Chaos and Zone Mortalis?

[hushrong]

Well, after reading through this thread (1000heathens vs. Armond) I have a great desire to play zone mortalis. The rules for which are here thanks to Forge World. The way I see it it is like Kill-Team with limited troops choices/option meets Space Hulk with its claustrophobic setting and I want to meet it head on with Chaos!

 

What I would like to know is what people think would be fun, brutal, or very themed to run in the tight corridors of a warship, the halls of a collapsing fortress, or the murky catacombs of a lost human-colonized world. What would be more fitting when trying to hold ground as a defender or who will lead the charge aggressively as an attacker?

 

Really just wondering what people would or have run when fighting in such conditions.

[UlsanGamer]

I think doom sirens would be amazing with the rerolls. Noisemarines would almost always over watch at full bs with sonic blasters. Blast masters cause pinning checks which would stop enemy over watch.

So I would give Noisemarines a try.

 

Mutilators would find a use as well I think

[hushrong]

Oh man. I had to look up mutilators! I've written those guys off since day one for some reason but they just might be beasts in CQB with ZM.

[Slips]

Rapier batteries make for great ZM units too, especially with locking down a long hallway.

 

Terminators are also a decent unit for ZM as are Dreadnoughts.

 

Depending on how big the corridors are you might be able to squeeze in Maulerfiend.

 

Berzerkers would also be decent if you use the terrain to you advantage.

[Forté]

You'll likely have around the 1000pt Mark to play with. Template weapons would be killer. Doom Sirens especially. Couple of cheap spawn would be nasty in confined spaces.

[Slips]

Yeah, Anything template becomes loads better because of Shred. Also, if you're using the Catastrophic Decompression Rules, having a weapon that can bust a hole in a wall might not be all that bad....if you've got nothing of not near the impact site...

[Kierdale]

I hear Dreads are very good in ZM.

 

I'm pleased to hear Noise Marines would be good, too!

[Forté]

Would be good fun too.

[Vesper]

Indeed Dreadnoughts are very good. Useful to tear doors and objectives apart, to hold a corridor or lead the charge.

Terminators are really good too. With a heavy flamer and a chainfist they'll be nearly unstoppable. That's also a great time to bring a Terminator Lord. Might be useful to bring a Dark Apostle too, to hold a path no matter what is thrown at you. And of course, Noise Marines would be a great choice too.

 

EDIT : Speaking of Dreadnoughts, Contemptors and Ferrum Infernus would be cool.

[Petitioner's City]

^ The Wrecker kind?

 

By the way does anyone now imagine the two Legion Dreadnoughts in the Night Lords books to be a Contemptor, or more traditional (MkIV/Ferrum Infernum) ones? I mean the BA and NL ones.

[hushrong]

A contemptor would be sweet! It will be awhile before I get one of those though. I sincerely need to build and paint the stuff I already have before I go on a plastic/resin crack binge ever again.

 

With these suggestions, thank you all for them by the way, I think I may twist my main 40k list for an attacker force in ZM:

 

-Lord: TDA, Black Mace, Burning Brand, Sigil

 

-4x Termies: 4x Combi-plasma, 4x lightning claws(one on each for wound re-rolls?)

-Helbrute: Plasma Cannon, Power Scourge

-Helbrute: Plasma Cannon, Power Scourge

 

-11x Marines: x10 ccw (champ already has one), Plasma gun, Meltagun 

-11x Marines: x10 ccw (champ already has one), Plasma gun, Meltagun 

 

Basically two groups of marines and helbrutes moving about to go after objectives and one could be supported by the termies with their lord or that group could go hunting on it's own.

 

I'm going to tinker around and think about a defender list (where I may swap in obliterators) and a combatant one too for the heck of it. I may go with cult troops as they have the added bonus of being fearless. The noise marines as suggested are sounding very tempting as are plague marines.

 

^ The Wrecker kind?

 

By the way does anyone now imagine the two Legion Dreadnoughts in the Night Lords books to be a Contemptor, or more traditional (MkIV/Ferrum Infernum) ones? I mean the BA and NL ones.

I think Malcharion was MK V? I could be wrong but the way his sarcophagus was described makes me think he had that version with the front plate and no "head".

