Warzone Eternal Facebook Back In Operation!

Hi!

It's been a bit quiet here on the blog as Res Nova has been regrouping following the announcement of the pause on the kickstarter campaign but excitingly the facebook page is back up with a message from Alex:

Sorry for the silence everyone. As noted two weeks ago, Bryan and I needed to take a breather after the frantic action leading up to the launch of the Kickstarter campaign and those first 10 days of campaign activity. And just leaving the page for a couple weeks without an active moderator just wasn't an option.

But that break is over, and we've already begun reviewing survey comments and discussing what needs to be revised, both in terms of a Kickstarter campaign as well as the product itself, before Warzone Eternal should be brought back to crowd-funding.

Some of those are obvious and easily addressable, others are far more significant questions. But all need to be addressed in order to put this property on its best footing moving forward. As noted earlier, we'll continue to engage with you, Warzone's most passionate fans, for feedback as we move along.

And for those of you who dropped notes of support following the decision to cancel the previous campaign - I truly appreciate those. It was not a decision made lightly, but I do truly believe it was the decision best for Warzone. Thanks again.

Alex

I'm really pleased to see Alex and Bryan back and am looking forward to seeing more Warzone Eternal stuff and have somewhere to chat about all things Warzone again and we shall see how things go once they've had chance to digest the feedback on the kickstarter.

Once I find out any information, I'll post it up here but in the meantime, All the best!

Warzone Eternal Forces: Capitol Free Marines and Sunset Strikers

 Hi!

While we wait on the relaunch of the Kickstarter campaign I thought I'd post a bit of detail about the assorted forces that have been showcased by Res Nova thus far!

To get the ball rolling, I'm starting off with the Capitol Megacorporate special forces, the Free Marines and Sunset Strikers!

Looking at the old 1st edition rules, the decision to feature these two iconic units makes perfect sense in the fact that both are elite special forces and specialise in different forms of combat.

The Free Marines are the most famous of Capitol's Special Forces, made up of heroic individuals who have dishonoured themselves and now live only to redeem themselves. They specialise in digging in and letting the enemy roll over them, then popping up behind enemy lines to harass the enemy. - Warzone 1st Edition Rulebook.

The box set will allow you to build a leader, medic or support trooper with a rocket launcher as well as just normal troops. According to Bryans brilliant video over on his channel, they also have a Camouflage special rule which benefits them skulking in cover and being more difficult to hit whilst there. Their second skill is Nerves of Steel, an ability to make a movement action towards the enemy, even if they are pinned.

I really like the combination of skills and equipment as it suits the background of the unit and represents them being both able to evade suppressing fire and make the best use of cover to keep on moving. I can imagine this coming in really handy during scenarios when objectives have to be seized as the Free Marines ability to keep pushing forward means pinning them down, especially when in cover will be really difficult.

The Sunset Strikers are based on Mercury. They have studied the martial arts intensively and specialise in close combat. Since the time five of their number saved the Lord Heir of Mishima from an assassination attempt, they are entitled to wear the Ceremonial Blades of a Mishiman Samurai. - Warzone 1st Edition Rulebook.

Game wise, Bryan has revealed that Sunset Strikers are probably the best close combat troops Capitol has and while their shooting isn't as good as Free Marines, they are awesome in close combat, especially with their Ceremonial Blades. 

The box will allow you to build a leader, a support trooper armed with a Gehenna Puker flame thrower or an operator, a model equipped with a selection of grenades as well as normal troopers. Their special ability is Fierce Charge which gives a bonus in close combat and perfectly represents a bunch of sword wielding melee combat experts. 

Interestingly, the Operator character also gets special rules for when they are within 1 inch of an objective which represents them being tactically aware and suited to holding objectives. 

By utilising both unit types in games, I can imagine that Capitol will be a popular choice with their ability to manoeuvre while under fire with Free Marines keeping enemy troops engaged with their heavy support weapon or hugging cover and pushing forward while the Sunset Strikers are then given the opportunity to rush in, swords swinging to cut down their foes!

