Deadzone - The Game For You!

 The recently revealed Rebel Terraton Brawler!

Well... the Robotech kickstarter didn't pan out as I had hoped. Or rather, in the end it DID include loads of minis and the rules seemed decent enough, but I simply felt that I wouldn't have the time to get into another miniature game at yet another scale. And being the only guy in my group investing in it to boot! The huge amount of stuff included also, paradoxically, made me wary - I'm not big on large wargames and painting that amount of large miniatures would have taken ages!

Now... Deadzone on the other hand, I'm behind 100%. I'm going to try and explain why in this post and see if I can't make you realize that it's the game for you too!

First off, Deadzone is produced by Mantic Games and is a part of their expanding Warpath universe. If you are now thinking "Eurgh... Mantic" I understand you completely. They made their name by making cheaper almost IP-infringing models that could be used by people who didn't want to shell out the crazy money GW want for their models. I've bought some of their models in the past; the ghouls and zombies are great looking and makes for excellent conversion fodder. My eyebrows also went up when they released their Corporation troopers and Enforcers for Warpath.

As far as I was concerned Mantic made decent looking knock-offs and had some kind of phone-in version of a rules pamphlet for their Kings of War and Warpath "games". But then... as I started looking deeper into Deadzone I realized that they are actually trying to carve out their own little niche of IP and more original stuff has started appearing. While I would have been a lot happier if the Marauders were simply Marauders (instead of Orx) Asterians were Asterians (instead of Xeldar) and the Forge Fathers were Forge Fathers (instead of Sxuats) the fluff Mantic is writing for them makes me ok for me. And no they are not actually called that... except for the Orx.

The Marauders!

Sure the Asterians are a dying race and blah, blah, blah, but the cool upside is that they only send one actual Asterians to fight - and she controls a bunch of mechanical drones! Pretty cool! The Forge Fathers are good artisans and blah, blah, blah, but the cool upside is that they use their superior technology as a way of controlling the lesser races - providing enough tech for them to get by, but not actually releasing any of their trade secrets (also, not all of them have beards). Marauders are big and strong and like to fight, but that's about where the similarities end - they were once on the payroll of the Corporation as shocktroops, until they one day realized that they could take care of themselves, revolted and became mercenaries for hire. They are not the mindless goons of the GW settings but rather a lot more like the Krogans of Mass Effect.

All I need is a Phantom and a Mech and I've got my own Cerberus army!

Speaking of Mass Effect - the Enforces that could easily have become a facsimile of the Space Marines have a lot more in common with the sinister Cerberus organisation from the video game. Even down to the units they can field and the paintjob Mantic has given them! They are the true stormtroopers of the Warpath universe, unquestionably obeying the will of the corporation. In response to the oppressive dictatorship in the Co-Prosperity Sphere humans and all kinds of aliens have formed motley crew of rebels. This seems to be the most popular faction thus far and I can see why, as the models look pretty cool - having a kind of Firefly plus Babylon 5-vibe to them.

Finally there's the Plague. Again something Mantic could easily have made into their version of the Tyranids

instead became something a lot more akin to the Necromorphs in Deadspace. An alien(?) virus that transforms its first victim to a huge behemoth who then proceeds to create second generation monstrosities who in turn create third (and final) generation plague, who still retain some humanity. There are also the plague zombies - the victims who weren't killed by the virus but didn't turn either. While the third generation models are a bit so-so (as far as I'm concerned) the first and second gens are great looking! And the plauge teraton that has just been unlocked looks like it could be spectacular looking!

Plague reinforcements...

Wow... didn't mean to write so much about the fluff. What about the game? The game, dude!!?

If I know my dear readers I have feeling that many of you used to play GW games (and some of you probably still do) and while you have slowly been more and more turned off WHFB and 40k you still have a special place in your heart for the GOOD games, like Necromunda, Mordheim, Blood Bowl, Epic and Battlefleet Gothic. Am I right, or am I right?

After Epic Space Marine, Necromunda is by far my most played GW game. When that was released pretty much all other miniature gaming activity ceased as we just played it to death (I guess we managed some games of Blood Bowl as well)! Most of the people in my group painted multiple gangs and we had several campaigns going with loads of off-table chatter between games. Basically, it was pretty much all I had wished for in miniatures game.

There are great deals on some Antenociti terrain as part of the Kickstarter as well!

