Shrapnel Games Blog

There are a number of subjects that are always sure to get my attention. These include (but are not limited to): zombies, jungle chicks (like Sheena, not cannibalistic islanders with bones through their nose), and dinosaurs.

Memoir ’44 has been a long time favorite game around these parts but unfortunately it does not include zombies, jungle chicks, or dinosaurs. Recently I’ve managed to correct one of those deficiencies.

For the past few months I’ve been playing around with adding zombies to M44. I did find a couple of folks who had the same idea but I wasn’t really satisfied with what they came up with, and since necessity is the mother of invention, I worked my own system up. You’ll find my rules that I wanted to share with everyone below. Use and abuse them as you see fit.

The house rules are broken up into three parts. First, you have the “historical” background (to get into the spirit) on the various zombies, which include German, Soviet, and Japanese undead. The second section details actual game mechanics and rules for using the zombies. The third and final section discusses balance issues and how to use the zombies in the game.

For the zombies you can use regular M44 figures with a special medal designation, but obviously that’s pretty boring. Twilight Creations sells bags of zombies that are perfect for M44. You’ll need one bag of regular zombies and one bag of dog zombies. Since each bag contains 100 zombies you’ll have more than enough. In fact, you’ll have too many—wait, you can never have enough zombies in your collection! They’re also cheap, and chances are you can find them at your FLGS.

The Undead In The Second World War

“Engaged enemy near Hill 400. Inflicted many casualties. Casualties refused to stay down. Engaged the bastards again, this time they’re staying down. During second assault many men bit by enemy. Many walking wounded, starting to complain about chills and cramps. Proceeding to Hill 400.”

–After Action Report, 1st Platoon, 3rd Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion, Hurtgen Forest 1944 (Found by 2nd Platoon)

Germany

When the Third Reich went to war it had no intentions of creating soldiers that were undead. In fact, it was not until mid-1941 that Germany even possessed the knowledge to create the living dead.

After the fall of France elements of the SS Ahnenerbe busied themselves with scouring France for mystical objects and relics, much as their archeological departments were doing in the Middle and Far East. From documents discovered in church archives in Paris the Germans learned that the town of Septeuil was once home to a supposed necromancer, Absolon Wischard. Wischard had been executed during the French Revolution. Strangely records show that his head was buried separately from his body, with it being interred in salt and burned before burial.

The SS detachment located Wischard’s manor house on the outskirts of Septeuil, which except for normal weathering, appeared in excellent condition for such an old property. A round up of local villagers yielded the discovery that no one had dared set foot onto the property after his death, even after generations have passed. The Germans would be the first to enter.

The manor house was a treasure trove of occult objects; libraries full of forgotten lore, strange pieces of art, and a basement dedicated to alchemy. The contents of the house were crated and shipped off for detailed research in Germany.

Progress in researching Wischard’s possessions was slow going, as a majority of his books were written in ancient and long dead tongues that the Reich had few translators for. Making matters more complicated, while Wischard kept detailed notes, he unfortunately wrote them in a combination of French and Sumerian.

As his work was slowly translated it was found mostly to be theory, and of little practical use. But then came July 1941, in which German researchers finished translating an ancient tome with personal notes by Wischard scribbled in the margins, on creating life from death. When this information was presented to the inner circle of the Third Reich it was considered worthy of study, but there was much doubt that it would ever be needed. After all, the Soviet Union would soon be defeated and with that would come Great Britain’s surrender.

By summer of the following year, 1942, it was becoming apparent that the whole rotten structure wasn’t collapsing as desired, not to mention that the Japanese had brought the United States into the war. Orders were given to proceed from study to an actual working model of raising the dead. PROJEKT AUFERSTEHUNG commenced in September 1942. Project lead was Dr. Josef Mengele, with operations located in the Auschwitz death camp.

Mengele was already familiar with the idea of reanimating the dead, having learned of the work of an American doctor, Herbert West, while at medical school. West’s work, who had vanished in the twenties, was largely undocumented, but some of his more daring ideas had managed to enter fringe medical circles around the world. By applying what he knew of West’s work, which dealt mostly in chemical reanimation, and combining it with Wischard’s knowledge that straddled both mysticism and science, by the end of the year the first successful live dead was created. Unfortunately it did not seem to have much of a military application.