I plan on posting more articles in the coming days covering the rest of the Corporate forces and Dark Legion choices and will also do a bit of a retrospective of the megacorp forces from 1st edition but until then, All the best!

Warzone Kickstarter Paused

 Hi,

The big news has been that the Warzone Kickstarter has been paused as although it has successfully funded, it stalled with 20 days to go.

Here's the update from Alex:

Hey everyone,

A third of the way into the campaign is a good time to look at what has been accomplished thus far and where it looks like things are headed.  And, unfortunately, the road ahead does not look particularly smooth.  Most Kickstarter campaigns experience a lull after the initial excitement around the launch date, so a slow down was expected, but we've very nearly stalled and the trend is not promising.  It is abundantly clear that I have miscalculated what the Mutant Chronicles/Warzone community is looking for in a relaunch of Warzone.  And in looking at other recently completed miniatures game Kickstarters, it doesn't look like the long-reliable tail end funding bump to a campaign is anything to presume.

So, I have decided to cancel this campaign immediately, and after discussing this decision with our Licensor, Heroic Signatures, they agreed.  I've learned a massive amount in the run-up to this campaign, and during these first 10 days, and have a far clearer idea of what a relaunch of Warzone requires to be successful.  The form this takes, whether simply as a revised Kickstarter relaunch or something completely different, will be the subject of significant internal conversations in the short term and a continued commitment to this property in the long term.

Below I've tried to offer some more context for this decision and preemptively answer some likely, and reasonable, questions.

But you hit your funding goal!

We did, and we want to thank everyone who jumped on board with the project right away.  Those first 24 hrs were absolutely exhilarating and suggested a momentum for this campaign that left us highly optimistic. But it's no closely guarded secret that Kickstarter funding goals rarely reflect the full total necessary to make a campaign a success.  It's a gamble that unfortunately has become a part of working through Kickstarter.

But what does "success" mean for Warzone Eternal?  I can promise you it's not massive profits for Res Nova - miniatures games are a poor bet for folks interested in getting rich.  No, what "success" meant was a campaign that hit funding goals that not only ensured that the funded products could be manufactured and fulfilled in a timely manner, but also provided the necessary capital to cover at least a portion of the production costs for the next wave of miniatures releases.  Unlike a board game, miniatures games require a steady infusion of new releases in order to sustain the interest of the gaming community and retailers. Because, yes, retail was absolutely a future plan.

Warzone has gone through previous periods of sparse release schedules and unreliable distribution to the game's detriment, and we have no intention of creating another version of those issues, further damaging the property or contributing to the idea of a "Warzone Curse" (a nonsense idea anyways). This isn't some "White Knight" excuse - I didn't pursue the opportunity to bring this game back simply to leverage a passionate fanbase for a quick buck; I did it because I love this universe and wanted to enable far more opportunities for people, including myself, to play in it.

Why were the unit boxes so expensive?

We’ve heard from plenty of you that the price of the unit boxes were a turn-off. As any Warzone veteran knows, this property, at maturity, consists of dozens of unique units, resulting in a massive catalog of products.  Given our desire to eventually get into retail, as noted above, this meant the future prospect of retailers having to devote significant wallspace to our game (to reiterate, we've been focused on the long game from the beginning).  For only a handful of the largest gaming properties is a retailer able to do that.

But by producing sets of models that contained the components to build all variations on two different unit types, we could drastically reduce product count.  This would also allow gamers to assemble models the way they wanted, from a far greater variety of components.  Unfortunately this also meant unit boxes with 40+ components, on average.  Even leveraging a reasonably priced material like Siocast, the sheer complexity of these boxes and the number of molds required to produce each established a hefty production cost.

Additionally, modular sets like these impose limitations on how the models can be posed that are not faced by single piece models (or multi-part models that can only be built one way).  The very positive reception for the Mortificator we showed for Unlock #4 suggests that the dynamism offered by single piece models is far more compelling to this community than the utility offered by variable build kits. To shift in this direction takes more effort than can be accomplished by a simple pivot of the current campaign.

You should have had fully painted miniatures/full render images/ . . .

