Friday, April 24, 2015

Warzone: Resurection

Way back in the old days of gaming in Palmie North NZ, there was a time where we really turned our backs on the GW games for awhile. The local stockist, now long gone Hall of Heroes got his hands on a huge amount of minis from the Warzone and Chronopia range. The company that made the two systems was kind dead or dying, but largely thanks to some mates such as Mr Mildon the interest was kept up. He had the books as well as copies for our local club M.A.G.E, and we kept on playing.

I built myself up a decent sized Dark Legion, that I also completed painting. When it came time for the big move countries I had to let go a lot of gaming supplies and my Dark Legion was one of them. From memory I think I donated it to the club? I can't be sure now though.

Fast forward 10 years and while at Cancon 2015 in Canberra I was shocked to see Warzone being played as demo games. It turns out the game has been restarted by a company Prodos Games, who also do the Aliens Vs Predator game.

I joined in the demo games with my two oldest boys and it was a serious flash back in time. There were a few additions, but it seemed very much the same game I remembered from Palmie North. What I am really kicking myself for is that it turns out there was a Kick Starter re-release. I missed out but would certainly have backed that.

In great news though my local has started to stock the game, and I was quick to pick up a Dark Legion starter box. If anyone is looking at this I highly recommend Tabletop Empires for all your Warzone, or any other gaming needs.

Yesterday I stopped by and grabbed a box, then rushed home and dived in whilst watching the Chiefs win yet again.

The box and art work is a huge improvement on the old stuff.

I was a little surprised and disappointed in opening the box half expecting the old slide top and foam inside like I remembered  from back in the day. However the new models arn't metal so I guess none of that was needed. Cracking it open I was instantly impressed by the contents. Firstly I looked at the cards included. These are a new addition to the game, and were quite spectacular. They are made of a strong solid card without being thick. They have a nice gloss finish, and more wonderful artwork.
The bases supplied are the nice solid lipped round basses you see in Warmachine and such. They have a slot down the middle, which I found odd as it's not needed at all for the miniatures. A nice touch is the inclusion of two D20 dice to play the game.

The obvious best part of the starter box is of course the minis themselves. The new model design is spectacular, the detail and look really impresses me, and there was very little clean up required. The new miniature designers have taken a big step away from the huge shoulder pads everything had in its last rendition which is great.
The only small criticism I had of the whole box was trying to glue the minis. It may have been my glue, but it was Zaapagap so I doubt it. I think it may have been the plastic, it took a lot to get a bond. I even had to resort to pinning infantry models.

So as you can see from the pic, in the Dark Legion starter box you get two squads of undead legioneers, two Necromutant Squad Leaders for them and one Razide for heavy support. With everything else that's great value for $70. I've worked out that this is around 250pts. At some stage, i'll expand it by adding in a character but no rush, there's plenty of painting to be done with what I have.


Why do I like Warzone?

Well it's a sci-fi skirmish level game, but where Necromunda or Infinity is about each individual, Warzone still is based in units. It's probably closer in similarities scale and play wise to Warmachine.
It has more inbuilt details game wise than 40k, but without the overly complicated systems of Infinity. Although unit based each model within the unit can act individually and doesn't have to copy what the guy next to him does ie: 40k. It is great skirmish level but if you want you can play bigger games with ease. And I really enjoy games with alternating activation's, and off turn reactions. No sitting around while your opponent has their whole turn.

It's simple, cheap to get into and great fun. 
I plan on picking up a second starter, probably imperials and get some battle reports done introducing the game to new people so stay tuned.

No comments:

Post a Comment