 

 

 

[totgeboren]

I have been playing quite a bit of ZM with my Chaos Marines since I got the idea of realising my childhood dream of having a spaceship-themed board.

 

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?391793-Sooo-I-made-a-spaceship-interior-board

 

I'm working on it on and off, sadly I have spent quite a bit of my hobby-time on playing computer games lately, but I think that will pass shortly.

 

I have only played proper battles against Eldar and Nids on the board, so my experiences are sort of limited. But what I can say is that the best unit we got is our humble Chaos Spawn. Fast enough that overwatch is all the firepower they will face means they on average do very well indeed.

Dreadnoughts are also really nice, but the terrain will make their movement really predictable.

Deep Striking Termies with a heavy flamer can change the course of a battle, however Deep strike is really hard because of all the walls and the harsher mishap table, so it can turn the tide of battle against you as well.

 

Ordinary chaos marines are are quite useful in the setting, especially with bolter + bolt pistol+ccw, and I always include cultists. They are really useful for providing cover and just being in the way.

 

Other than that, well sadly our Maulerfiend is just too big to fit in the corridors, Noise Marines sound good on paper but since they are move-or-fire if you want them to be any good you will likely not get that much use of them. Your opponent can simply not end their movement in front of them, and they can also simply not assault them. What you are left with is some expensive fearless marines (that do cause pinning).

 

Plague marines on the other hand are even better than in normal games, but their I of 3 is a much bigger drawback.

 

Possessed are pretty nice in ZM too, though their lack of grenades is as always a huge drawback (big enough that it often leads to the demise of the unit).

 

Bikes and Raptors, well you can use them. I haven't because it looks kinda strange, but I can imagine at least bikes being pretty good actually.

[Sheesh Mode]

Chosen and terminators become all the better for their versatility and ability in cc. 

[Petitioner's City]

^ The Wrecker kind?

 

By the way does anyone now imagine the two Legion Dreadnoughts in the Night Lords books to be a Contemptor, or more traditional (MkIV/Ferrum Infernum) ones? I mean the BA and NL ones.

I think Malcharion was MK V? I could be wrong but the way his sarcophagus was described makes me think he had that version with the front plate and no "head".

 

Nice details that I had obviously forgotten. Oh for Dreadnoughts to be tougher...

[hushrong]

totgeboren: I have been to Sweden at least two times in my life. Now that I see your board and that awesome necron in stasis I want to go visit again!

 

I also like your input. I agree that it would look strange with the setting as jump packs seem awkward in close quarters. I'll leave my raptors for Kill team. Plus, I remember playing as an assault/raptor in Space Marine online on the small maps and merely hopping around in the hallways. Lastly, I can imagine bikers getting stuck in corridors like Austin Powers with his kart.

 

Sheesh Mode: What would you recommend for Chosen and Terminator set ups? On the termies I was thinking a mix of lightning claws and power/chainfists (along with combis too)

 

Petitioner's City: I would have forgotten those details too but I had reread one of the ADB novels recently. I could also be wrong but my money is on the mk V

 

Anyways, I went back and have been playing around with my lists. I think I am going to add in flamers in lieu of the plasma guns and meltaguns.

[Kilofix]

Anything with Relentless and Heavy Weapons works well as you can hide behind a corner, then pop out and fire with Rend / Shred, etc.

So Oblits, Helbrutes, etc.

 

Thousand Sons also do well with their AP3 given the MEQ heavy meta in ZM and the fact that they don't have to move too fast. Also Nova psychic.

 

Daemon allies can also be helpful as they all can Deep Strike in (the only other thing that can DS in are TDAs).

[hushrong]

Finally got to try out ZM this last week. I had purchased two sets of Space Hulk board tiles, met up with a friend, and duked it out on this:

http://i1350.photobucket.com/albums/p779/theironwithin/image_zps9b2a52eb.jpg

 

We both made combatant lists and went to it. 

I had a TDA lord with Black Mace and Burning Brand. 2 Helbrutes with plasma cannon and power scourges. Two squads of 12 chaos marines with purchased ccw, melta bombs, and 2 flamers. Then 2 obliterators with mark of nurgle.

 

He had and Archon with a host of goodies (and some webway portal) who accompanied a unit of Incubi. Two squads of warriors with xenos stuff. There was a small group of grotesques with a haemonculi and a lone Talos.