You're right, we should have.  There were a litany of false starts, production partnerships that never materialised as promised, and other trials and errors that put our project behind schedule - as many folks vocally reminded us.  So I was adamant that we stick with our plans for a Spring Kickstarter and planned that the outstanding components of our Kickstarter page would arrive just in time, or would work as good update material as the campaign progressed.

These were bad decisions on my part.  The former didn't happen because life is complicated and things rarely happen as smoothly as desired.  And the latter plan backfired as backers aren't interested in seeing updates that introduce information that should have been on the campaign page from the start. There’s no question that a campaign needs to be immediately compelling to interested backers in the first 48 hours of its launch, and any amount of scrambling to address deficiencies after the fact are unlikely to ever re-engage lost supporters.

It's also abundantly clear that a line of stretch goals is an expected feature for Kickstarter backers. Choosing to launch without them, regardless of how clearly I wanted to communicate that we were focused on a tight campaign intended to deliver as quickly as possible, was a regrettable and naive decision.

So what does this mean for Warzone Eternal?

It means we take down the current campaign and look to retool it, as well as certain aspects of the miniatures line, so that it hits what we think backers want.  Many of you have commented or messaged us with suggestions, things you wanted to see, or things that were lacking in our offering.  We appreciate that feedback and want more of it!  Please take the time to fill out this survey so that we can learn from the mistakes we made and hopefully remedy them in our future endeavours.

I still firmly believe in this project. Bryan has succeeded in creating a game that's a blast to play (you all should go pick up a copy of any of his other works - the man does good stuff) and we have a really good team passionate about getting that game into your hands. This was not a flippant decision, but one that I think is in the best interest of the property and Warzone Eternal.  Once again, I truly appreciate the support you've offered to this point.  Your pledges have been a vote of confidence in the approach we've taken and I look forward to the chance to deliver on that.

Regards,

Alex / Res Nova Games

While I am saddened to see the campaign being paused, I am absolutely convinced that Alex is the right person for the Warzone license and his passion as well as sense has stood out clearly in every stage of the process and each time I've spoken to him I always find myself reassured that Warzone is not only in the right hands but will make a comeback and be a successful game!

This may take a bit longer than I'd hoped but I've waited over twenty years since first edition, I'm sure I can wait a bit longer to get the game that we've seen starting to form over on the Facebook page and Bryan's Youtube channel.

What does it mean for this blog? I could pause it too but I think I'm going to start updating it regularly with guides to the factions, units and personalities in the Mutant Chronicles universe as well as delving into 1st edition as it was such a large part of my youth and still holds together remarkably well. Also as Alex is basing Warzone Eternal around this, I hope it will give folks something to peruse that may interest them into trying out Warzone once it releases in the future.

I also plan on putting together some modelling articles to chart my attempts at making some Warzone centric battlegrounds, be it the Dough Pits of Mars, the steaming jungles of Venus or the subterranean warrens of Mercury, I want to really dig into terrain making to allow me to play some really characterful games once Warzone Eternal eventually launches!

I'll post my first article in the next day or two but until then, All the best!

Warzone Eternal Battle Report

 Hi!

Alex and Bryan's battle report has been posted, fielding the megacorporate forces of Imperial against the sinister agents of Algeroth!

It's been great to see the game in action and I'm loving what I've seen so far as its got lots of elements that remind me of 1st edition, while modernising it. What's been really great to see is the game keeps both players fully engaged with all sorts of exciting and cinematic moments like ambush fire, snapping to cover and reaction fire and it doesn't slow the game down at all from what I've seen.

Whats been fun as well was seeing Warzone getting played and giving us an idea of how long a small skirmish is likely to take as the video is just over an hour long and had Alex and Bryan pausing to explain rules so I think that once you get a decent hang of the rules, a skirmish could be played out in about 30-40 minutes.

Some of the player reactions were also priceless, especially Alex's when his Blood Beret specialist toting a LMG opened up on a Necromutant in the open at short range only to roll a fumble.

There had been a bit of humming and hahing over the individual activation and how could the game work with two troop types per force work over on Facebook but watching the game answered that rather neatly as it played out really well with each model feeling like an individual with different gear and strengths.

