Zone Mortalis 3 - Playing the Game

Right then. I actually got to play this over the weekend...

First up I took with me the scatter terrain - namely the stores on pallets. In the end I had seven of them put together. As mentioned previously I ran out of time in adding tarps - but I will add some to these just to try out a different method. The pallets will likely get scrapped eventually as I have plans for some new ones using new pallets and stores, using 3D prints as the masters (there will be an upcoming post regarding this in a couple of days).

I decided to make the game even more interesting by putting together a 750 point Ork force. They were put together very quickly and many will have to be taken apart again, cleaned up and properly assembled. I used the IA8 force list, hence two boyz mobs led by Meks. The five Nobs were stand ins for some Cybork Slashas.

I had to get some Kans and Grot Tanks in there. No idea how it would go, especially with the Grot Tanks counting the entire ZM board as difficult terrain. Having four Meks in the force I hoped would mean I could repair the many, many, immobilised results I would probably end up with.

I believe the appropriate term would be 'Waaaaagh'.

So the pillars and card walls were set up, I admit to being surprised how well it all went together. The big grey round thing was just a way to a. cut down on the number of pillars I had to cast and b. get something different onto the board, i.e. some curved surfaces and a closed off area.

At this point I decided the pallets would of been better slightly smaller as we were limited to where we could have them due to their size.

The Game Itself...

Both of us enjoyed playing the game, the rules were easy to pick up and seemed to fit very well. Reactionary rules and the random optional rules (those we had chance to play anyway) added to the game nicely without being too over the top. Overall the games were fast and brutal.

Template and blast weapons turned out as effective as I thought they would (hence having so many in the 750 point force). Re-rolling to wound and having blast markers which scatter explode when they hit a wall made them deadlier than before.

GROT TANKS!

We could of done with some more terrain to give people some cover in the corridors - but I think that was more our fault for not providing it than a problem with the rule set itself. When people move round corners they can come face to face with a hail of shots, but then I'm not sure how much difference this is to normal 40k, after all a unit will often face at least one shooting phase without cover when they are trying to assault another unit.

What happens when eight deadly Genestealers come
face to face with three Burna Boys?

This, this is what happens.

Zone Mortalis has brought a whole new way of playing 40k, it is easy to pick up, enjoyable to play and brings new possibilities to terrain, army make up, playing styles etc. I for one look forward to seeing how FW support ZM and expand it.

I am already looking at expanding this experimental board so we can try the game again with a larger gaming area and expanding the armies to 1000 points. In the future I will be looking at doing a dedicated ZM force and of course doing a 'proper' gaming board...

This was the third of the layouts we tried out, as you can see we dumped
the big grey drum and instead used a more open area with all the stores in it.

We both agreed on it as being our favourite set up and
I doubt we'll bother with the drum again.

Expect more ZM from me in the future. In the short term this will mean expanding this set, so more pillars being cast and more scatter terrain. For a start I am looking to cast some 'consoles' which we can use as objectives in some games (and to just add some interest in other games). I am looking at a few other bits and pieces as well as start brainstorming on the new army and new board (though I starting to plan this a while ago).

As for how the Orks did they won 3 out of 5 games. The Burna Boyz and Grot Tanks were brilliant, even with all the breakdowns (the tanks sailed through the first game without a single immobilised result, however after that the 1's cropped up more and more). The Cybork Slashas were a big disappointment. To the point I am going to rethink having them in the army at all.

"What's this?"
he pondered before putting two las bolts into it.

Recalcitrant Daze - One Year In, Part 1

Recalcitrant Daze had its first post 12 months ago. When I started it I didn't really know if it would prove successful or slide into oblivion. For a long time I was purely based on forums so moving to a blog was a big change.

I have enjoyed the last twelve months and I have no intention of going back to basing myself on forums. While I will occasionally show some models on places like Warseer or Da Waaagh, Recalcitrant Daze is very much my focus for the foreseeable future.

I never thought after 12 months I would be where I am now. Today the 148th person decided to follow RD. It really has come as a surprise for RD to of gained this many followers after one year.

My thanks go to all those who have decided to follow RD and to all those who have commented over the last year. I try to reply to all comments which are posted as I really do appreciate it when people take the time to post something.

