Warzone (game)

Last updated
Warzone
Designers Bill King
Publishers Target Games
Players2 or more
Setup timevariable
Playing time> about 1 hour
ChanceHigh
Skills Strategic thought

Warzone is a tabletop miniature wargame based on the Mutant Chronicles universe and role-playing game. It features squad-based combat at a skirmish level, although vehicles and large models were introduced in later supplements to the main rule book.

Contents

Designed by Bill King, the game was initially produced by Epic Games, a subsidiary of Target Games. As a result of a restructuring at Target Games, the rights to Warzone were sold to Paradox Entertainment in December 1999. [1] In 2020 Paradox sold the rights to Res Nova, which announced its intention to develop a new edition of the game. [2] In 2023 Res Nova launched a Kickstarter campaign for its new edition of Warzone, named Warzone Eternal.

Setting

Warzone takes place in a fictional dieselpunk future in which a space faring humanity has explored beyond Pluto and has uncovered ancient artifacts which unleashed an evil entity known as the Dark Soul and an obscure magical force known as the Dark Symmetry. This force soon started corrupting both man and thinking machines, instilling hatred and fear in their minds, then sent its own minions, consisting of legions of undead mutants and alien monsters called Nefarites, in an attempt to conquer humanity. In light of these events, technological and social progress has largely come to a halt. Most people are citizens of one of the major megacorporations, who have colonized the inner planets of the solar system, and who fight against each other when not fighting the evil forces of the Dark Soul. The Earth has become known as Dark Eden following a global apocalypse, and it is home only to tribal survivors and renegades. This background is intricately tied to that of the Mutant Chronicles role-playing game.

Gameplay

Warzone is a tabletop miniature wargame in which players take turns issuing orders, moving model troops on a model battlefield, and resolving combats that occur by rolling dice. It is played at the skirmish scale, where one model represents one soldier. The game became gradually more complex with later editions and expansions adding more details and special abilities.

Warzone is mostly compared and contrasted to Warhammer 40,000 , which targets the same market audience, and has similar gameplay, although Warzone never reached the latter's volume of market penetration [ citation needed ]. Warzone aims for a more realistic feel, being set in a more plausible future, with recognizable weaponry, megacorporations that represent modern-day nations and cultures, and a focus upon the power of units of soldiers, whereas Warhammer aims for more of a fantasy feel, with a greater variety of weapons, aliens, and a predominant focus upon the power of individual heroes.

Editions

Five different editions of Warzone have been produced through the years: the original Warzone, Warzone 2nd Edition, Ultimate Warzone in 1998, Warzone Resurrection in 2013, and Warzone Eternal is in development as of 2023.

During the production of the third supplement for Warzone 2nd Edition, Target Games underwent a significant restructuring which resulted in the establishment of Paradox Entertainment as an independent company and the license for the Warzone brand being sold to them. [3] Development and production of the Warzone line was not resumed after the disruption and a license to use the brand in the context of miniature wargaming was awarded to Excelsior Entertainment Owned by Thom Talamini and Christopher Schroeder (as well as licenses for the related Chronopia brand). [4]

The remaining stocks of original Warzone and Chronopia miniatures were sold to Irish company Prince August, who still have copies of the boxed game and supplements of the second edition in stock. [5] The original moulds were destroyed.

In 2008 Fantasy Flight Games released a 54mm collectible miniature game set in the Mutant Chronicles universe, [6] but the game was cancelled shortly after release due to poor sales. [7]

A new edition of Warzone was unveiled in February 2013 by Prodos Games (under licence to Paradox Entertainment). It is called Warzone Resurrection. [8] However Warzone Resurrection was discontinued by Prodos Games in 2018 because they were not able to find an agreement with Cabinet Entertainment, the rights holder and licensor of the Warzone franchise. The last miniatures of Warzone Resurrection were sold on the 9th of October 2018 on the Prodos webshop. [9]

In 2023, Res Nova Games LLC. launched a Kickstarter campaign for Warzone Eternal. This edition will focus on objective-based, skirmish combat on a 3'x 3' play area. [10]

Video Game

An Online Real-Time Strategy game was in development after Paradox Entertainment had acquired the license but the production was quietly shut down. [11] The game would have been called Warzone Online and would have featured a then brand new Game Engine called the Valpurgius Engine. It would have been released on both the Xbox and Windows platforms. [12]

Reception

Mark Donald reviewed Warzone for Arcane magazine, rating it a 6 out of 10 overall. [13] Donald comments that "Warzone is worth investigating, especially if you already swear by the RPG. However, I wouldn't recommend it to serious megalomaniacs who live for wargaming." [13]

Warzone won the Origins Award for Best Miniatures Rules of 1995. [14]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

<i>Warhammer 40,000</i> Miniature wargame

Warhammer 40,000 is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, and the tenth and current edition was released in June 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Games Workshop</span> British maker of miniature wargames

Games Workshop Group is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drakar och Demoner</span> Fantasy role-playing game

Drakar och Demoner also known as Dragonbane, is a Swedish fantasy role-playing game first published in 1982 by the game publishing company Äventyrsspel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miniature wargaming</span> Wargame genre

Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. Miniature wargames are played using model soldiers, vehicles, and artillery on a model battlefield, with the primary appeal being recreational rather than functional. Miniature wargames are played on custom-made battlefields, often with modular terrain, and abstract scaling is used to adapt real-world ranges to the limitations of table space. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use abstract pieces such as counters or blocks, or computer wargames which use virtual models. The primary benefit of using models is immersion, though in certain wargames the size and shape of the models can have practical consequences on how the match plays out. Models' dimensions and positioning are crucial for measuring distances during gameplay. Issues concerning scale and accuracy compromise realism too much for most serious military applications.