So why don't we simply dust off our old 'Munda minis? Well, the system that worked well for us then feels a bit dated and clunky when looked at today. And getting everyone fired up about getting their old minis out from the attic has proved tricky. Not to mention that it takes up a lot of room and the paper terrain (that I love personally) have turned one or two buddies off the game.

Enter Deadzone. This is Mantic's attempt to fill the void left by Necromunda and Deadzone. However it actually is something new, rather than simply carbon copying an old ruleset and peddling it to people stuck in the nostalgic late nineties. Just like Dreadball proved to be a solid game in itself, and a very different beast to how Blood Bowl plays, Deadzone is aiming for a particular gap, but is bringing new ideas and ways to play with it.

The way I see it, Deadzone is not filling the skirmish game gap. There are loads of those around these days and many of them are truly great game (Infinity, woot!). The gap being filled is instead of the campaign game - something that has been missing since 'Munda/Mordheim were murdered slowly. Sure there are games like Judge Dredd that are trying to fill that niche, but I think the setting is a bit too specific and Mongoose don't have the clout to really make it into a "mainstream" game. Mantic on the other hand have an excellent opportunity to create a large fanbase with the kickstarter and thanks to the success of Dreadball I think miniature games are starting to take them seriously as a miniature games company, rather than simply a miniatures company.

Another gap that Deadzone is filling is one of accessability. While I love Infinity and would recommend it to anyone, it is a game with a bit of a threshold when you start out. The naming conventions are confusing, there are loads of different skills and pieces of equipment and even the tactical depth can be intimidating! Even my friend Anders, who once asked "Why play anything other than Infinity?", grew disinterested of the game when I pressed on a bit too quickly and he had a hard time keeping up in the "arms and rules race". I hear Malifaux is similiarly tricky to get into at first, and so is Heavy Gear.

Rebel scum...

Deadzone on the other hand is fairly straight forward with the dicepool and versus rolls. Another HUGE thing is that you play it on a 60x60cm gridded mat and don't need a measuring tape! While I was initially sceptical about this, as I found Dust Tactics too abstract and boardgamey, the way it works in practice pretty much combines the best of both worlds and it plays quickly while still retaining the importance of terrain and positioning. Of course, you can expand on this and play on four mats put together, or six mats - some of the recently revealed stuff (like a mortar!) are specifically aimed for larger games. But the core game is played on a small board, crammed with terrain and you are normally done within the hour. This is accessibility.

The terrain is another big draw, and it's actually the reason I had a look at Deadzone in the first place. I wanted to see if the terrain would be suitable for Infinity. Well, it's suitable for pretty much anything considering it's modular and you can build what the hell you want with it! Is it the best looking terrain available? No. There's a lot of beautiful stuff out there and more is being produced everyday in the form of MDF stuff. On the other hand, it's not bad looking by any stretch of the word - it's solid looking hardish sci-fi terrain that could be used to create any kind of battlefield. I would love to get an Infinity table crammed with Warmill stuff, but I'm more than happy to use the Deadzone tiles instead. Cheaper and more flexible.

This is what we're aiming for, or actually with a little bit more terrain.

Alright, I'll try and round off this post now. Getting a bit long...

I've been blathering on about Deadzone, the different factions, the rules and the filling of gaps, but what really convinced me was when I got to try the Alpha rules and got the same kind of feeling that I used to get when playing Necromunda fifteen years ago! Tight, scenario based skirmish battles in a cramped environment. Little stories and vignettes being told as you played and knowing that your guys were getting better the more after a battle. The ease of getting into when there are only a handfull of models needed to play and rules that can be explained in 10 minutes.

It's pretty cool stuff. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty cool stuff. And right about now on the final stretch the Kickstarter is starting to explode. Yesterday it jumped more than $32,000 and it's already passed that amount today, with more than half the day left! I wouldn't be surprised to see the meter tick past $800,000 by tonight and that's still before the 48 hour email goes out. Dreadball pulled in $133,000 on its last day and I don't see any reason why Deadzone would be any different. Will it break the million mark? With 53 hours to go I'd bet on it...

Read More

5 comments

Deadzone Alpha Rules - First Impressions

Yepp... another kickstarter I just couldn't resist. I went into Deadzone mainly for the terrain and some of the miniatures, for use with other games. But soon discovered that Deadzone the game proved to be very interesting indeed! Now having found a couple of friends to split it with we've gone in on the Fire Team level and are getting all kinds of excited!

