Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 33: An Ode to Warzone

 Hi!

I was going to be posting up more Rogue Trader gubbins today but have discovered that there is a new team working on bringing back Warzone: Mutant Chronicles for a new wargame so thought I'd wax lyrical about one of the best games I've ever played!

Back in the mid 90's I'd drifted away from Warhammer and 40k, and had discovered Macs Models in Edinburgh which stocked all manner of interesting stuff that was non GW. On one such visit, I saw Warzone being showcased with a rack of awesome and very cheap miniatures. I picked up a squad of Imperial Blood Berets, and a squad of Woldbane Commandos, a Hedgehog Necromower as well as the rulebook. If I recall correctly, the squad pack was £4.99 for four figures, the sergeant and heavy weapons dudes were £1.25 each. The necromower was £4.99 and the rulebook was £10.

Upon my return home I took a proper look through the rules and was utterly blown away. Here was a lavishly illustrated and full colour rulebook with a fantastic background and really great, skirmish level forces. It was utterly different from the black and white paperback 2nd edition 40k rulebook I had been used to and I was hooked.

Over the ensuing years, I collected all manner of bits and bobs, initially from Macs Models and when they closed, Ral Partha Europe which is where I got all the expansion rulebooks from. Eventually 2nd edition came out and I was a bit saddened to see it went from small units duking it out in a very characterful way to more of a 40k clone with forces getting bigger and the art style changing as new illustrators were brought in but it was still a great setting and the miniatures were chunky and painted up remarkably well. 

There were some real stinkers in the range but it was slowly getting updated so the Brotherhood troops didn't have massive heads and some of the other, rather iffy sculpts got replaced. As with so many games, it promptly went pear shaped and the company ceased trading and I drifted off to other things but I still fondly recall the setting, the book, the art (especially Paul Bonners stunning stuff!) and the characterful forces.

Fantasy Flight Games had a brief stab at the license but utterly butchered it by making it something like 54mm scale and collectable and Warzone went quiet for over a decade. Then a new company called Prodos announced that they had picked up the rights and were doing a kickstarter for the game. Excitement built but misgivings sneaked in when the first sculpts were showcased. 

The figures were created digitally and a lot of the character of the originals went out the window. Following a lot of feedback, and not a little huffing, the designs got reworked into something closer to what folks remembered and the game was released with some excitement but again the curse of Warzone struck and Prodos seemed to at first all but abandon the range and then implode spectacularly thanks to licensing issues. If I recall, I actually posted up a big ragefest here when the kickstarter happened and deleted it after re-reading it and thinking it was out of order...

I never picked up the figures for this latest version of Warzone as I was at uni at the time and hadn't warmed to the figures or Prodos and it seemed that any chance of reliving the glory days of 1st edition was gone for ever as the original range was either unavailable or expensive to get hold of. They are still available from Prince August in Ireland but I remember placing a large order for Chronopia from them and being put off by getting the figures utterly ruined by leadrot. (Apparently this was an issue that many of the Chronopia figures suffered from and not Prince Augusts fault but it still irked me!)

Now we have Res Nova, a small company I must admit I've never heard from before aiming to succeed where ell else have failed in 2021. After a bit of research, it appears they've got a team of folks who were fanatical fans of the original game and more importantly keen to keep to the original design aesthetic of Paul Bonners work with somewhat over the top shoulderpads, big guns and who seem very keen to go with that, something that seems to warm the hearts of lots of old Warzone fans.

Thus far, there's only been very scarce information on when we can expect the game, or indeed what it's going to be like but there is an early draft of a Blood Beret sculpt floating around:

I'm not 100% on it but he does have the exaggerated, heroic proportions of the more traditionally sculpted figures but obviously digitally sculpted. Having listened to a few Youtube videos from the designers of the rules, it's sounding quite promising and aimed to be played on a 3'x3' board with lots of cover. If they can combine the retro joy of original Warzone and make a go of it, I will be picking up a force, if for no other reason, to play 1st edition again!

According to the designers, the aim is to release the five megacorporations and Algeroth in the initial kickstarter with the Cartel, Brotherhood and other Dark Legion forces in subsequent launches. There is supposed to be two troop choices and I'm guessing a character or two for each of these planned which would be enough to get folks going. 

What I really liked from the videos I've watched is that there is a love of the original game but a desire to keep the forces true to the game without bloated armylists (ie the dozen or so Blood Beret unit variations you could choose back in the day!) and to make every unit or individual worth having in your force. 

Sadly to date, there's not much more information wise but I really, really hope Res Nova do a good job on it and I will be able to get some retro gaming in. If not, I think I'll test the waters with Prince August and see if I can't get my original Imperial force back at the very least!

Only time will tell but I'm quite excited about the prospect of Warzone making a reappearance.

In the meantime, I will need to rummage out my old and battered copy of 1st edition and see about posting up a bit of a rulebook review!

All the best!