Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.
Just tossing together an 8th edition version of Zone Mortalis. For those who don't know, Zone Mortalis is meant to represent battles in the 41st millenium that take place in tight confines between relatively small forces. Think three squads and a character duking it out in a munitorum office building or in the cramped hallways of the deck of a ship or the choked tunnels of an underhive.
Does what I have make sense? Do I seem to be overlooking or leaving out anything critical to the feel of a confined Zone Mortalis game? I ditched the old version's rules for firing at full BS during overwatch because it frankly seemed too powerful in such a low points game. I ditched rerollable wounds for blasts and template weapons because those are kind of hard to define and such a boost seemed a bit arbitrary and prone to benefitting some weapons far more than others.
I went with a "light" version of alternating activations that I felt would be more familiar for people accustomed to 40k than a full Kill Team style of alternating activations would. This system does make it possible for an army with more activations to "wait out" their opponent and force them to show their hand. However, I'm hoping that the cramped hallways of a ZM table will make that less of an issue.
ZONE MORTALIS
Uses the normal 40k rules with the following modifications:
THE BATTLEFIELD
Spoiler:
• The recommended game size is 500 points.
• Games are played on 4’X4’ areas.
• The walls on a zone mortalis table are considered infinitely high and thus may not be climbed or moved over (even by models with the Fly keyword, flip belts, etc.) Models described as moving through solid objects or moving via teleportation, such as necron wraiths or warp spiders, may do so as normal.
• When determining whether or not a unit’s models are in coherency with each other, you may not measure through a wall. Instead, you must measure the shortest route between the models that does not cross a wall.
• Doors may be placed on a Zone Mortalis battlefield. Doors may be open or closed. A closed door is treated as a wall, blocking line of sight, unit coherency, and movement accordingly. An open door does not block line of sight, unit coherency, or movement. Open or closed, doors may be targeted with charges, attacks, and psychic powers as though they were units. Doors are treated as having a Toughness of 7, 6 wounds, and a 3+ save. A door that has its wounds reduced to 0 is removed from the table.
** Note: Doors probably need to be a bit more fleshed out, but I thought it might make more sense to include specifics for them in the mission section.
THE ARMIES
Spoiler:
• Armies are made up of a single Zone Mortalis detachment.
• Armies do not receive the benefit of chapter tactics, craftworld traits, etc.
• Stratagems may not be used; instead, all armies have access to “Tactics.”
• Many units are physically too large to fit within the confines of a zone mortallis. Models of any size may be included in a zone mortallis army. However, untis that are too large to be placed in a player’s deployment zone are automatically removed as casualties during deployment, and models may not move through corridors if they or their bases are too large to be placed within those corridors.
ZONE MORTALLIS DETACHMENTS
Spoiler:
1-3 HQs 1-3 Troops
0 Flyers
0 Lords of War
0 Fortifications
0 Dedicated Transports
0-2 Others (Elites, Fast Attack, Heavy support)
**Note: I considered having a "troop heavy" and "elite heavy" version of the detachment, but I felt like that started to get a bit too messy. As much as I like the idea of a ZM game made up entirely of stealthy infiltrators or armored terminators, forcing players to invest at least a few points into troops and HQs is probably a reasonable requirement (even though I dislike mandatory troops in normal games of 40k).
PLAYING THE GAME
Spoiler:
• Games of Zone Mortallis use a modified turn order (see below).
• Overwatch is now resolved only after a successful charge roll is made. Note that this means a unit may fire overwatch even when within 1” of the charging unit. Units that were already within 1” of an enemy unit when the charge was declared may not fire overwatch.
• Whenever a model with the Fly keyword moves more than 7” in the Movement phase, its unit suffers an AP0, D1 wound as it injures itself by slamming into walls, wreckage, sparking cables, etc.
• Units that can normally “deepstrike” may instead arrive within 3” of any table edge provided they remain more than 9” away from the enemy.
• Ranged attacks always require line of sight; it’s generally a bad idea to fire a mortar inside a hallway.
• Psychic powers that target one or more units must have line of sight to all targets.
• Abilities that allow a unit to fight an additional time in the fight phase instead double the unit’s number of attacks.
MODIFIED TURN ORDER
Spoiler:
In games of Zone Mortalis, players do not activate their entire armies at once. Instead, a game round is structured as follows:
1. Round starts.
2. Players roll off to see who has initiative for the turn.
3. The player with initiative chooses a unit to activate. No unit may be activated twice during the same game round.
4. The activated unit moves, casts powers, shoots, charges, and fights per a normal turn of 40k but does not take morale tests.
5. The player without initiative chooses a unit to activate. No unit may be activated twice during the same game round.
6. The activated unit moves, casts powers, shoots, charges, and fights per a normal turn of 40k but does not take morale tests.
7. Repeat steps 3 through 6.
8. Once all units have been activated, the players take turns (starting with the player who has initiative) taking morale tests for any units that lost models during the round.
Note that units fight when they are activated and never fight during an enemy unit’s activation.
TACTICS
Spoiler:
All armies have access to the Tactics below and may have access to additional Tactics depending on their faction or subfaction. To use Tactics, players must spend Command Points. Instead of gaining a supply of Command Points before the game begins, both players gain 1CP at the start of the game round and gain another 1CP if they have at least 1 HQ unit on the table.
Command Reroll (1 CP): Per the stratagem in the main rulebook.
Stand and Shoot (1 CP): Use this Tactic when you fire overwatch. Your to-hit rolls succeed on rolls of 5+ instead of 6+.
Fire Wall (2 CP): Use this Tactic instead of shooting a weapon that automatically hits and fires a random number of shots (such as a flamer or liquefier gun). Select a point within the weapon’s range that in the model’s line of sight. Until the start of the next round, any model that moves within 3” of that point takes 1 hit using the weapon’s profile.
Make a Door (3 CP): Use this Tactic after you finish moving a unit containing a weapon that is strength 8 or higher or which has an ability allowing it to reroll its damage dice against vehicles. Select a point on a wall within 1” of that weapon’s wielder. Remove all portions of he wall within 2” of that point. (Mark the point and pretend the wall isn’t there if your table doesn’t allow an appropriate amount terrain to be removed.)
*Note: I like the idea of giving each main and subfaction their own Tactic(s), but I wanted to start small and get the skeleton of this system worked out first.
RECCOMENDED BAN LIST
Spoiler:
It is advised that players refrain from using the following units in games of Zone Mortalis.
• Guilliman
• Celestine
• Lords Discordant
* And more! Any suggestions for other units that belong here?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/11/04 00:51:43
ATTENTION. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
