Zombicide: Black Plague – Thundercats Promo Pack #3

This is the third promo pack in the ThunderCats line for the Zombicide fantasy series. This pack features the Mumm-Ra necromancer and abomination figures. The other two promo packs (promo pack #1 and promo pack #2) feature the hero survivors Lion-O, Cheetara, Snarf, Tygra, Panthro, Wilykit and Wilykat.

Zombicide is a cooperative game designed by CMON and Guillotine Games that debuted in 2012. The fantasy series consists of two core boxes, Black Plague and Green Horde (I recommend reading the Zatu reviews for these two to get more acquainted with gameplay), as well as three expansions, Wulfsburg, Friends and Foes, and No Rest for the Wicked. There is also an upcoming third core box called White Death arriving sometime in 2024. The Thundercats promo pack #3 expands on this fantasy line.

Components & Gameplay

I’ll give you a quick overview of how Zombicide plays out before diving into Mumm-Ra’s rules. It is a 1-6 player cooperative game that is broken down into two phases: players’ phase and zombies’ phase.

During the players’ phase, you can use your survivors to perform certain actions such as Move, Search, Open a door, Reorganize/Trade, Combat (Magic, Melee, Ranged), Enchantment (spell casting), Take or activate Objective, Make Noise, and Do Nothing. Once every survivor has finished their turn, it’s time for the zombies to wreak havoc!

The zombies are controlled by the game, meaning they have set rules to follow. The first part of their phase is to either attack or move. The second part is spawning them around the map. And that is when the Mumm-Ra figure from the promo pack enters the fray!

Mumm-Ra’s rules are a bit more complex than the normal necromancers and abominations that you’ll find in the core boxes and expansions. It may be a little tricky for new players to get at first, but it’ll become clearer the more you play.

Before game play begins, you’ll shuffle the four Mumm-Ra necromancer cards into the zombie deck. During game play, when you first draw a Mumm-Ra necromancer card for the zombies’ spawning phase, you spawn him as a necromancer. You will now remove this card from the game. Mumm-Ra plays as a normal necromancer to start.

Things get interesting when you draw another Mumm-Ra spawn card. When you draw the second card, two things can happen. If you have already managed to kill Mumm-Ra, he comes back as a normal necromancer. If Mumm-Ra is still on the board as a necromancer, then he turns into (dun, dun, dun!) Mumm-Ra abomination! These are the Big Baddies of the game.

The Mumm-Ra abomination version has two actions, deals two damage, and has a range of 0-1. The damage to destroy him is three. So he is most definitely a formidable foe! If the Sword of Omens (equipment card from promo pack #1) is in play, the Mumm-Ra abomination will move toward it. Now if you draw another Mumm-Ra spawn card while he’s an abomination then

nothing happens (whew! Lucky break). When you do defeat Mumm-Ra abomination, he reverts back to Mumm-Ra necromancer and is placed on the closest spawn zone.

Thankfully for the survivors, there are only four cards for Mumm-Ra that are shuffled into the zombie deck. Whenever you draw a Mumm-Ra card, you remove it from the game. So if you defeat him after the fourth card has been drawn, you will not have to worry about him again. That is, unless your game takes a while and you need to reshuffle the zombie deck. But let’s not focus on the negative. You’re already in a zombie apocalypse after all!

A New Challenge

I was a late comer to Zombicide fantasy. Once I purchased my copy of Green Horde and the three expansions, a lot of the extra packs were out of print and way too expensive second hand.

When I found out CMON was releasing this new Thundercats promo pack with a necromancer and abomination, I jumped at the chance to buy it before it too fell into the netherworld of internet second hand buying/selling. I wanted a new challenge for my survivors to face off against. Little did I know that I would be dealing with a necromancer and an abomination that were one and the same!

It has greatly enhanced my game play by bringing in the new mechanic of regeneration. Mumm-Ra is not a one time kill like most of the zombies, necromancers, or abominations. Depending on how your game goes, there is the potential to face him three times as an abomination in one game. Not an easy thing to deal with!

My suggestion is to kill him as quickly as possible while he is still in his necromancer form before he transforms into the harder-to-kill abomination.

Final Thoughts

The Thundercats promo pack #3 is a great addition to your fantasy themed Zombicide. It offers excellent replayability and a new challenge for your survivors to face off against. I highly recommend it.

And while you’re at it, get yourself the other two promo packs and play the games as the Thundercats themselves. Always remember when taking on Mumm-Ra and his horde of zombies to yell out your battlecry:

Thunder, thunder, ThunderCats ho!