I'll keep this short as it's getting late and I have work tomorrow, but I'd like to talk a little bit about the alpha rule set that Mantic have just released. These are of course bare-bones but provide us with a solid idea about what we can expect from the gameplay itself.

First of all, it's area based, meaning movement and ranges are handled by squares marked out on the gameboard, similar to Dust Tactics. However, in contrast to Dust Tactics, which I found too abstract and boardgamey, Deadzone uses true line of sight and positioning within a square is very important. Jake has basically tried to remove the fiddlyness of measuring ranges while keeping the freedom that makes it exciting. Has he succeeded? Well, I need to test it to really know but I think that this sounds like a pretty damned good compromise! One thing's for certain, no need for measuring makes for a quicker game.

The Plague. Love the 1st generation (big guy) and the 2nd generations (not shown), but the 3rd generations are a bit meh. Not bad.... but not as good as the rest. Might replace them with undead legionnaires from Warzone.

The game is based on a dice pool mechanic using D8s (normally three of them) and you often roll against your opponent in versus rolls and counts successes based on a basic stat, like Fighting 5+. In some ways it reminded me of Infinity, but thinking more about it I wonder if it's not actually closer to Heavy Gear Blitz. Anyway, depending on how well you roll (failed, beat your opponent or rolled twice as well as your opponent) you get different results, and since you can also often choose which stat to use when defending (Fighting or Surival for breaking off a melee for example) these results can be quite different.

For example, trying to break out of melee using your Survival skill and rolling twice as many successes as your opponent means you get to make a free move out of the square and then take a free suppression fire action against the enemy you left behind. Pretty cool I thought!

Enforcers. Great looking! The elite jackbooted corporate thugs who are sent in to "contain" a plague outbreak. Of course, by now the stretchgoals have added twice as many models.

The difference in rolls also correlate to damage, so if I roll three successes against my opponent's one success I have a potential damage of two. Subtract the opponent's armour and you get the final damage. Models can take one damage and remain in play, while injured, but die after a second damage. Of course stuff like armour piercing weapons and headshots come into this. However, there are really no weapon stats as such. A basic rifle simply has long range, and a pistol short. An assault blade has AP1 but that's it - it's more about the stats on the models and what you roll than the stats of the weapons. At this point in time at least, I think people like weapon stats and wouldn't be surprised to see them expanded before release.

There's a simple but effective suppression/morale mechanic with models being (in ascending order) Pinned, Alert, Enraged or Berserk. Instead of shooting to kill you can use Blaze Away (suppression fire) to lower an enemies morale level. Being Pinned gives you a penalty to most rolls and you must use your first action to raise your morale to Alert when it's your turn.


There's equipment strewn around the battlefield that you can pick up, mostly grenades and ammo (which gives a bonus to suppression fire). Grenades are pretty cool and could be really devastating! Since models actually get knocked away from the blast they can be used for clearing enemies out of cover or off rooftops. Neat!

The system is of the I-GO-U-GO model, but with a twist. Besides being able to put models in overwatch

you have a deck of Battle Cards as well, specific to your faction, that allow you to take extra actions during your turn and sometimes also interrupt your opponents turn. While not in the Alpha, there will also be a deck of mission cards that you draw secretly from your opponent. These are also faction specific so the rebels will usually centre around scavenging meds and equipment, while the Enforcer's missions will probably be more of the 'kill every infected and everything else before they get infected' variety.

Finally there will be rules for accumulating experience and getting better as a team, so it seems like the great void left by Necromunda and Mordheim might finally be filled.

I'm thinking the rules for sniper rifles will be armour piercing and perhaps bonus to overwatch.

Hmm... yeah, I think that covers most of the important stuff. While the individual mechanics are perhaps not innovative in and of themselves, I think the way they fit together make for a fairly unique gaming experience. I will report back after trying these rules out (next week hopefully) but right now I think they seem very cool! It seems like these rules will excell at telling little stories within the game, very much like Infinity, but at an average game clocking in around an hour it's a lot quicker.

Alright... those are my thoughts. Now why don't you go and jump aboard the Deadzone kickstarter?! Just look at this guy!

Maurader mercenary!

Read More

11 comments

April Releases for Infinity!

Good evening fellow Mayanauts! I'm a little late with my thoughts on the new Infinity releases, but I wanted to let the Robotech article stay on top for a bit. Anyway, this month we have a good mix of stuff including a character that people have been clamouring for since... well, for a long time! Let's have a look...