I'm looking forward to seeing more games played in the not too distant future, hopefully showcasing how each of the factions play!

In the meantime, All the best!

Sebastian Crenshaw Sighted!

 Hi!

Exciting news from the Warzone Eternal Kickstarter with an exclusive miniature in the form of Sebastian Crenshaw!

Sebastian Crenshaw

The figure will become available once the KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN reaches $72k and as its currently at $66.5k, its looking very likely we're going to be able to get our hands on a Brotherhood asset which is rather exciting as Mortificators are awesome and Crenshaw is a legend!

I must admit that I got a sneak peek of the rended a few days back but had to keep it under my hat until the news was released and at first I thought it was a regular Mortificator but the Avalanche Handgun made me think twice and I realised it was none other than the legendary Sebastian Crenshaw.

The sculpt itself looks awesome and I can imagine a lot of folks will be adding $15 to get their hands on a figure that will only be available during the Kickstarter.

I had the original model back in the day and it had tons of character but by todays standards, it was a bit chonky with rather large head and long, overly muscled arms and the new concept does a great job of modernising the concept whilst channelling that dangerous look one wants with a heavily armed assassin. I also like the fact that the pose isn't over the top but dynamic and is modelled after this classic Paul Bonner illustration:

The name Crenshaw is legendary within the Brotherhood's 2nd Directorate - The Inquisition. Crenshaw is one of the Inquisition's Moritificators, highly trained. assassins, that are used to eradicate any threats to the Cardinal or the Brotherhood. No other Mortificator in the history of the Brotherhood has racked up more confirmed kills against so many important targets. The legends say Sebastian Crenshaw has never failed - at least while not working on his own. The legends are right.

Crenshaw is always dressed in black Mortificator armour and never takes off his helmet, not even in the company of his fellow brothers. He rarely, if ever discusses his work, and when he does, he uses only simple, straightforward words to describe what he has accomplished. Just as his physical personality is almost impossible to tell, as he always wears the black armour, it is very difficult to determine Crenshaw's true nature as often speaks with quotes from the Book of Law. -Warzone Dawn of War

In the original Warzone, Crenshaw was an utterly terrifying special character armed with the Avalanche, a pistol that did as much damage as a plasma carbine and the Deathdealer Sword, a heavy blade that could do sweep attacks and when combined with Crenshaw's strength and combat skill was utterly lethal. For Warzone Eternal, the figure will be classed as a normal Mortificator armed with Avalanche Handgun and Punisher Blades and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the legendary Brotherhood assassins work in the new game!

I'm really looking forward to the battle report between Bryan CP Steele, the games creator and Alex Kanous, the man behind Res Nova and Warzone Eternal as its going to give us a better idea of how the small single man skirmish will run!

In the meantime, All the best!

Kickstarter Component Showcase

 Hi!

The nice folks over at Res Nova have uploaded new images of the assorted components for the KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN and I'm liking the look of them!

Bauhaus Blitzers and Venusian Rangers

Capitol Free Marines and Sunset Strikers

Cybertronic Chasseurs and Mirrormen

Imperial Blood Berets and Golden Lions

Mishima Hatamoto and Shinobi (note the image above is missing the fifth body pose)

Algeroth Necromutants and Centurion

Algeroth Undead Legionnaires

Algeroth Razide

As the Kickstarter continues, Res Nova have already added extra components to several of the boxes including enough heads to give you five Venusian Rangers for example but its great to see the digital sculpts as they're really channelling that 90's action hero vibe with poses that have lots of animation without being the whole check me out I'm standing on a rock pose or looking awkward.

Its also worth noting that the Dark Legion stuff, especially the Undead Legionnaires are looking brilliant too, something that hadn't been too notable in the wip paintjobs we've seen until now. I especially like the poses of the Necromutant bodies as they have tons of character!

Hopefully we'll see painted examples of everything in the next few days and will continue to get lots of brilliant bits and bobs showing up, especially the battle report, so we can see how the game actually plays.