Cabinet Entertainment, previously known as Paradox Entertainment, is a company dealing in intellectual properties and making motion pictures thereof. All business is conducted from the main office in Los Angeles, United States. The company was founded in 2015 by CEO Fredrik Malmberg, previously co-founder of Swedish role-playing game publishing house Target Games and CEO of Paradox Entertainment.

World of Darkness is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, and Changeling: The Dreaming, along with off-shoots based on these. The series ended in 2004, and the reboot Chronicles of Darkness was launched the same year with a new line of games. In 2011, the original series was brought back, and the two have since been published concurrently.

<i>Warhammer</i> (game) Miniature wargame

Warhammer is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley, and first published by the Games Workshop company in 1983.

<i>Gorkamorka</i> Tabletop skirmish wargame

Gorkamorka is a tabletop skirmish wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is set on the desert world of Angelis in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, and prominently features Orks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Target Games</span> Tabletop role-playing game publisher

Target Games was a Swedish publisher of role-playing games active from 1980 until the year 1999 when they went into bankruptcy proceedings. Until the mid-1990s they published their Swedish roleplaying games under the brand name Äventyrsspel.

BL Publishing was a division of Games Workshop, and was split into three sections:

<i>Jovian Chronicles</i>

Jovian Chronicles is a science fiction game setting published by Dream Pod 9 since 1997. It introduces a complete universe for role-playing and wargaming space combat featuring mecha, giant spacecraft, and epic space battles.

<i>Mutant</i> (role-playing game) Tabletop role-playing game

Mutant is a series of Swedish role-playing games developed and published by Target Games using their Äventyrsspel brand. The current version was created by Fria Ligan under license by Cabinet Entertainment and published in Swedish and English by Fria Ligan and Modiphius respectively. A video game adaptation named Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden was released December 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutant Chronicles</span> Tabletop role-playing game

Mutant Chronicles is a pen-and-paper role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, originally published in 1993. It has spawned a franchise of collectible card games, miniature wargames, video games, novels, comic books, and a film of the same title based on the game world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Chambers</span> English author and game designer

Andy Chambers is an English author and game designer best known for his work on over 30 Games Workshop rulebooks and sourcebooks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Priestley</span> English miniature wargame designer and writer (born 1959)

Richard "Rick" Priestley is an English miniature wargame designer and writer. He co-created the miniature wargame Warhammer Fantasy Battle and its science fiction counterpart Warhammer 40,000 during his tenure at Games Workshop in the 1980s and 1990s. Following his time at Games Workshop, he went on to establish Warlord Games and co-create other titles such as Bolt Action.

James Wallis is a British designer and publisher of tabletop and role-playing games.

Demonworld is a tabletop wargame originally created by Hobby Products, a German gaming company. The game went out of production for several years but has recently been purchased and re-released by Ral Partha Europe, as announced on 8 June 2011.

<i>Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness</i> RPG supplement published in 1988

Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness is a 1988 role-playing game supplement for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader published by Games Workshop.

References

  1. ↑ Pressmeddelande Stockholm at the Wayback Machine (archived May 15, 2001)(in Swedish)
  2. ↑ Alex Kanous, Andrés Toribio, Álvaro Lareo (29 June 2020). "NEW WARZONE updates! With Alex Kanous (Res Nova)" (youtube). The Warzone Chronicles. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "Paradox Entertainment AB". MobyGames .
  4. ↑ TMP - Paradox Entertainment signs licensing deal for Mutant Chronicles: Warzone and Chronopia
  5. ↑ "Warzone Mutant Chronicles 28mm Scale Wargames and metal miniatures".
  6. ↑ "TCGplayer: Online Store for Collectible Trading Card Games".
  7. ↑ "[TMP] Mutant Chronicles Miniatures Game Cancelled".
  8. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : Mutant Chronicles Warzone Resurrection. YouTube .
  9. ↑ "The New Beginning". 25 September 2018.
  10. ↑ "RES NOVA GAMES' WARZONE ETERNAL RETURNS TO KICKSTARTER". 3 May 2023.
  11. ↑ Corporate Presentation at the Wayback Machine (archived December 13, 2003)
  12. ↑ Teamxbox.com - Preview
  13. 1 2 Donald, Mark (January 1996). "Games Reviews". Arcane (2). Future Publishing: 68–69.
  14. ↑ "1995 list of winners". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design. Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  15. ↑ "Pyramid: Pyramid Pick: Warzone".
  16. ↑ "Backstab Magazine (French) Issue 09".
  17. ↑ "Backstab Magazine (French) Issue 14".
  18. ↑ "Casus Belli #096". 1996.
  19. ↑ "Australian Realms Magazine - Complete Collection". June 1988.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.