The test subject had many problems. It seemed to possess only the basest of intellect, and could not communicate, nor could it understand communication. If left alone it would simply stand still, but it could be prodded and moved like cattle, although that would mean in the field having to have wranglers, which was impractical. Additionally, it showed only basic motor skills, and thus could not operate any form of weaponry.

Not everything was bad though. First, there was the fact that it worked to begin with. With casualties mounting on the Eastern Front the ability to “reup” the dead could be very helpful, if control could be established. Next, there was an innate violent desire that the risen dead showed when near a living creature. While it could not use a rifle, against an opponent it was more than capable of killing by biting and rending. This also allowed the Germans to discover that the chemicals that fueled the corpse could be transferred to its victim, which in turn would create a new undead. Finally, while not totally impervious to damage it could take quite the punishment before being immobilized.

Months passed after the initial successful test subject with little progress until a visiting researcher for another German special weapons program suggested a solution to the control problem. The Luftwaffe was starting to take delivery of radio guided anti-shipping missiles, and the question was raised whether the undead could be manipulated in a similar fashion?

Research immediately began on finding out if that was feasible, and with much rejoicing it was discovered it could work. By wiring the nerve centers of the dead and creating a radio controlled remote device, a soldier in the field could control where the undead went. There was no need to worry about ordering them to attack, because they automatically went into a frenzy near living creatures. PROJEKT AUFERSTEHUNG was a success, and soon moved into production phase, creating the TOD WANDERER (Death Walker).

Once given the greenlight by high command operational output was rather meager. Creating the chemicals was a complex process, and subject to disruption by Allied air raids, as were the electrical components. Due to these factors, and the need to train soldiers to operate the equipment, the impact of Tod Wanderer on the war effort was slight. Most units went to the East, although some units did see action in the West. As the German lines kept falling back and it was becoming apparent that the war was lost, the idea was floated around of using the solution to create massive undead legions consisting of prisoners and home guard. Even if they could not control them an army of hungry dead in the right spot could slow the Allies and Soviets down. The idea was ultimately rejected due to the scarcity of the solution, whose creation had all but dried up. What remaining stock was ordered to Berlin in the final days, although examination of post-war records do not indicate whether it was used.

Soviet Union

The first encounter Russian troops had with the German death walkers ended in disaster for the Russians, although not at the hands of the undead.

A forward OP spotted a handful of undead in tattered Romanian uniforms (the Germans often used recovered corpses from their allies before using their own forces) approaching. Originally the death walkers had been platoon strength, but most were lost upon encountering extensive minefields, leaving only five. Those five were decimated before they even got within a stone’s throw of their target, thanks to heavy machine gun fire and an anti-tank rifle.

After the battle one of the privates, shaken up by the fact that just moments ago there were obvious walking corpses heading towards him, grew emotional. He proclaimed that God was angry at the Soviet Union, and had let the Devil open up the gates of Hell and set the damned loose. The NKVD officer attached to the squad reminded the private that in Comrade Stalin’s Russia there was no God, no Devil, and proved it by putting a bullet through the private’s head. Concerned that when he went to sleep next the rest of the peasants in the unit would slit his throat, he gunned down the rest of the squad.

The NKVD officer returned to company headquarters for replacements. After filing his after action report (squad showed political unreliability and sedition, no mention of walking dead) he was admonished by the ranking officer at headquarters for what happened. Not because of the loss of his squad, but because he wasted precious resources to accomplish his punishment. He was then shown how to punish the men with reusable resources and was ordered hung. While being strung up he attempted to save his life by screaming about a new German secret weapon. Once he explained what it was the officer in charge realized that not only had he been wasteful, he was obviously drunk. The NKVD officer then danced at the end of the rope. Two hours later the company HQ was assaulted by two units of death walkers, with a major loss of life that soon rose up and joined the rampage.

Russian troops encountered the undead from that point forward on a fairly regular basis, although the Germans tended to use them most heavily when launching a major offensive and during urban operations. Cities were perfect for the dead, and often they were left without direction at major chokepoints and in the sewers. The most devious operations involved bringing back Russian dead, causing the most hardened Soviet a moment’s pause when they realized they were being attacked by the very men that they had shared black bread and vodka with.

