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Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Sci-Fi Small Skirmish Games => Topic started by: Chief Lackey Rich on September 15, 2021, 06:01:02 PM
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I see Mantic is getting set to release a new edition of their Deadzone skirmish game, and running a series of teaser articles on their blog, starting here:
https://www.manticgames.com/news/deadzone-third-edition-why-third-edition-will-be-the-best-deadzone-yet/
and a discussion of squad building here:
https://www.manticgames.com/news/deadzone-third-edition-creating-your-strike-team-is-easier-than-ever/
Seems like pretty reasonable changes from 2nd edition so far, mostly quality-of-life improvements. The decision to separate health from figure size is a bit overdue, and should open up some design space for small-but-tough figs or big guys with glass jaws. Perhaps the most interesting thing so far is the news that there's a "street accessories" set coming for their modular terrain system, which is supposed to let you give a more lived-in cyberpunk look to a table. Some of it shows up in this tease image:
(https://www.manticgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/TC-Deadzone-2021-scenery-set-colour-shot_WEB.jpg)
Looks pretty good to me. The new starter box will apparently have a slew of terrain in it, as well as minis for both GCPS and Veer-myn, aka Imperial Guard versus Space Skaven.
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nice refresh.
I think all the new parts etc are shown on the Mantic (UK) site now - if you go to the core set's 'gallery' iirc.
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Yeah, I will probably pick up the street scenery sets. I have more than enough Deadzone sprues in the loft to keep me going.
I just wish Mantic would settle on a decent plastic/pvc, as some (not all) of their material choices have been a major pain to work with.
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I just wish Mantic would settle on a decent plastic/pvc, as some (not all) of their material choices have been a major pain to work with.
Honestly, this is the #1 reason I won't buy any more Mantic stuff.
A close #2 reason is how often their (usually great) concept art gets poorly translated into (at best) mediocre model sculpts.
I am pleased to see DZ still going though, as I backed the previous DZ1 and DZ2 games at high levels and have absolutely masses of stuff for both. Still, I would have hoped that by now Mantic could release a new edition without needing to go back to KS again... :?
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I never played the first one despite having the starter set and very much nejoying the demo game I played at the mantic open day before it released. BUT I am interested in all those little scenery accessories. lol
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Honestly, this is the #1 reason I won't buy any more Mantic stuff.
A close #2 reason is how often their (usually great) concept art gets poorly translated into (at best) mediocre model sculpts.
I am pleased to see DZ still going though, as I backed the previous DZ1 and DZ2 games at high levels and have absolutely masses of stuff for both. Still, I would have hoped that by now Mantic could release a new edition without needing to go back to KS again... :?
this one isn't being kickstarted is it?
I also have more than enough Deadzone stuff from the very first kickstarted. I bought the 2nd edition rulebook and command dice but only played it a couple of times. I will no doubt buy the rules again this time. Its a fun game!
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Ah, I thought it was a KS - my apologies if I misunderstood and it's not! If it's not, then that's a good thing IMO. :)
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Honestly, this is the #1 reason I won't buy any more Mantic stuff.
A close #2 reason is how often their (usually great) concept art gets poorly translated into (at best) mediocre model sculpts.
I am pleased to see DZ still going though, as I backed the previous DZ1 and DZ2 games at high levels and have absolutely masses of stuff for both. Still, I would have hoped that by now Mantic could release a new edition without needing to go back to KS again... :?
interesting.
I've recently put together a forge-father grunt, couple of enforcers and a space -elf cyborg - and I was impressed by the actual plastic - very fine detail: seemed better than GW to me.
Now, the lack of assembley instructions, that's another matter!
and I must admit some of the dwarf 'fit' was a bit approximate.
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I've recently put together a forge-father grunt, couple of enforcers and a space -elf cyborg - and I was impressed by the actual plastic - very fine detail: seemed better than GW to me.
If these are the sprued plastics, then yes, the material on those is fine - I wish everything Mantic did was in that material!
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Ah, I thought it was a KS - my apologies if I misunderstood and it's not! If it's not, then that's a good thing IMO. :)
It doesn't appear to be crowdfunded, no. Available for preorder right now, due to start shipping October 25th according to the site.
