Undead Units

Magical beings and powers can sometimes animate the corpses of the dead. These creatures can gather into military units of horrible aspect and considerable effectiveness. These forces include skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and wights, and occasionally even more fearsome monsters. They offer terrors far beyond those of mortal combatants. On the other hand, limitations in initiative and intelligence of these troops can cause complications for their controllers.

Undead cannot charge. They are not required to make morale checks or discipline checks.

Command of Undead

The rules in this section should only be used if the rules on commanders (see pages 58-59) are employed.

Undead figures must be commanded by priests. (Necromancers converted from AD&D® game characters, and supernatural monsters commanding undead hordes, are possible exceptions.) A figure in command of an undead troop cannot perform any other functions (including heroic combat or spellcasting) during a turn without causing the undead to be out of command.

A priest can command a number of zombies or skeletons limited only by his command diameter. Ghouls are harder to control; a priest can command two of these creatures for each one of the commander's hits. And wights are harder still—a priest can only command as many of them as the priest's number of hits. Ghouls and wights must still be within the priest's command diameter to be controlled; if the number of such creatures in the priest's command diameter is greater than the maximum number the individual can command, then the player in charge of the priest figure must specify which ghouls or wights are in command and which ones are out of command.

If undead figures are out of command, they move and fight at half effectiveness. In addition, they will continue to perform the last order given them until they are destroyed, they march off the table, or the scenario ends.

Exceptions: If the last command given to the undead was to fight a melee, and the enemy is no longer before the unit, the undead will march straight forward until they contact another foe. If the undead unit had been given an order to move in a certain direction and subsequently contacts another unit—enemy or friendly—the undead unit will attack.

Effects on Enemy Morale

Mortal troops universally shudder at the prospect of an assault by an undead unit. This fact is reflected in special morale check requirements.

The first time an undead unit advances to within 4" of a non-undead unit, the mortal troops must check morale. If the mortal unit is in good order, it can withdraw instead of making the check. If a mortal unit advances toward an undead unit, it must make a morale check when it reaches a point 1" away from the undead. (If the unit is charging, it has already passed its one morale check for the step.)

Some undead have special horrific abilities. Wights, for example, drain life energy (an ability reflected in the creature's large AD size), and ghouls cause paralysis. (See Appendix II.)

When facing an undead unit with a special ability such as the ones mentioned above, a unit must check morale at the end of the turn if the two units are in contact at that time. This is in addition to the check that is made before the units come into contact.

For either type of check against ghouls, a unit suffers a -1 penalty to its morale rating. (Elves are an exception; see Appendix II.)

When a unit is checking because it faces wights, it suffers a -2 penalty to its morale rating. Both morale effects fall under the special ability "cause horror" (see the magic rules, Chapter 8).

Priests Affecting Enemy Undead

A priest fighting against undead units has a special way of scoring hits on undead figures that are nearby. This procedure is a conversion of the AD&D® game mechanic for turning undead.

A priest can attempt to eliminate an undead figure if the enemy is located in front of the priest (within a 45-degree angle to either side) and is 3" away or closer. No figures can be between the priest and the undead, but the undead does not need to be facing the priest.

Note: If the scenario being played is drawn directly from an AD&D game campaign, the Turning Undead Table (Player's Handbook, page 103, and Dungeon Master's Guide, page 67) can be used in place of the table given in these rules. Undead that are turned are considered slain for BATTLESYSTEM™ scenario purposes.

A priest can make an attack of this sort during the Melee Combat Step, instead of making a normal melee attack. A priest can attempt to slay an undead figure even if the priest is hit by an attack from that figure or any other enemy figure in that same step.

Additional types of undead (vampires, spectres, wraiths, etc.) from the AD&D® game can be employed in massed battles. The table in the AD&D rule books is used for determining a priest's effects against those creatures. Except in very fantastic battle settings, the additional types are far more likely to function as heroes (individual figures) than as units.