Iron Zombies vs. Punk Zombies

[MasterDisaster]

I've been playing Nicodem a lot recently because he was the first Master I ever played with and now I own a sizable crew for him it's so much more fun, especially as he is the first Resser Master I've been playing with. I've been struggling with the Punk vs Iron Zombies though (I own both). They are both very similar but have some defining factors that make me question which to use more often than not or when is best to take which. Both are really good and work pretty well with most if not all of the Resser masters. 

 

So I decided to put up a thread to discuss the benefits or downsides to taking each of them. 

 

Similarities

 

Flurry.

Hard to Wound.

Respectable Ml stats.

Damage track is very similar.

Stat Lines are similar as well.

7ss a piece with the exception of the Student of Viscera who is 8ss and Valedictorian who is 10ss.

They all share melee range 2.

 

With this is mind they can perform very similar roles but then there are some distinct differences which can alter their roles within a crew.

 

Punk Zombie Differences

 

Attack Flips.

Unimpeded.

Hard to Kill.

Slice and Dice which does  Damage 

 

So these guys inherently appear to be faster due to Unimpeded which helps with schemes, they are going to hit more reliably with the built in  to Attacks and occasionally put out area of effect damage with their Slice and Dice action. On top of this they can't be killed outright thanks to HtK. Overall for 7ss these guys are a solid minion, they do well at killing, scheme running and are tough as nails. You really can't go too far wrong with these guys. They are basically a jack of all trades and there really isn't much else to say on them. 

 

Iron Zombie Differences

 

   Damage flips to a specific type of enemy dependent on their field of studies.

Terrifying 12 (Again dependent on the focus of their studies)

Armour +1

Ignore Armour (Student of Steel Only)

Ignore Hard to Wound (Student of Sinew Only)

Slither (Student of Viscera Only)

Henchman (Valedictorian Only)

They have a (0) Action called Lecture Notes which prevents triggers being declared.

 

At face value the Iron Zombies appear to have more differences (or advantages) to the Punks. They have Terrifying and Armour instead of Hard to Kill which is potentially better because people will have to cheat higher damage to get them down and Terrifying can also drain the opponents control hand. They also gain    to Damage Flips on a Trigger but this is only against a specific type of enemy with the exception of the Valedictorian who gets it against anything. At this point they are still looking very similar to the Punks. They are also very Solid Minions for their cost of 7 or 8ss depending on which Student you take.

 

Iron Zombies do come with some extra tricks that offer them more utility and support to the crew overall that can arguably make them stand above the Punks. This comes in the form of their universal (0) action "Lecture Notes". This, if successfully cast causes the target to be incapable of declaring any triggers. This is potentially huge! The possibilities are endless with this action and it's cast on a fairly low card needing only a 3 or 4 depending on which Zombie is casting it. On top of all of this each Zombie Minion specializes in dealing with either Undead, Living or Constructs and as such has various abilities based around dispatching their favored foe (detailed above). They are pretty damn good but they don't truly excel unless pitched up against their preferred enemy. This means often they can be less than optimal, for example. Student of Sinew isn't able to make use of his Terrifying, Sinew Studies Trigger and a lot of the time his ability to ignore HtW against Living targets, he'll still do well but probably not as good as a Punk Zombie would. 

 

The Valedictorian is a cut above the rest, she shares all the abilities of the other Zombies however her Df, Wp, Ca and Rg are all at +1, she has +2 Wds. She is a generalist who, unlike her fellow Students focuses on everything rather than Undead, Living or Constructs. She is also a Henchman so can carry upgrades and make use of SS. She has a very nice little Trigger on her Lecture Notes allowing her to take a Ml Attack against the target at -2 Ml. Lastly there's an additional Trigger to her Ml attack that can push an enemy away from her in any direction, then she moves into B2B with them, this is amazing at removing a key threat from a crew, isolating it and then giving it a good beating (Divide and Conquer right?! ). I have used this Trigger to move McMourning away from his entire crew then have the Valedictorian kick his teeth in. She is incredibly good at what she does.

