Yes Zombies can go to 35, stupid being stupid people!

[pauljc]

I would also lean on the side of the 35 zombie unit. It states that the converted Chaos Cultists cannot purchase options. But Chaos Cultists don't purchase more Chaos Cultists. The unit can buy extra Cultists. The way I read it, it is worded as one being a unit thing, and the purchasing options being a 'per model' thing.

On the other hand, that's quite a cheap unit for what it can do.

[Unzuul the Lascivious]

Ten pence worth time...

The way it's written, you can only have 10. When the FAQ comes out, it will state 35 max. We all can see what the intention of the rule is, but there will always be that one person who says 'But the exact wording is...' and although we all know it's pedantic and we can see with our common sense what the rule is SUPPOSED to be, we'll have to just stick with ten man squads for the time being in order to not be branded 'cheats'. Then when it is FAQ'd, you can model Typhus sticking his middle finger up and slap 70 Plague Zombies on the table and go have a smoke and a hot dog whilst your opponent spends forever trying to get rid of them.

I have a game next weekend, I am using two units of ten. In a 1.5K game - it'll do. If you're playing over 2K, you get 2 FOC anyway, so merely include more units of ten. They'll still be annoying as fook.

[Belial69]

Before anybody yells "you're wrong it's ten!!!" The wording of the rule says any cultist units (see page whatever in the army list) in the same army as Typhus can be nominated as plague zombies. Plague zombies are cultist that have etc etc and cannot take any options. And again don't just dismiss it offhand. But I'm personally reading this as you've already bought the unit at whatever size before its even nominated to zombiehood.

Just a thought but has the almighty Kelly got a twitter account that anyone could ask him directly?

[magickbk]

It says units of cultists can be nominated. If you want to lose your minds, consider when this nomination takes place. Do you nominate when you write your army list, or when you deploy, or before the game begins? In a tournament, could you decide to take some units as one or the other each game? If before the game, one would assume you write your list, paying for options, and then those options become wasted points.

[Kirsten]

just agree it with your opponent first, the majority of people arguing back and forth about this wont be playing it in a competition anyway, so just talk to one another before the game. if you have a tournament in the near future, the organiser can decide.

[Belial69]

But, but that, that's being reasonable! I thought that was against forum rules All joking aside tho, that's the most sensible thing I've seen here all day. Gonna poll it with my gaming group and get the general concensus.

[Strangleweb]

Right, after a discussion among a group of TOs and longstanding players here is the situation as we see it.

Simply put, Typhus' rule clearly states that cultists "Cannot purchase options".
The unit entry lists the ability to add more cultists under "Options", therefore, RAW, you cannot have more than 10 zombies in a unit.
However, we too think the intention was just prevent the addition of autoguns/flamers etc, and to allow 35 strong zombie units, but this is not what Typhus' unit entry says for now, so until it is FAQed, it's 10 strong squads of zombies in tournaments. In our casual games, 35 strong is allowed.

[inquisitorsog]

just agree it with your opponent first, the majority of people arguing back and forth about this wont be playing it in a competition anyway, so just talk to one another before the game. if you have a tournament in the near future, the organiser can decide.

I look at it like this: when a question is raised, it's pointless to answer it from the "what I like", "how I think most people will interpret it" or any other "soft" sort of position. We should answer the question from the most strict definition possible. What you and I can agree on is one thing. But, I've been in nasty arguments over seemingly stupid interpretations of rules and so I'm never going to advise anyone on the internet in anything other than the most defensible interpretation. This rule specifically talks about purchasing the option, so saying it is a later nomination isn't going to stand up to the scrutiny of many people. When do you nominate it if the nomination comes after buying more troops, but before you buy war gear?

The only defensible approach to get to 35 is that it says "Plague Zombies are Chaos Cultists who cannot purchase options". You know what? that does sound good. But... someone is going turn around and say that the pluralization there refers to units. You can take "any" therefore you have multiple units called Plague Zombies who were all formerly units called Chaos Cultists. It's ambiguous as to whether that "are" is talking about groups of individuals or groups of groups. And then we'll also have an argument ensuing about "if the cultists can't take options, but the unit can take the option of more cultists, why can't the unit take a mark as the mark is clearly said to be purchased by the unit, not the cultists."

We're all assuming that Kelly messed up and didn't double check the phrasing in the army list. While I think that's probable, I've also been wrong in similar situations before.

[el_tigre]

It's been pointed out by others that the wording is "zombies are chaos cultists that ... cannot purchase options" Surely the correct way to read this is that the restriction on choosing options doesn't come into force until there's a zombie to restrict. Just because the possibility of purchasing additional members of a squad is listed under options doesn't mean the unit cannot be expanded, only that individual chaos cultists can choose no additional wargear. Sure the wording in general is vague, but in choosing to interpret this in the most limiting way possible - despite the fact that the consensus among even the "max. 10" voters seems to be that units at least should be able to go to 35 - people seem to be deliberatly abandoning common sense in favour of provoking what we all know will eventually be a meaningless argument.

[Belial69]

Just out of interest, how many of the 35's play nurgle or chaos at all? And how many of the 10's play anything else rather than chaos?