I agree with you to some degree about Mantic's sculpting and casting quality, but I think I'd describe them as extremely erratic rather than just plain bad. They have some quite good plastics (eg the Asterian Marionette kit, which I reviewed here: https://brokenstarsburningships.blogspot.com/2018/03/dance-puppets-deadzone-marionette-kit.html ) but they also have some fairly wretched "restic/PVC" figs and even some of the plastic is a nuisance to work with. OTOH, even some of the PVC stuff is okay - eg the Nameless figs here: https://brokenstarsburningships.blogspot.com/2018/12/2018-retrospective-gallery-finale-day-8.html
If they're consistently bad about anything, it's their damn catalog photos - but that's a widespread plague on the entire industry. Even Reaper is terrible at providing focused, multi-angle shots of minis with some kind of uniform size/scale indicator.
I mostly played 1st edition and never did like 2nd as much, but what they've shown of the changes to 3rd all seem good steps to me. It's almost as though they listened to their player base about what wasn't working as well as it could be and took steps to change accordingly - but what company would do that in this day and age? :)
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If these are the sprued plastics, then yes, the material on those is fine - I wish everything Mantic did was in that material!
ah, gotcha. Yes they were all 'sprued'.
I had Star Saga again - and for one piece plastics I didn't think they were too bad at all. Pretty good actually, apart from some bits being 'soft' and needing the hot water treatment. Lovely 'large' figures too (a bit bigger than their sprued jobs I thought).
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Woohoo! So glad they're doing 3rd edition. I've played tons of 2nd edition and think it's the best sci-fi skirmish game there is. Such a nice compact, fluid and fast game with great and fun mechanics. But the rules got a bit clunky here and there and the force lists could use some tweaking...so it's perfect they did just that.
Can't wait to get these books and dive into third edition.
As for the models, I think they are adequate and paint up nicely. With some paint on they look very cool, even the PVC and restic stuff. Mantic did switch to resin for their recent models and these are insanely detailed and well cast.
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Good to know.
CLR: thanks for the link on the Mantic figures and conversions, very useful.
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Some new models teased too.
https://www.manticgames.com/news/deadzone-third-edition-new-units-and-minis/
Boss rat, at size 2 with no obvious guns might make a good rat ogre for Skaven in WFB, AoS, and Bloodbowl. Also not out of place in Rumbleslam.
(https://www.manticgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/DZ-Veermyn-Antagonus-left-isolated-CLIPPED.png)
Corporate riot trooper - hate the color scheme paint scheme but not a bad sculpt, very dynamic and Necromunda-friendly.
(https://www.manticgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/WP-GCPS-Riot-Trooper-running-left-isolated-CLIPPED.png)
New sculpt for the 1st edition Plague-infected teraton, a pretty good generic alien bruiser type. And again, I could see him in the ring for Rumbleslam.
(https://www.manticgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/plague-teraton.jpg)
And my personal favorite, because cool as Squats are that thing's also begging for head swaps (or at least proper cockpit armor). Think he may be taking first place in the "Chunkiest Armor To Be Worn Without A Helmet" category despite GW's ceaseless efforts to retain the title. I'll concede Ghazghkull may give him a run for his money, though.
(https://www.manticgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/juggernaut-with-excavator.jpg)
Supposed to be coming out with hard plastic marauders for the Orx as well, but there's nothing beyond an early render at this point.
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like the look of the new dwarf stuff they've teased - there was a doc Ock'- like Artificer on the blog a while ago.
and 'ouch' re: colour scheme - when I was thinking of painting up some of their armoured enforcers and peacekeepers I was thinking of just such a blue and green combo' !
I like some of the other new GCPS rather more than the ones with shields tbh.
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like the look of the new dwarf stuff they've teased - there was a doc Ock'- like Artificer on the blog a while ago.