There's also been quite a few requests for alternate gubbins for each faction box, ranging from backpacks to drawn swords and whatnot but I must admit I'm happy enough with the selection we can already see!

In the meantime, All the best!

Warzone Eternal Kickstarter Update

 Hi!

Well the exciting news is that Warzone Eternal has successfully funded after less than 24 hours so Warzone is back! 

Better yet, we're starting to see painted examples of the miniatures we shall be getting our hands on once the game is released as well as some more artwork, including the rather angry Razide above.

Imperial Blood Beret

Imperial Golden Lion

I'm really loving the look of the painted figures that have started appearing as they really channel that classic Warzone vibe I remember but modernise the figures so there's none of the retro chonky figure syndrome of the 90's and the decision to make modular figures that use similar components for the Megacorporate forces really seems to be paying off as the different shoulder pads of the two different Imperial troops give them a different enough look to make them unique once combined with the different colour schemes!

Mishima Shinobi

Mishima Hatamoto

Similarly, I do love the combination of classic miniatures we recognise from Warzone with the new stuff, especially the Mishima Shinobi who I cannot remember from the old game but fit in perfectly with the Hatamoto and with the ever increasing funding, Res Nova have said they'll provide more components to allow you to field a full squad of troops with matching helms as well as a great selection of bare heads, both male and female!

Capitol Free Marine

It's also been great to see weapon load outs that have previously never been seen in miniature format, such as the Capitol Free Marine above who is armed with a missile launcher whilst sporting a mohawk and a no nonsense attitude!

Bauhaus Venusian Ranger

We've only seen the Bauhaus Venusian Ranger officially so far and are still waiting to see what the Blitzers are looking like but its fantastic to see the iconic skull mask and white armour again. There was some humming and hahing about the lack of a fur cloak on the figure as the originals did but it wouldn't be too difficult to sculpt either a fur cloak or camo cloak onto the figure depending on where they are deployed on Venus.

Dark Legion Algeroth Centurion

Dark Legion Algeroth Razide (nicely painted as a Dark Eden Nasca Razide!)

Finally the Dark Legion. I love the Razide and every version we've seen of him painted as he is just perfect with his bulky biotechnological hulk and massive gun! The Centurion, I must admit I wasn't too struck on but I figure a smidge of conversion and he'll do the job as an evil, twisted caricature of a human soldier, twisted in the distortion chambers of Algeroth to do his bidding!

All in all, we're starting to see Warzone Eternal develop into a really exciting project and I can't wait to see what Res Nova has up their sleeves for us as we get further into the Kickstarter campaign.

Hopefully we will continue to see more painted examples of the actual figures as well as images of the components of each box so we can get a better idea of what to expect.

I'll be updating the blog again in a few days as I plan on posting a bit about Bryan CP Steel's (he who wrote the rules and is busily wrangling the facebook page!) videos as well a peek at the battle report that Bryan and Alex played recently which I believe is going to be posted up soon once they've got it all edited together.

I highly recommend folks nip over to the KICKSTARTER PAGE and take a peek and if you can spare a few quid, back it at least at the Observer pledge level so we can get more folks involved in Warzone Eternal and give it the place it deserves as the setting that refuses to die but continues, shiny, chrome and eternal!

In the meantime, All the best!

Warzone Eternal Kickstarter Is Go!

 Hi.

Well the time has finally arrived and Warzone Eternal has launched as a Kickstarter campaign!

Handily the funding goal is pretty modest with the aim to get the core rulebook and a box of figures for each of the megacorporations and the dread forces of Algeroth and its proving that Warzone still has plenty of fans with the goal of £40k having been reached within the first 24 hours.

There aren't currently any plans for any stretch goals, rather than promising the earth and not being able to produce the good, Res Nova are bing very savvy with the Kickstarter which is really reassuring but have offered a free campaign pack to anyone who backs within the first 48 hours in the form of the Graveton Protocol, which gives folks a series of narrative scenarios set in the steaming jungles of Venus and pits megacorporate operatives against a sinister Dark Legion threat.