It was good and bloody as I nearly got tabled. All I had left was my Helbrute and two Obliterators.  He had his Archon and evil Incubi, a few warriors, a busted up talos, and a grotesque with haemonculi. 

 

With this I have decided to try out some suggestions and change my gear around to add two chaos spawn to my forces.

 

Kilofix, I have to say Helbrute and Obliterators were a joy to run. Their presence made my buddy second guess a lot of stuff and they dealt quite a bit of damage. One Obliterator killed off 8 warriors in a 10 man unit in a single go and that was just gravy.

[Vesper]

Dood ! We demand battle reports !

[totgeboren]

Played a game yesterday against Nids, first game of the Amphelion Project campaign.

My list was a rather non-competitive one

Chaplain
10 Possessed
1 Contemptor
15 cultists
10 Chaos marines "8th Coterie"
11 Chaos marines "17th Coterie"
5 Spawn

Going up against

Hive Tyrant dual devourer and 2 guards

Prime leading 15 hormagaunts

Broodlord leading genestealers

Doom leading some Zoathropes

3 Hive Guards

15 termagaunts

3 lictors

2 3-man broods of Spore Mines

and a Stonecrusher frikking Carnifex(!)

So, the setting. My staunch marines are searching through the abandoned complex for stuff to trade with the Dark Mech, when suddenly a wild wizard, eh, no! A wild Tyranid appears!

My forces are spread around the centre of the board, going through the machine hall look'n for tresha, while the nids appear from all sides, though they have to keep half their units in reserve. But the wily nid had brought 2 3-man broods of spore mines, so this restriction wasn't that bad.

The Nids were attackers and had the first turn.

The mission was kill points, and a brief description of the battle would be that I was really unlucky with the dice in general, except for my Possessed who assaulted the Hive Tyrant on turn 2 after having lost 3 men to a Zoanthrope blast. These 7 Possessed were then assaulted by the Stonecrusher (who had already killed two Spawn with his horrible instant death melee attacks which I didn't know he had!), but finally, in my turn 5 there were only two Possessed left, and they finally managed to kill the Hive! Not only that, but the last possessed survived in combat with the Stonecrusher until the end of the battle, turn 6, thus depriving my opponent of a kill point.

The Genestealers refused to show up until turn 4, and so didn't have much of an impact on the battle (lucky for me), but the last turns of the battle had my 4 surviving marines and the wounded Dark Apostle flee through the corridors to get away from the horde of angry Genestealers and Lictors hunting them down, while the seemingly immortal Possessed kept the Carnifex at bay (seriously, 9 close combat phases in a fight with a Hive Tyrant and a Carnifex, and he lived to tell the tale).

So, at the end I had my Contemptor alive and kicking, but the DA was hurt and leading 3 marines. I had one marine from the other squad survive against the Hormagaunts and Prime, and one spawn with 1 wound left, and also the one Possessed. So I had 5 kp locked in 4 wounds, and one more kp in the three remaining marines lead by the DA. Consider my army only had 8 kp to give up to start with, this was a solid victory for me, though I would have been massacred had it continued for one more turn.

The few survivors are fleeing towards an intact bulkhead door, while the malevolent chittering behind them comes ever closer!

[hushrong]

totgeboren, That looked like a bloody ordeal and a fun game! The sole surviving possessed looks like he is well on his way to daemonhood too

Vesper, We didn't play by the rules too well so my battle report wouldn't be accurate. Plus we made up rules to keep the game moving, mostly involving doors which I will have to clarify later in this post. I'm still rusty with CSM and my bud is learning Dark Eldar so mistakes were made. One mistake NOT made is that Incubi are dick-ish! This one small group ate one squad of charging marines and cut them to pieces. Then went down another corridor after brushing dirt off their shoulder to cut down my other squad who were on the cusp of killing one of his warrior groups.

As stated in the last paragraph, doors kind of hung us up rule wise. After rereading the rules if a door is accessible you can basically choose to walk up to it and move through it in the same turn right?

Example: If I am two inches away from the door can I move my marines up two inches and open it and continue to move another four in my movement phase?

If it is locked and must be destroyed, I use either my shoot or assault phase to break its armor value, correct?