I saw that one too, not bad. GW adamantly refuses to release new Squats so screw it, I'll take what else I can get - which is quite a lot, really. Surprising number of space Dwarf ranges on the market.
and 'ouch' re: colour scheme - when I was thinking of painting up some of their armoured enforcers and peacekeepers I was thinking of just such a blue and green combo' !
It's the muddy brown edge highlights on the green that turn my stomach more than the base colors themselves. I'm assuming they were trying for a vaguely Judge Dredd-ish look there, but he pulls off blue & green much more effectively IMO. Maybe take a cue from Old Stony Face and add a bit of contrasting red and/or yellow to the mix?
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It's the muddy brown edge highlights on the green that turn my stomach more than the base colors themselves. I'm assuming they were trying for a vaguely Judge Dredd-ish look there, but he pulls off blue & green much more effectively IMO. Maybe take a cue from Old Stony Face and add a bit of contrasting red and/or yellow to the mix?
maybe ... but in the first pic at the top of the thread - I really like the GCPS figs in that - both sculpts and paint-jobs.
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maybe ... but in the first pic at the top of the thread - I really like the GCPS figs in that - both sculpts and paint-jobs.
They do look good there, granted. Not being photographed in extreme close-up helps, single-fig shots on 28mm figs never look as good as group shots to me. Something to do with focal distances, maybe.
Not like you're generally looking at things closer than arms length during play, right?
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I think they would also look better with a darker definition between the greens. Not blacklining per se, but it's a bit of a mess of green tones now.
I just pre-ordered the book bundle and scenery add-ons at my Dutch distributor :D. Can't wait!!
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Looks like dark blues for the the GCPS fatigues, and then a silver-gold colour for the hard armour that has been washed with green ink to make a metallic green. The beige colour for the highlights is the same metallic basecolour used again for the edges.
Honestly, coloured metallics like this can look really good for scifi, but it's not usually that great on small or uneven surfaces. Doing the green in a flat military olive colour instead for these models would have looked better IMO, but obviously everybody is free to like different things! ;) lol
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...but obviously everybody is free to like different things! ;) lol
Conveniently the GCPS lads are basically corporate security ramped up to military standards, and since there's loads of different companies and subsidiaries involved there's no one color scheme for them in canon. You can do anything you like with them without breaking with the setting - including something absurdly impractical like picking bright garish colors for them because Marketing ranks exposure and advertising over keeping a low visual profile on the battlefield. Or at least that's my understanding of the setting.
Finding a way work corporate logos into the paint schemes seems like it would also fit. Probably easiest on vehicles, which have more flat surfaces to work with.
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I always read/understood the GCPS to be more like Private Military Contractors, but I don't see that conflicts with your interpretation of them either.
Either way, that still lets you do whatever you like with colours really - I mean, who's to say that R&D didn't determine that bright reflective green coatings on armour and equipment made it more resistant to enemy laser weapons operating on a particular power frequency, or that it was especially effective when fighting against certain alien races because their vision struggles to register that particular light wavelength? :)
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Either way, that still lets you do whatever you like with colours really ...
ummm, yes.
... honestly, we can paint them any which way. I think it's still allowed ;)
interesting to read the thoughts on their approach to the metallic green. I've been looking at various ways of getting that sort of effect, inc. off the shelf coloured metallic paints (MIG AMMO).
prompted by a pic I found of some Antares which had a beautiful clean look of that sort ... will see if I can find it.
... and here it is:
(https://i.imgur.com/2RgAmWR.jpg)
was posted on the Antares community site and is the work of one 'Oddball' - don't have a website etc for him / her.
Looks a bit like a plain metallic paint - but prob. has a lot more going on that. Very smart painting.
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As usual my thoughts echo yours throughout this thread Chief Lackey Rich.
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like the look of the new dwarf stuff they've teased - there was a doc Ock'- like Artificer on the blog a while ago.
and 'ouch' re: colour scheme - when I was thinking of painting up some of their armoured enforcers and peacekeepers I was thinking of just such a blue and green combo' !
I like some of the other new GCPS rather more than the ones with shields tbh.
There are some more painted pics of the new Forge Fathers sub-Faction. I really like them!
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yep, they look cracking.
that doc. Ock guy is inspired.