The figures themselves are looking rather nice too with some properly iconic units making an appearance, be it Imperial Blood Berets, Bauhaus Venusian Rangers, Capitol Free Marines, Mishima Hatamoto or Cybertronic Chasseurs!

The forces of Algeroth, the Dark Apostle of War are represented by Undead Legionnaires, Necromutants and Centurions as well as the terrifying Razide!

I'm really looking forward to the games proper release so I can start collecting and painting some small skirmish forces in the Mutant Chronicles universe and a rulebook that is already sounding rather fantastic, I can't wait to get gaming!

If you're interested in joining in, take a look at the link HERE and do have a think about backing the project as Alex and Bryan obviously have a deep love for the classic game and setting and it would be awesome to see Warzone making a comeback!

In the meantime, All the best!

Welcome to the Warzone

The Solar System is a battlefield. From Mars' red deserts to the steaming jungles of Venus, conflict rages. From the huge caverns of the Mercurian underworlds to the cold hells of the Asteroid Belt, battle lines are drawn. The five great megacorporations make war on each other. The fanatic soldiers of the Brotherhood clash with the undead warriors of the Dark Legion, who, in the names of their demonic masters, seek to conquer all who live. There is no peace. There are only small gaps between wars, when the combatants rebuild their strength before another cataclysmic clash with their eternal enemies.

This was the opening paragraph to Warzone 1st edition, a game that was released over quarter of a century ago and one that I still love today. The setting is a fantastic combination of Dieselpunk dystopia, 80's comics and action films with a healthy dose of horror thrown in for good measure. Add to this heady mix a selection of utterly amazing artwork by the likes of Paul Bonner and Paolo Parente and a groundbreaking ruleset that for its time was unlike anything most of us had ever seen and you had Warzone. 

Over the years Warzone has passed through several different companies but still have a committed fan base and when in late 2020 I became aware of a new venture called Res Nova having picked up the rights to the game I decided that it was high time that I ventured back into the Mutant Chronicles setting and re-explored this gem of a game.

From what little we know thus far, Res Nova are dedicated to going back to the classic aesthetic of big shoulder pads, heroic figure design and plan to launch the game as a small skirmish system with five or so figures a side on a 3'x3' board.

The figures themselves will come in a box of five, one for each of the Megacorporations of Capitol, Imperial, Mishima, Bauhaus and Cybertronic as well as the Dark Legion forces of Algeroth the Apostle of War. Each box will contain multipart plastic figures which will allow you to represent two iconic units for each force with the example being given of Imperial having the option to make them as Blood Berets or Golden Lions. On top of that, the set will give you a full selection of weapons to allow you to create the sort of force you want which again harks back to the customisation of the old 1st edition.

Release of the game is still a while off but we do know that the rules, written by Bryan C.P. Steele have been undergoing vigorous rounds of playtesting to ensure they are as tight as they possibly can be. Similarly the figures are in the design stage at present with only a WIP of one of the Blood Berets thus far being shown:

Blood Beret WIP digital sculpt

This is only a work in progress so it's going to be tweaked considerably before final production with things like the gun being rescaled but I really do like the classic Warzone vibe to it as he is instantly recognisable as both an Imperial Blood Beret due to his armour and kit but also as a Warzone figure due to the chunky shoulder pads.

Imperial Invader Combat Rifle, Plasma Carbine and Aggessor SMG

The game will be launched as a Kickstarter and will slowly expand to include new units for the megacorps as well as introducing the other Dark Apostles forces and hopefully eventually see us getting Dark Eden, the characters from the original edition and the small vehicles such as the Necromower, the Eradicator Deathdroid and the GT Offroad to name but a few!

I'm incredibly excited about the prospect of getting back into the setting and will be posting occasional updates here with background on the setting, the forces and characters as well as looking at the first edition Warzone books and rules themselves. Eventually as new released appear, I hope to be able to showcase my forces as I build them, post reviews of the rules, figures and whatnot and even post the odd battle report but for the meantime, I will have to content myself with posting background but hopefully it will be of use to folks who loved the game in its various versions and will help draw in some new folks who may never have heard of Warzone before.

Until then, All the best!