The Russians captured several of the death walkers very early after their use became more widespread but were unable to duplicate the effects. Their electrical engineering was not up to snuff, and attempts to recreate the chemical solution ended in failure. Of course many of the attempts were half-hearted, for there was apprehension that Stalin would not want his own undead soldiers, for fear that troops serving near them would begin to question religious matters. In reality Stalin simply thought it was a waste of time worrying about bringing the dead soldiers back to life when he had plenty of live soldiers to feed into the grinder and become statistics.

It would not be until after the war that the Russians truly devoted research into recreating the German undead, but that’s not to say that during the war nothing was accomplished. The most successful use of undead could be attributed to Colonel Gregor Valishik of the 7th Guards Army.

The Colonel had a large contingent of mine dogs that were no longer needed, as STAVKA had wisely decided that their use was more dangerous to Russian tankers than the Germans. Seeing the death walkers in action he knew that they could transform their victims into undead through bodily fluids, which gave him an idea. What would happen if his dogs fed on the death walkers?

After capturing several of the undead and removing their jaws he let the dogs loose on them, previously having left the dogs starve for days. The pack devoured the walking corpses and within thirty minutes were whimpering in pain and writhing on the ground. In an hour they were without pain, and in ninety minutes they lived once more.

It was found that they retained some inkling of their training, enough for their handlers to retain control until they were unleashed. Also, unlike the human undead they would not fall into a lethargic state if distant from a fresh target, but remained active and constantly on the prowl. Because of this they seemed like the perfect weapon to cause havoc behind German lines.

During battle the Soviet handlers would send a dog pack towards the Germans. Once let loose control was lost, and sometimes the dogs came back and had to be put down. Usually though they continued away from the Soviet lines, on the hunt for food. When they came across targets of opportunity they would attack, and in the process create new undead that answered to no one. These newly created zombies, reacting only to nearby stimulus, were not dangerous in the open but were quite problematic in dense areas. The dog pack would then continue on, attacking all living things they came across until they were destroyed.

Japan

Japanese interest in reviving the dead did not begin until members of Unit 731 toured Mengele’s facilities to share their findings on biological experiments and were shown a Tod Wanderer. Intrigued at the possibility of allowing their soldiers to still serve the Emperor in death, the Japanese inquired if the Germans would share their knowledge. While the Japanese were partners the Germans had no intention of letting them have all their secrets. They agreed to provide the Japanese with the chemical formulas needed, but insisted that they would have to create their own control system. This did not bother the Japanese because they had their own ideas of how they were going to use the undead.

Once back in occupied China Unit 731 began experimentation on prisoners (or marutas, as they were referred to by their captors). While they knew what the formula would do to the already deceased they were curious as to its effects on live subjects. Using a number of delivery methods (injection, inhalation, ingestion, skin absorption) they determined that a maruta of average height and weight would die within forty-five minutes of exposure, and that within minutes of death they would be revived as undead. It was further shown that inhalation was the quickest method of delivery, followed by injection.

Satisfied with the results, large scale production of the agent (codenamed Agent Whirlwind) as a gas began, even though no research had been done on controlling the dead. For what the Japanese planned they had no need to control the undead.

Each day the Allies were steadily approaching Japan on their island hopping campaign. Basic Japanese doctrine was to make the Allies pay for every inch of land, and with enough tenacity on their part hopefully cause the invaders to bleed dry and abandon the war. Soldiers which fought on even in death would be a great boon to such doctrine.

To accomplish this new doctrine of the undying defender defensive structures were built with a Whirlwind delivery system attached. In large bunkers this was easily done through the ventilation system, but even simple strongpoints such as sandbagged emplacements had spray canisters in the area.

When under close attack the gas would be released by a superior officer, allowing the soldiers to continue to fight as normal for the next forty-five minutes (if killed prior to the forty-five minutes because the agent was introduced while the body had been alive it still took that long to run its course), and then continue the fight as the undead. While unable to use weaponry the attackers were typically close enough by that time that the affected would launch into a frenzy being near living flesh.

Use of Whirlwind proved most effective. Very often the few minutes between the soldiers dying and reviving meant that the Allies had already moved on, considering the threat neutralized. The zombies would then attack the rear guard.

