Malios Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 G'day CSM community. At the start of the year, my hobby group all sat down and decided on what projects we were going to build for our new years resolutions. Most of my friends chose the option of either expanding upon their current collections or starting a new army. When it came to my turn, it took me a while to think about it. Eventually I blurted out to my mate who was present: "What about a zone mortalis board? I'm going to do it!" Where a good friend would have taken my credit card from me, I was lucky that he was a great friend who cheered me on. When it arrived two weeks later, I was glad that I made the decision: not only are the Forge World sculpts beautiful, but it gave our little gaming group a new way to shake up the ol' formula. Because its still new to us, we haven't experimented too greatly with the optional rules yet. However, I thought I would share some of our experiences from our test games to those who are interested in looking at zone mortalis. Generally, we noticed the following overall positive points about Zone Mortalis: Zone Mortalis is actually pretty fun. The mission objectives are similar to normal 40k games but the additional rules and army composition changes make Zone Mortalis feel very different from the standard 40k formula. Despite the expensive investment, it was a really welcome breath of fresh air in our group. This rolls into the next point, The games were faster paced. We've all had those 30k / 40k games that dragged out for their own reasons. Due to the smaller army sizes, the board itself and the way you deploy in zone mortalis, the individual turns felt faster once we came to grips with the rule changes. Our average game was over in an hour making it good for games where time is a limited factor. We started seeing "fresh" armies on the table. It's safe to say that my particular gaming group are both competitive and casual gamers. They have the relaxed and forgiving nature of casual gamers, but build and play with competitive army lists. Because of that, we tended to see the same tried and tested units in the army list every time we played one another. With many of these units either unuseable or severely hampered by the Zone Mortalis board, all of a sudden those terminators and helbrutes at the back of the display case were seeing light again. We came to appreciate units we'd written off as not worth their points in the new context. In saying that though, there was one overall negative point that I feel I should mention before we start delving into the specific army list points: The Forge World Zone Mortalis board doesn't do 32mm bases very well. The narrow corridors have been designed to tightly fit two 25mm bases side by side, or one 40mm base. 32mm being the odd middle man between them does complicate things. I know that 32mm bases are optional, but with people making the change (and future marine kits most likely being released with 32mm bases), I feel this is a relevent point to mention if someone is considering purchasing a Zone Mortalis board or building an army for Zone Mortalis. If you make your own board though, with some planning this shouldn't be an issue. With the general observations over and done with, we now get to the part you're interested in. Here are the observations we came up with in how general units operated in Zone Mortalis: Shooting is still preferred over assaulting. That's not to say that assault units don't have their place, but the reaction fire rule does hurt would be assaulters. Anything with a base larger then 40mm is going to find moving difficult. Models like Daemon Princes and Helbrutes on 60mm bases cannot physically fit in narrow corridors or through narrow doorways on the Forge World board. We partly mitigated the doorway issue by stating that they were difficult terrain for models on 60mm bases, but the large models were still quite limited in where they could be used on the board. Although they would have been great in Zone Mortalis, Maulerfiends and Forgefiends are just too big to fit in anything but the largest corridors. Template and Blast weapons hurt. With automatic shred (and rending if you include the optional void rules in your game) and changes to how blast weapons scatter, even the humble flamer and frag missile can be deadly. The Burning Brand is especially dangerous and so are plasma cannons. Speed and maneuverability are merits of their own. Units that have the ability to move 12" or greater and units that can outflank are gold. Because of the way zone mortalis missions work speed is critical, especially for the attacking player. I'm also a 30k Alpha Legion player and infiltrating / outflanking has consistently come in handy. Psychology plays its part. If a unit breaks and flees through another unit (or units), that unit (or units) can also break and flee. Anything that lowers enemy leadership or improves your own is worth investing in: I can imagine our Crimson Slaughter fans are mixed about this one. I won't go into depth about which units are good or not because I trust the community will come up to their own conclusions. I've had lots of success with faster moving units and to my surprise helbrutes do well in Zone Mortalis games. But, what works for me might not work for someone else. Hopefully this is somewhat useful for those considering Zone Mortalis games in the future. It's great fun and a good way to reignite wavering interest in the hobby if you're bored of the same games over and over. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forté Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 This is something of great interest to me. Partly because it looks fun, partly because it's a completely different tactical issue and more infantry based with plenty of short ranged firefights, but mostly the smaller army sizes. Be nice to see people post their experiences and photos. Especially of home made boards. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3956984 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenith Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I've never played, but am keen to hear more! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3957108 Share on other sites More sharing options...