Big thanks go to those who have played a part in bringing in traffic, and thus followers. Ron at From The Warp got things rolling by adding RD to his blog roll (sadly no longer around), popping up on Dave Taylor's blog roll came as a surprise and brought in a lot more people, so a big thankyou to him. In the unlikely event of meeting either Ron or Dave I shall have to buy them a drink.

Thanks also go to the guys at Bell of Lost Souls who added me to their blog roll and also letting me write some articles (and I owe elotsip from Elotsip40k for putting in a good word). Thanks go to the Miniature Wargame Conversions for inviting me to write some articles for them as well.

I have now written a number of articles for both BoLS and MWC. I hope in the forthcoming year to do many more, as and when I have ideas which I can fit around my own projects.

Thanks to everyone else who have linked to RD in some way, either on their own blogs or elsewhere. While I cannot thank each of you in person I hope saying thanks here shows I appreciate it.


Due to being away for this weekend (actually played some games...) this monthly post is a bit slim on the ground, which is a shame for the Birthday post. As such I will do a more in depth post later, a sort of annual review perhaps.

Tomorrow though expect a post on what I thought of Zone Mortalis.

Forge World Open Day 2012 - Part 2

Here are a selection of pictures from the two display boards Forge World had set up Sunday.

The first was a full Zone Mortalis board. It looked excellent and was set up with lots of little dioramas.

They added lots of pieces inside the rooms, some recycled from other terrain sets and some scratch built. Hopefully some of these will turn into terrain they sell (this was mentioned by Tony Cottrell in the Q&A session).

And the IA 11 display board, must admit I only got a few pictures of this one as I took so many at previous events.

I was very good at the Open Day, even with all the temptation I only bought two things (plus a few things for other people).

What I did buy was the follow up to the excellent Masterclass book...

And a Show Only Enforcer...which is now on eBay here.

I am now back to getting pieces built for the coming weekend of gaming.

There is not enough time to do the tarps as I have three Grot Tanks to build, should do a post on them tomorrow...

Forge World Open Day 2012

Hurrah.

Good day was had by all.

Info and Pics...

Mk. IV Assault Marines:

Tartaros Termies CC Weapons:

EDIT: Forgot to mention they mentioned that the background for Terminator armour allows for the possibility of more marks being done, however these will not be in the near future.

New Navy Flyer, the Avenger:

Pretty, pretty gun.

The 'April Fools Joke' Marine Flyer: 

Another Blast From The Past, The Land Raider Spartan:

Quad Las. How could you not?

WIP of the upcoming Modular Cityfight boards,

the plan is people can add CoD buildings to them, long term they hope to do more 2x2 hollow resin panels which can be slotted into RoB panels:

Warhammer Fantasy:

All the following are in the new Monstrous Arcanum book.

Chaos Dwarf Firey Buggers

Preyton.

Sure that is the guy who walked out of Never Mind The Buzzcocks a while back.

The best thing at the show...

Collossal Squig:

I need one, I will call him Squigbert.


Some things I can remember from the Q&A session?:

IA 12 - Necrons v Minotaurs. Including something 'big' for the Necrons, they hope anyway.
The idea is the book will show snapshots of a much larger battle and also show how the Imperium fights or directs its forces over a huge area.
The original story of an uprising on a penal colony has been shelved to be looked at again in the future.


No plans for a Horus Heresy book/series at the moment. It sounded that while it almost certainly will be covered at some point it would be a huge undertaking and is unlikely to appear on the radar for some time.


More hollow terrain is planned - the Cities of Death panels being the first. More Zone Mortalis panels will also be done...

EDIT: Zone Mortalis, Alan Bligh came up with many rules/concepts etc which will be the basis for expanding the ZM rules for other races. However these will be done as and when those races are covered in a IA book. If ZM goes well it may get its own slimline book as well. More panels are a strong likelihood.
No new Titan this year, possibly next. Plan will be to do one every 2 or 3 years.

The next Warhammer Forge book will be Battle for Black Fire Pass (I think, memory fades). Orcs, Gobbos, Dwarfs and Empire.

Much more came up but it escapes me at the moment. I may recall more later on, but don't count on it.



I will do a second post later showing some more pictures from the day, but they won't be of new/upcoming things.