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:
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| Blood Beret WIP digital sculpt |
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| 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!