 

So as a quick and final overview. Overall the Punk Zombies are incredibly reliable and a solid choice however they are a jack of all trades and do what they do well under pretty much any circumstance. Being a generalist makes them a great choice. The Iron Zombies are also very similar in that regard, in general they will be tough to kill and will dish out their fair share of pain however when they enter the fray with their favored models they can truly excel. On top of this they bring added utility to the crew which can be really useful when you don't want Gremlins to Squeal away or your scared that Lady J will Critical Strike you back into the grave. Because they are more specialized in what they do they often compete for the same space in my crews. If a player declares Arcanists you would think Student of Steel is a sure thing because of his focus on Constructs but what if Marcus is put in front of you? You have chosen to take a model who wont excel at anything in that crew. This is why they can be less favorable. 

 

What are your thoughts on Punks and/or Iron Zombies? Which do you prefer and why?

 

Thanks for reading! 

[rancor709]

I tend as a general rule to favor the punk zombie when hiring unless I'm sure what way my opponent will go on there crew construction. Playing nicodem the flexibility to summon the perfect iron zombie after I see the crew the hiring is less restricted. I think valedictorian is a very interesting henchman and should be considered more than she is at crew construction at least by me.

[DeleteAccount]

Well, with Molly and Nico it's a "summon as needed" scenario, as for the rest, I go Validectorian with stone light masters, though that is kind of debatable in the faction as a whole since she really likes having stones for her triggers, steel against arcanists and sinew vs ressers, the rest get punk zombies to the face. The student of Viscera I can see taking too simply because of how mobile it is, being the fastest of the batch and being able to chose it's targets, probably vs guild, gremlins and outcasts he should get a decent consideration. Kind of sad he isn't an enforcer anymore though, would really appreciate a cheapish tanky enforcer that can be taken in multiples for the generic upgrades.

[MasterDisaster]

So far I've also been on a similar mind that I summon them as required however if I'm facing ressers I'll Hire Sinew. Arcanists I'll hire Steel and the Valedictorian is really good. I've hired her twice and never been disappointed. She's fast, fairly durable and really lays down some serious hurt on whoever she happens to have set in her sights. I've actually been hiring a Punk and an Iron Zombie into my Nico crews and if I need more of one or the other then I'll summon them. I don't have much experience with the other masters in the faction other than Tara who I play exclusively as Outcast. I thought it would be cool so see what other Ressers make of these models and their similarities. 

[chris_havoc]

Except the Viscera and Valedictorian I will summon either Punk Zombies or Iron Zombies as needed. Now that Viscera is a minion I will often summon him rather than hire him. The Valedictorian is amazing.

[Mason]

The Valley Girl has never let me down.  Fast, tough, and a Resser henchman capable of just dealing damage without having to worry about set up.   <3

[Falconrider]

I've ordered the University of Transmortis box set, how could i not!

[deValmont]

I have been agonising over whether to get the UoT box for ages now, The Valedictorian and Viscera both look like very handy models to have, the thing holding me back has been whether or not I can see myself using the Students of Steel and Sinew, or whether I'm paying £25 for two models, albeit very cool ones. This post has made it rather likely that I will be picking them up in the near future though, I am thinking about picking up Molly when she comes out and so having another couple of big tough Horrors on hand can only be a good thing.

[Mason]

I had a game this last weekend where I played Ressers against Arcanists.  I took two Students of Steel in my crew, and with the help of a few pushes from the Necrotic Machine they bee-lined it for the Rail Golem and just dismantled it.  A black joker on the Rail Golem's horror check to smack them back was quite lucky, but it also kept the hordes of Ramos spiders from swarming over them. 

 

All in all, I've been really happy with Steel and Sinew thus far, and probably use them more often than Viscera (who mostly just ends up getting summoned next to living models by Molly). 

[deValmont]

Ahh, I'm sold then. I'm down at Element Games tomorrow night, I'll grab them then.

[Ratty]

They can all be really useful, at some stage I need to get a 2nd of each.