As the Allies grew closer to Japan and the use of kamikazes by the Japanese increased, Whirlwind was introduced to pilots. Using an needle delivery pilots would inject themselves with Whirlwind right before taking off on their attack. They would then make sure they crashed into their targets between 30 and 40 minutes later. It was hoped that the corpse would be intact enough that when it awakened later it would seek out victims on the ship, attacking crew and in turn creating new zombies. Based on Allied reports this plan was either never put into action, or more likely did not perform as planned.

In the end the Japanese were plagued by supply problems just as the Germans were. Grandiose plans of using it to defend the home isles by gassing entire towns and villages were dreamt up, but impossible to carry out. By the time the Americans dropped two atomic bombs very little Whirlwind remained.

United States and Great Britain

Neither nation used undead during the Second World War. After the war using captured German information on the subject both nations did experiment with raising the dead for military purposes, though full details are for a later time.

The United States’ first undead action occurred in Operation PHOENIX during the Vietnam War. Results were unsatisfactory and the program was killed soon thereafter. Rumor has it that several test subjects are still roaming Southeast Asia.

Great Britain’s Royal Navy used zombies and created the Z-Team force. Specifically tasked with protecting the GIUK Gap, the idea was to have hordes of undead (the Z-Teams) attack Soviet submarines, typically arming the zombies with explosive ordnance.

In 1985 the RN decided to put a Z-Team to the test by actually intercepting a Soviet nuclear submarine, the K-212. Since the Soviet navy had a poor record with submarines it was assumed that the loss of the submarine would be chalked up to normal engineering defects, and not aggressor action. To ensure that blame could not fall on the British they kept all friendly vessels far away from the submarines point of interception.

The Z-Team successfully attacked the K-212, blowing a hole in its side and sending it to the bottom. What was not foreseen was the members of the Z-Team which had not been blown up breaching the hull and attacking the dying and drowning crew, in turn turning them into uncontrolled zombies.

After this incident Z-Teams were disbanded.

Zombie Gameplay Rules

General Rules

Zombie units treat all terrain as if it was clear for purposes of movement. This means they never have to stop for terrain, and may move into normally impassable terrain.

Zombie units moving on a Frozen River hex can suffer losses as per that terrain rule (Eastern Front, page 3).

Zombie units entering a Minefield are attacked at double the Minefield strength (which means a zero Minefield is still a zero).

Zombie units cannot be activated by cards, nor can they ever take advantage of card play. As an example, zombies can never ambush.

All zombie units attack an adjacent hex with a base of three attack dice, modified by the target’s terrain modifiers. They only score hits on the grenade symbol. EXCEPTION: On the very first zombie attack in a game flags are also counted, with normal effects.

Being already dead zombie units are hard to kill. Attacking units only eliminate zombies on grenade rolls. All other symbols are ignored.

Zombie units do gain terrain benefits when being attacked.

If a zombie is in an all-water hex it may not be attacked and it cannot attack adjacent hexes. It must move to a non all-water hex to attack.

Zombie units only appear in scenarios from 1943 onwards.

Eliminated zombie units do not count as medals.

Zombies never attack other zombies.

If there are uncontrolled zombies on the board (more on this under nationality rules) an additional turn sequence is added into the game. After both players take their turn the uncontrolled zombies act. After this play proceeds back to the first player.

German Zombies

Starting unit size is 4 zombie figures. This may grow to a maximum of 6 figures over the course of the scenario.

One German infantry unit is chosen as a controller. It may control two zombie units. Mark the controller unit with a medal to designate its status. It remains a controller until eliminated.

Zombie units are never activated through card play but by its controller. The controller unit is activated as a normal unit. If it does not wish to activate its subordinate zombie units it may perform a normal move and combat action. If it is activates any zombie units it may either move OR fight during the turn.

Each controller can activate up to two zombie units. If there are excess zombie units the excess become uncontrolled zombies. As an example, the scenario begins with two controllers and four zombies, but one controller is eliminated. Two zombie units would become uncontrolled. Likewise, if all controller units are eliminated then any zombie units on the board become uncontrolled zombies.

When activated zombie units move up to two hexes. Zombies must always move to the closest target, so if the zombie begins adjacent to an enemy unit it cannot move.

There is no range limit for controlling zombies.

