Warzone Resurrection

[CmdrKiley]

After Easter, I am so supporting this, even if it may be the only Kickstarter I support for 2013.

Warzone Resurrection Kickstarter

[CmdrKiley]

Well only 4 days in and it's hit the 32,000 pound goal.

Bauhaus is now unlocked, and I'm liking the concept art I'm seeing on their facebook page for them.

I'm really looking forward to the Capital, Mishima and Imperial factions however.

I think when the Beta-Test rules are posted, I'll be busting out my old Warzone minis to try this new skirmish level game out.

[CmdrKiley]

Wow, just broke the 40,000 pound stretch goal.

and there's 55 more days to go. ;D

[CmdrKiley]

I downloaded the Beta rules and cards from their Kickstarter site.

The game appears to be a hybrid miniatures / customizable card game. Where players each build a deck that will represent resources, strategic and tactical advantages that appear during the battle. Cards are drawn, into a hand and can be played from there. Resource cards are placed into a pool. The cards in this resource pool are tapped when a unit is activated to represent that squad using that resource (ammo upgrades, cover, etc.). Strategy and Tactics cards are played that can have immediate and surprising effects on game play, similar to Incursion.

The game is a skirmish game and played in small numbers. Minimum army size is 6 models and maximum appears to be a maximum of 37 models. Like Dust, squads are fixed in 5 man squads with a squad leader and heavy weapon trooper. Squads are enhanced by any Hero models attached to them.

Like the old Warzone, the game is alternating individual activation. Meaning that each player alternates activating a squad until all squads are activated. When activating a squad, each individual model in the squad performs all of his actions before activating the next model in the squad. Individual models may perform any actions as long as they remain in coherency.

However, what is different is that the coherency is is very large. It's based on the squad leader's Leadership skill, which range from 10-16". This means that a 5 man squad can stretch itself out to a 32" diameter circle around the squad leader. This seems unusual compared to most games, but given that this is an individual actiavation skirmish game (similar to Urban War) it works.

The advantage appears that you can really cover a lot of area and get a some good LOS on a target. The disadvantage is that if the Squad Leader is killed, spreading out troops will be a big disruption. The next time the squad is activated, a new squad leader must be selected and all models must be checked their coherency with the new SL before performing any actions. If out of coherency, then the model must spend ALL of its actions getting within the new coherency.

Shooting mechanics seem very similar to the old Warzone, however there is no range modifiers. Instead there are modifiers based on weapons damage type vs. the target's armor type. Unlike the old Warzone, there doesn't appear to be any criticals (Natural 1 or 20). Cover is cumulative, and a model with more than 3 levels of cover cannot be targeted unless the use of a Lucky Shot (hit only on a natural 1).

The game can be played with the old models, however the new models look fantastic. Other than the Cybertronic Machinators, there doesn't appear to be much changes between the configuration of the old and new models so far. A few new models have been added to each faction, mostly heroes or heavy individual units.

[GrumpyMonkey]

I backed out of the Zombiecide Season 2 starter so I could fund this more.

Really excited for this one, as Warzone has always been dear to my heart.

[CmdrKiley]

I dug my Warzone collection out the other day.

Now I have the beta-test cards cut out.

Time for some playtesting.

[CmdrKiley]

I received the first part of my Warzone Ressurection Kickstarter Rewards Package almost a month ago and (aside from a few missing bitz) I finished assembling the models. I ended up getting the Capital, Cybertronic, Brotherhood, and Mishima starter sets. I'd have to say I'm really glad I got the Mishima set as I find it the most improved over the older, even 2nd Edition, models. The Capital troops seemed to have changed the most in style, looking a bit more modern than retro WWI/WWII but the Capital vehicles do capture the old retro diesel punk look (especially the Purple Sharks).