First out is a Ariadnan Scots Guard armed with a missile launcher. This miniature was teased ahead of the main release and when I first saw it I almost didn't think it was an official CB model. Even looking at it now (in this much better picture) I still think something feels off. There are several small things, like that flow of the coat, the hunched head, the stiff looking left arm and the wonky missile launcher that throws me. It is not like all these details are really bad it's just that they "muddle up" the mini in my mind. Then again, I might change my mind entirely when I actually get to see it in the flesh. I has happened before! It's certainly not a bad model but it lacks something I've come to expect from CB. Then again an angry Scotsman with a missile launcher should be on everyone's wishlist!

To weigh up the bad start let's look at the PanO special character Kirpal Singh! Now this is a miniature who lives up to CB's high standards in every way! I've always felt PanO to be a little bland, nice looking, but bland. With some exceptions of course, like the Bagh-Mari and the Akhalis Sikh Commandos. And here we have a Akhali character - turban and all! The armour looks great, the new re-sized rifle looks a lot better as well and the assault pistol definitely means business. Love the pose as well as you can really see the heft of the rifle and the way he's nonchalantly aiming the pistol - like he's taking potshots at a retreating enemy. The head and face is a welcome departure from the bland (again!) faces of many other PanO minis. This guy not only is a character, he has character.

The armour has been re-designed and looks quite different from the originalr Akhali Sikhs. But considering their age this is to be expected. The biggest departure is probably that the fins on the backs of the old ones have been replaced by the jetpack(?) thrusters. I'm all for it as that is one of the things I really liked about the Crusader Brethren. It also helps visually identifying miniatures with combat jump. The redesign also makes me wonder if we might see a box of newly sculpted Akhali Sikh Commandos in the not too distant future...

Alright, with all that awesome I need to cool down a bit with the Haqqislam Support Pack. "Yawn, just another repack" you might think, but then you'd be wrong! While the Nasmat helper bots are the same both the Doctor and the Engineer are new sculpts. While the old ones were servicable there's no denying that these new miniatures blow them out of the water! They retain the same essence as their forebears but have become a lot more detailed and simply put, look more realistic. Although I can't help wondering why they issued the Doc with a childrens flak vest...

Another special character! Domaru Takeshi "Neko" Oyama was one of the first special characters I memorized simply because his name kept popping up everywhere on the forums when I started playing. I've seen a number of conversion for him, and I'm happy to say that the official model looks nothing like them! Not because the conversions were bad in any way, I just feel that a special character should be just that - special. While you can see the Domaru power armour beneath, Neko like to dress with panache so have put on some traditional samurai armour and a vest (jin-haori,if I remember my samurai correctly) on top. This really makes the model stand out and I think it looks awesome!

I've seen some comments about the "weird" way he's holding the sword (left hand at the very end of the hilt) but this is at least common in kendo, both in single and two sword fighting. To me it looks fine. The biggest debate has been about his face and hair though! Apparently the entire model is an homage to Mugen from Samurai Champloo anime, and pulling up pictures of him the similarites are certainly there. It's not what I expected but seeing Takeshi's background as a young roughian who don't really care much for tradition I think it fits. In game he's basically a souped up Domaru, meaning he's even more of a melee monster! Definitely a mini I will pick up.

Finally, what would an Infinity release be without something for the Tohaa? This time we get a neat box of Chaksa Auxiliars. I don't know what I expected of the chaksa, but it certainly wasn't this! They kind of look like classical 'Grey aliens' on 'roids, except there are some elements of the EI in there as well... except softer and more... human looking. Overall they look pretty badass and I can imagine a lot of people being disappointed that they are actually merely the Tohaa versions of remotes. In mostly any other game miniatures like these would come with heavy armour and devastating weaponry, but if you look at them you see a lot of bare skin. And I don't care how big you are... bare skin spells doom in a gunfight! So having them at ARM 1 seems perfectly appropriate to me.

They basically correlate to the standard remotes of the other factions, although a bit slower but more well armed. They have decent PH as well so are able to dodge reasonably well which is nice. All in all a pretty cool box!


Another good month, although I still haven't figured out that Scots Guard. My favourite model this month is probably Kirbal Singh, closely followed by the Chaksa and Oyama. The Haqqislam specialists are great sculpts as well, but don't quite pack the same punch as the other guys. I'm not sure when I'll be able to buy any of these for myself as there are three kickstarters I'd like to invest in but... Oyama at least will be mine!

Read More

4 comments