375^3) equals ~95% so this means 95% of the time the figure dies to 3 attacks of 3. Onslaught being a 6 vs 2 will kill the figure 90.6% of the time. So it's better to not use onslaught there.

~Dysole, hoping the explanation helps

[kevindola]

Originally Posted by eMCee64

I just can't find a situation where Onslaught isn't ALWAYS the right choice.
Thanks in advance for the help.

3 zombies against 3 vipers

[dok]

Originally Posted by eMCee64

For example ... three zombies on high ground against a 1-life squaddie with 2 defense dice each have a 62.5% chance of scoring a hit with the average damage being 0.958 each. It's not bad, but ... if they use Onslaught their chance jumps to 90.6% with average damage of 2.354.

Since we're talking about a squad figure average damage is irrelevant. All that matters is the chance of getting a kill.

So, onslaught gives a 90.6% chance of getting the kill. Each individual attack of 3 only gives a 62.5% chance... but you get three tries. The chance of at least one of the three of them hitting is 1 - (1-.625)^3 = 94.7%, which is higher than onslaught.

And that's only the relevant analysis if you only have a single target available. If you had 3 targets available, then onslaught kills .906 squaddies on average, while normal attacks would kill 1.875 on average - more than twice as many. It's not even close.

[Brewster]

Sounds like this is another army that can be played by a flow chart in all seriousness I love zombies.

[Brewster]

Father of Julian gave me a run for my money with this squad! Do not underestimate the zombies! Play it smart and never let them get height on you. Prioritize whittling down groups of 3 into groups of 2 so they can't onslaught you. Most importantly, remember you haven't beat this army until -all- of the zombies are dead!