Very nice sculpts, resin is a good quality material, it's a bit soft and bendy and easy to cut. Sort of on the range of the Wizkids stuff but not as soft as the Wizards of the Coast stuff. lthough mine had more mold lines than the samples Shawn recived (I think I got the stuff at the end of the mold's life) they were not too bad to clean up (far easier to clean up than Mantic's restic stuff). Unlike those esamples, the details are super sharp and some of the features are a bit too fine (and fragile). The sculpts are all computer generated, and the propoertions are very realistic. Although the guns are still quite big (that is a Warzone characteristic, along with the shoulderpads) but the swords are not so. Due to the proportions these figures look don't quite fit in well the older metal figures, especially the very chunky 1st edition figures. Unfortunately it also means bendy swords, I detest bendy swords. I would much rather have cricket bat thick swords than paper thin katanas that are curly. I think some of this is lack of experience on the CG designer's part in knowing how the durable the phyisical part is going to be when it is made.

Also just finished reading the rulebook and earlier this week tried out the basic rules with a Capital vs. Mishima game. Many of the core game mechanics are the same, although a bit streamliined, making players of the old versions find it familiar. However Warlord and card deck changes the gameplay a bit. Whereas the previous versions of Warzone seemed like a straight up army game where you choose from army units of various troop types and specializations as well as some stat'ed out heroes and maybe a vehicle or two, the new version pretty much centers the style of play for your army based on the Warlord you select to lead it. The Warlord is clearly the center of your army. Each Warlord provides advantages to the army list and some even blanket protection to nearby units, and pretty much defines how it is going to play (Ranged, Close Combat, Tech or Psychic). Furthermore, the Warlord provied resource points which are used to boost a model's performance or activate certain special abilities. This really reminds me of Warmachine. The Strategy, Tactics and Gear cards are drawn from a deck and used as an instant enhancement to boost a unit or degrade another. This sort of is like Deadzone or Incursion, and I've always liked that mechanic in those games. Overall, I find the game sort of plays like Warmachine.

Several big changes to the core game mechanics are that all units now have 2 actions rather than 3 and that there are no range modifiers for ranged weapons. Ranged weapons used to be pretty big, but with a series of range band modifiers (from Point Blank, Short, Medium, Long and Extreme). No ranges are very short, 40k short, with no range modifiers, like 40k. Instead cover modifiers are pretty harsh and they are cumulative. Furthermore, there is a limit in which you cannot hit a target with 3 or more pieces of intervening terrain or models unless you roll a natural 1. At first I didn't like this, but found it works very well with terrain heavy battlefields as it forces units to move around to get better LOS on targets. Also gives close combat specialists some more realistic advantages. The older versions seemed to struggle with the close combat specialist unit types, mostly by giving them unrealistic movement or stealth capabilities to compensate.

A new rule that I really like is "Get the Gun!". This allows squads a 50% chance (under certain conditions) to pick up the squad support weapon in the event that the support specialist is killed. Something that would be very nice for other game systems.

One issue that I do have with the rules is that it has a very steep learning curve for beginners. The core mechanics are quite simple, but all the special and unique abilities are quite extensive. Particularly the heroes which have a large amount, similar to a Warcaster from Warmachine. Also, there are a number of assumed special rules, these are rules that are not directly listed on the unit in the army list or on the stat card, but are automatically assumed to have because of it's classification. So it may require some studying up on the units you intend to play prior to gaming with them. This sort of thing I found a bit difficult for beginners with Pulp City, something I see is being addressed with the new Pulp City Supreme Edition now.

Many of the units have been carried over from the old Warzone, and only have a cosmetic change in appearance. So you can still use your old Warzone minis. However, a few units have eliminated or added some squad specialists, or re-armed a unit with a totally new weapon. A few units grew, and I mean really got HUGE! Check out the new Capital Orca, once a 2 man heavy battle suit mounted on 2 25mm bases. Now it is a Light Walker mounted on an 80mm base. This version uses the 30, 40, 50, and 80 mm lipped bases rather than the old 25 mm standard bases. Base size is important in this game as it defines many close characteristics. If you wish to use the old minis, the 25 to 30 mm base size is most likely not going to be an issue, but for heroes and many of the larger models, you may need to remount them on 40 mm lipped bases. The rulebook also has rules on making custom Lords and Warlords, so you can use some of your old Character models and put them into play.