40k Zone Mortalis – Eldar vs. Salamanders

Had a great game day this Saturday with the gaming crew and we got a game of Zone Mortalis in with 40k armies. We didn’t use the full ZM rules as we’re still getting our collective memories back with the 40k rule set. But we did do 2 40k armies provided by my friend John, using Eldar vs. Salamanders Space Marines. I played the Eldar (first time ever playing Eldar) and John fielded his trusty Marines. Craig provided the amazing custom Zone Mortalis boards and moral support (mostly for John as you’ll see in the bat rep later on. Great time was had and I definitely felt the power of the Eldar coursing through my veins as we played this game! Check out the army lists and some pictures of the battle as it unfolded as the Salamanders attempt to recover as many relics as they can before the crafty Eldar make off with their ancient and forbidden xeno-tech!


The Setup

We played on a 4×4 Zone Mortalis setup, custom tiles provided by my good friend Craig. We chose a custom mission where we had 4 “relics” that could be picked up just by a model coming into base to base contact with it. Can move the relic as normal after touching it. That model dies, it drops the relic. There were some doors in the ZM as well, AV12 1HP. Could be opened by a unit using its shooting attack, otherwise if you can blast it down, do so! Deployment zones turned out to be in table quarters, nothing deploys within 12″ of center, and our deployment zones were right next to each other by random dice roll! Salamanders got first deploy and first turn, Eldar failed to seize.

The Armies

Salamanders Space Marines – 1000 points

  • HQ – Bray’arth Ashmantle
  • Troops – 5 Tactical Marines, sergeant has a master crafted plasma pistol, one has a melta gun
  • Elites – 10 Sternguard, Sergeant has a Master Crafted Power Fist, Two have Heavy Flamers
  • 10 Sternguard, Two have Heavy Flamers
  • 6 Honor Guard, the Champin has a Thunderhammer, one has the Chapter banner

Eldar – 1000 points

  • HQ – Phoenix Lord Irillyth, The Shade of Twilight
  • Elites – 6 Wraithguard with D-Scythes
  • Troops – 6 Jetbikes
  • Troops – 6 Jetbikes
  • Fast Attack – 6 Shadow Spectres, one is an Exarch with a Prism Blaster

The Game

This is how the tiles were set up. Before deployment and objectives placed.

From another angle.

Objectives are placed and armies deployed. Salamanders in distance, Eldar in foreground. John did not like the way this match-up was looking.

Bray’arth Ashmantle, getting ready to mix it up.

Just before the game started.

Shadow Spectres are such cool models.

Bray’arth Ashmantle backs off a bit, very wary of the Wraithguard D-cannons.

Jet Bikes ready to zoom through the corridors!

Eldar turn 1 – Jet Bikes and Shadow Specters on the move, grabbing objectives.

Another shot of the bikes and Spectres. Man they move fast!!!!

Board state after turn 1.

Top of turn 2, Marine tac squad comes in, and vape 2 Wraithguard. Ouch!

On Eldar turn 2 – Wraithguard delete the tac squad.

Shadow Spectres move across to get position on firing on Ashmantle.

War walker came in turn 2, to harrass the other flank.

Top of Turn 3 – Salamanders Honor Sternguard come in and open fire! They end up killing all the Wraithguard. Ouch!

On Turn 3, Eldar strike back and Shadow Spectres attempt to kill those pesky Sternguard. And then you roll like this when you need 3’s….

Shadow Spectres nimbly avoid the clanking Ashmantle.

Another shot.

Eldar Turn 3 – Jetbikes having grabbed objective last turn and ran off, came back, and opened fire on Sternguard, killing 2.

By end of game the Eldar had destroyed pretty much every marine unit except for the dreadnaught HQ. A great but very one-sided battle.

Overall we had fun and it was great to break out the ZM tiles again. I think these two armies were unfortunately very imbalanced in terms of power curve, but that did not sway us from having a good time. The ol’ 40k rules are coming back into the brain quite well with getting a few more games under my belt.

I think it’s safe to say that the amount of firepower Eldar and throw down, and their unparalleled maneuverability, make them hard opponents to beat. I’d love to see how 30k armies or even more moderate power curve 40k armies faire in more ZM games in the future. Also looking forward to Deathwatch and Genestealer cult armies battling in the ZM – stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

Leave a Reply