Zombies must attack an adjacent enemy unit during combat.

When zombies attack for each eliminated enemy figure one zombie is immediately added to the attacking zombie unit, up to a maximum of six figures.

Uncontrolled zombies must always move to the closest target, regardless of nationality. This is done on a turn-by-turn basis. Either player may move the zombie unit. If both sides have units equal distance from an uncontrolled zombie it heads towards its original enemy.

Soviet Zombies

Starting unit size is 3 zombie dogs.

One Soviet infantry unit is chosen as a handler. It may control one zombie dog unit. Mark the controller with a medal to designate its status. It remains a handler until eliminated.

Zombie dog units must start adjacent to their handler. They are activated by activating their handler unit. On that turn the handler unit may either perform a move or combat action, but not both.

On the turn they are activated the Soviet player may designate where to move them. On subsequent turns they are considered uncontrolled.

Zombie dog units move three hexes. They must always move towards the closest target. If already adjacent they remain in place.

Zombie dog units must attack an adjacent target unit during combat.

For each eliminated target figure one zombie figure can be placed in an adjacent hex next to the target. Once the hex is decided all created zombie figures must be placed there. These newly created zombies are considered uncontrolled.

Uncontrolled zombie dog units must always move to the closest target, regardless of nationality. This is done on a turn-by-turn basis. Either player may move the zombie dog unit. If both sides have units equal distance from an uncontrolled zombie dog unit it heads towards its original enemy.

Japanese Zombies

Starting unit size is variable.

Prior to the start of the scenario the Japanese player designates up to three infantry units (one per sector) that occupy defensive locations (bunkers or sandbags) with medals. These are the units that will become zombies during the course of the scenario.

Each time a designated unit takes casualties the Japanese player rolls one die per lost figure. If an infantry figure is rolled he immediately places one zombie unit in that hex to replace the lost unit. Any other die roll has no effect; the gas failed to take its course.

If during the attack enough flags are rolled to force a retreat and there are also newly created zombies, the zombies stay and the rest of the unit retreats. Once out of the hex further losses to that unit do not create zombies.

If at the end of the turn there are zombies and Japanese together in the same hex all Japanese figures then become zombies in that hex. Remove the medal from the hex. No more zombies can be created in this hex by being attacked.

If before being attacked the original unit moves out of the hex the medal remains in place. The Japanese player can take advantage of it at any point by moving another infantry unit into that hex.

Once a Japanese unit becomes a zombie unit it is considered uncontrolled. Like German zombies for each eliminated target unit the zombie unit adds one figure, up to a maximum of six figures in its unit.

Due to the massive damage probably taken during the original attack Japanese zombies only move one hex.

Zombies must always move to the closest target, so if the zombie begins adjacent to an enemy unit it cannot move.

Zombies must attack an adjacent enemy unit during combat.

Uncontrolled zombies must always move to the closest target, regardless of nationality. This is done on a turn-by-turn basis. Either player may move the zombie unit. If both sides have units equal distance from an uncontrolled zombie it heads towards its original enemy.

Balance Issues

I haven’t really discovered the magic play balance, and frankly when you see how lopsided some of the scenarios are in the core game I don’t think anyone else has either. The following are general guidelines to adding zombies to your game, feel free to experiment with the numbers

For German zombies if playing with an existing scenario don’t add a controller unit, just designate one of the existing units and add two zombie units within two hexes.

Same thing for Soviets except they only get one zombie dog unit and it must be adjacent to the handler.

As mentioned under the Japanese rules give them three medals, one per sector, within the defensive guidelines. So if one sector has no strongpoint it does not get a medal.

When making your own scenarios the above guidelines seem to work well. On Overlord maps you can double the number.

Also, when making maps or adding zombies to existing scenarios the most important thing to consider is terrain. The more open the terrain, the less of an impact zombies will have as enemy units will have plenty of maneuvering room to escape them. This is also one reason most zombies move as quick as regular units. Originally I tried them at one hex per move, but that was far too slow.

Conclusion

Well, hopefully you’ll find some use for these rules in your game. Use them as you see fit, and if you find that something is completely broken let me know, and feel free to speak up with questions or suggestions. Thanks for checking them out! Now get the game out, crank up some Cannibal Corpse, and let the mayhem commence!