Best Rules For Skirmish Against Zombie Horde

[Mr. White]

I'm not sold on Last Days, atm and I plan to play at 20mm (though maybe scale isn't super important), at any rate what's the best light ruleset for skirmishing during a zombie invasion? Not a handful of zeds on the table, but a lot.

[sundayhero]

Hi,

Personaly I like project Z from warlord games, but it's not available anymore I believe.

Maybe you could take a look on this ?

https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/useme-series-of-tabletop-gaming-titles/products/um009-useme-zombie-dawn

[Hobgoblin]

Pulp Alley's pretty good for heavily asymmetrical games. I looked into this recently for a sci-fi game, and it seemed to me to be the ruleset that held up best for very small groups against very large groups. You could easily have a game with, say, two players with five or six heroes each (or fewer) and two others with up to 50 zombies and a zombie leader/necromancer each - so as many as 100-odd zombies on the table versus 10 or fewer survivors.

It's also eminently manageable, because the zombies will all be in gangs/mobs of five, with each figure essentially just a hit point for that group. So running 30 or 50 zombies isn't any harder than running six or ten normal characters. Pulp Alley leagues get 10 slots, which you can fill with five-strong gangs (at 2 slots each) or mobs (at 1 slot each) instead of sidekicks, allies and followers.

There's also a special horror deck for Pulp Alley. I've never used it (can't remember if I have it in PDF). The main rules have provision for bystanders, which could add a lot of character to a zombie game.

[Dentatus]

I take it you want a Modern setting, yes?

The Zombicide rule book is free. Adapt it to your tabletop, perhaps?

https://www.zombicide.com/dl/rulebook-zombicide-season-1.pdf

2 hour Wargames All Things Zombie, maybe?

https://www.twohourwargames.com/horror1.html

and that kinda exhausts my knowledge of Zombie-centric rule sets. so yeah...


 

[nandrin]

Turf War Z. Really cool mechanic how zombies move as a brainless horde. We had some nailbiters, very cinematic.

[Cypher226]

There's always the wonderfully titled 'Akula' s Rules: Second Edition' as well:
https://freewargamesrules.fandom.com/wiki/AR:SE

[comet5]

We always liked Ambush Z from Ambush Alley games. 

[ulverston]

I would second Akulas ruleset. Great fun to play, used to play it with my youngest lad who loved it.

[Pijlie]

I have greatly enjoyed All Things Zombie and its iterations many, many times. While initially a bit intimidating with all those tables it actually produces a fabulous game.

Last Days can be made into a good zombie game, but that will take some adaptations. See here more my take on that game. Without those it is a rather static shooting game with hardly any zombies.

https://pijlieblog.blogspot.com/2018/09/last-days-zombie-apocalypse-houseruling.html

Having read Akula's Rules they actually look extremely promising!

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Yeah, all my suggestions have been mentioned already.

.) All Things Zombie by Two Hour Wargames has got it all really. It gives a good game (especially with the tremendous "Day One" campaign. Dead simple premise, but I hadn't come across it thus far). It can be a bit daunting, but I think after two or three games, it runs really smoothly.
.) Last Days is a tricky one. First and foremost, it's more of a "survivors vs. survivors, feat. Zombies" thing. There are coop/solo rules in the Seasons supplement. I wrote a review of this one, along with an AAR: https://www.tabletopstories.net/language/en/2019/06/last-days-review-and-battle-report/. This one was my go-to for a little while (with some house rules), but it never sat quite right with me.
.) Akula's Rules are a great little thing. It's somewhat bare-bones, but people such as deadlamassu have built amazing things onto it. And even by itself it just works great. And it's free to boot! Here's my review and AAR: https://www.tabletopstories.net/language/en/2020/10/arse-introduction-and-review/

[AKULA]

Yeah checkout my rules they are Total AR:SE   

Oh, and they are free.

[Cat]

For a fun light game with lots of Zombies on the table, Space Hulk rules and pencil in changes to taste!

[aliensurfer]

Akky's rule sets are always good fun

[syrinx0]

Nice reviews BattleBrush Sigur.