totgeboren Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I'm painting details on my Zone Mortalis/Spaceship Interior right now! I got a log at 'that other forum', where I also got some pics from some games. Fun stuff! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3957373 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strazhakov Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 This all sounds very intriguing. Where can I find the Rules for Zone Mortalis? Being a huge fan of smaller games and stuff like KillTeam, Necromunda etc. this looks quite nice. Didn't know about the FW board. Damn that's great for playing boarding actions, hulks etc. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3958159 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenith Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 This all sounds very intriguing. Where can I find the Rules for Zone Mortalis? Free download from the FW website, if I remember correctly. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3958729 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hushrong Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 This all sounds very intriguing. Where can I find the Rules for Zone Mortalis? Free download from the FW website, if I remember correctly. Yep, right Here Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3958823 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hummus Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 it doesnt nessecarily have to be a space hulk either, it could represent an underhive as well Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3959106 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papewaio Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I love ZM, if I could convince my group it;d be 90% of what we play. Sadly, they like flyers :( In fact, I finished a shipboard campaign not too long ago, and the speed thing you mentioned is key. You've got to pretty much plan out where each squad will go, because it's highly unlikely that you can redeploy as easily as you could in an open battlefield. It's why I usually take a small squad of Terminators; that Deep Strike is lovely (right up until the point where you mishap, but them's the breaks). Now, to get enough money to buy those gorgeous FW boards... Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3959385 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellios Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I play Eldar... I love ZM... Locked door? Meet Warp Spiders. And Battle Focus... shoot, run, shoot run. I also disagree that assault units are not a s good. It depends on the unit. Assault units get shot anyway, and while 'overwatch' can be more dangerous (it depends on the race/unit) it can also be the only shooting a unit will get if the assault unit uses terrain correctly. This doesn't even take into account pinning or sacrifice units, or other strange things. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3959438 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forté Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 it doesnt nessecarily have to be a space hulk either, it could represent an underhive as well Pretty much anything indoors really. Inside a Mechanicum complex, bunker tunnels, Ork Hulk, and more. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3959471 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strazhakov Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Thanks for the link hushrong :) Was too lazy too find it myself and honestly I didn't think they'd give away those rules for free. Never hurts to be suprised even though i'm such a sucker for for FW that I'll even buy the new Vraks book (blatant moneymaking but what are you gonna do? not buy it? not play "The Purge" with their Chem-Flamers? Didn't think so.. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3959579 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaplain belisarius Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Sounds fun! Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3960152 Share on other sites More sharing options...
maverike_prime Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I'm working on a mission for a campaign I'm involved in where you have to land on an enemy titan and work your way down to the reactors to destroy those in order to destroy the titan. For the floors under the top of the titan I'm going to use the Zone Mortalis rules. I'll post my thought after I do a test of them later this week. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3960229 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesper Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I'm painting details on my Zone Mortalis/Spaceship Interior right now! I got a log at 'that other forum', where I also got some pics from some games. Fun stuff! It's amazing, buddy. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3960236 Share on other sites More sharing options...
hushrong Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Now, to get enough money to buy those gorgeous FW boards... Just a fun heads up. Those FW pieces are awesome but if you want to spend a bit less there are options. I bought two set of Space Hulk tiles for about 80-90 bucks before shipping/handling (another 15 bucks?). There's plenty of pieces to cover a 4x4. It has been a great alternative board idea I knicked from fellow B&C'ers. I play Eldar... I love ZM... Locked door? Meet Warp Spiders. And Battle Focus... shoot, run, shoot run. I also disagree that assault units are not a s good. It depends on the unit. Assault units get shot anyway, and while 'overwatch' can be more dangerous (it depends on the race/unit) it can also be the only shooting a unit will get if the assault unit uses terrain correctly. This doesn't even take into account pinning or sacrifice units, or other strange things. Ouch. Eldar and their bladestorm too. In regards to assault units, my buddy's small squad of incubi went through 15 of my CSM like a dingo in a nursery. I agree that it just depends on what units are brought forth and whom the dice favor. However, Obliterators are still my favorite unit for this game. Big, tough, and nasty option for Chaos. Thanks for the link hushrong Was too lazy too find it myself and honestly I didn't think they'd give away those rules for free. De nada, bud! I was happy to find it online myself without having to pay money for it. I would have anyways, I did so for Kill Team. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/303726-zone-mortalis-experiences/#findComment-3960303 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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