Deadzone: Neuheiten und Sommerkampagne

Mantic Games zeigen auf ihrer Website was im Sommer für Deadzone kommt.

This summer Containment Protocols are in full effect thanks to the Deadzone Outbreak Summer Campaign. It’s a chance for Deadzone players around the globe to get together to decide the fate of an entire planet and it will be backed up by a range of new releases too.

Over the course of this week, we’re going to be delving deeper into the campaign by looking at: how the campaign will work, the new Nameless faction, a preview of the Outbreak supplement and lots more.  Also, make sure you’re signed up to the Mantic newsletter because this Friday we’ll be giving subscribers the opportunity to download the Firefight rules for FREE! More on that in a moment. Anyway, to kick things off, we’ve got a brief overview of everything that’s coming up over the next week…

DEADZONE SUMMER CAMPAIGN

Earlier this year we released a mini campaign booklet for Firefight called ‘Starfall’. This told the story of a backwater planet that had become the centre of GCPS attention following some tectonic shifts that uncovered precious minerals. Unfortunately, it also uncovered a resident population of Veer-myn that weren’t too happy about the invading GCPS forces. The Starfall campaign booklet introduced a series of linked missions that told this story. In fact, you can still get the Starfall booklet by ordering it from the website. It’s free and you’ll just need to pay for postage.

The book ended with a mysterious spaceship arriving in Starfall’s orbit… the Nameless had arrived! The summer campaign will take place on Starfall, as different factions land on the planet ready to exploit its natural resources and get their hands on the mysterious (and powerful) Nameless technology. Very much like the Kings of War: Edge of the Abyss campaign last year, we’ll be creating an online hub where players can upload their battle results. Each faction will have their results tallied to see who gains control of the planet. We’ll have more details about the summer campaign tomorrow, so stay tuned. But for the moment, mark August 20^th in your diary as that’s when the campaign will begin!

DEADZONE OUTBREAK

Accompanying the summer campaign, we’ve got a brand new 88-page supplement for Deadzone. A little like Clash of Kings for Kings of War, which introduced new units and scenarios for KoW, Outbreak is pretty much Deadzone 2.1. Inside the book you’ll find re-balanced/new units for each faction, plus two brand new factions: Nameless and Mazon Labs. There are also four new scenarios, plus we’ve re-balanced the original scenarios, and introduced new pieces of equipment.

This supplement is an essential purchase for any Deadzone player and we’ll be putting it up for pre-order later this week. We’ll also be exploring the book in more detail on Wednesday to give you a taste of what’s to come!

THE NAMELESS!

This summer also sees the introduction of a brand-new faction for Deadzone: The Nameless. There are a number of new releases centred around the Nameless, including a Deadzone faction starter, a new expansion for Star Saga and the monstrous Goliath (aka the Monstrosity from the Star Saga Kickstarter).

In the Outbreak supplement, Christopher Verspeak explores the background of the Nameless a little more and explains why this previously peaceful race is encroaching into GCPS space. Head to the Mantic Blog on Thursday for a closer look at the terrifying Nameless.

FIREFIGHT

With all this Deadzone action taking place, we realise that some people may be itching to take their Deadzone games to the next level. Firefight is the next logical step, as you only require around 30 to 50 miniatures for a decent sized scrap. As part of the Outbreak summer campaign, there will be an optional mission to play a full-on Firefight battle, as the conquest for Starfall comes to a dramatic conclusion.

To make sure as many of you as possible can experience the Firefight rules, for a limited time only we’ll be offering a PDF of the entire rulebook as a FREE download. That’s right, you can get the Firefight rules for FREEEEEEEE! Make sure you’re signed up to the Mantic Games newsletter to receive the download link first. You can sign up here.

PRE-ORDERS!

All of the above will be going up on the website later this week. Plus, we’ll have some special bundles for those of you who are just getting into the wonderful world of Deadzone. Don’t miss out on what promises to be an action-packed summer of sci-fi gaming.

Außerdem wird es im Sommer eine große Deadzone Kampagne geben:

Following the huge success of last year’s Edge of the Abyss campaign for Kings of War, this year we wanted to give the Warpath Universe the same love and attention. We thought about doing something based solely around Warpath or Firefight. However, one piece of feedback we received from the Kings of War campaign is that some new players were put off by the sheer amount of miniatures they would need to paint in preparation for the campaign. With this in mind, we felt that Deadzone would be a great option for the summer campaign in 2018. Firstly, it’s an AWESOME game and secondly, it’s a really AWESOME game, and thirdly you only need to paint around 10 miniatures for a decent sized Strike Team. Oh, did we mention it’s awesome?

So, with that decision made, it was time to start thinking about the mechanics of the campaign. Edge of the Abyss saw locations across the face of Mantica being defended by the forces of good or destroyed by evil armies. Doing a similar thing across the whole of the Warpath Universe was rather overwhelming. Instead we wanted to focus on the fate of one planet: Starfall. We actually introduced this seemingly insignificant planet in the recent Firefight Campaign Supplement. However, this backwater planet could have a significant part to play in the future of Warpath but that will depend upon YOU!

HOW THE CAMPAIGN WILL WORK

Firstly, the most important thing to note is that the campaign will start on August 20^th and last until September 24th. That’s five full weeks of Deadzone gaming goodness! All 10 Deadzone factions (including the newly introduced Mazon Labs and Nameless) will have a stake in the future of the planet, so there’s a reason for everyone to get stuck in. For example, if the Nameless win the overall campaign, it’ll give them a planet within GCPS space from which to launch more attacks, while the Forge Fathers have the opportunity to harness some of the Nameless’ mysterious tech. All of the motivations for each faction will be unveiled as we approach the launch date.

At the heart of the campaign will be a specially built campaign website. Here you can learn more about Starfall and the locations you’ll be fighting in during the course of the campaign. When the site opens there will only be one theatre of combat but each week we’ll introduce a new key location that not only moves the story of the campaign forward, but also has a new scenario/gameplay mechanic. This ensures that if you play throughout the course of the five weeks, you’ll see a definite progression in the types of missions you’ll be playing.

It’s worth noting that some of these scenarios will come from the brand new Deadzone: Outbreak book, which will be going on pre-order later this week. The four original scenarios have been re-balanced and four new ones have been introduced too. On top of this, we’ll also be introducing new gameplay dynamics, such as weather effects and night time battles. The latter will be introduced specially for the campaign and will be updated on the website to show when they’re in effect.

What’s more, although the core campaign will follow the story of the Nameless’ arrival on Star Saga and their impact on the wider Warpath universe, there will be also be optional bonus missions. One of these will be based around Star Saga and will give you the chance to play as The Fear infiltrating a secret Mazon laboratory on Starfall. We’ll produce a new downloadable mercenary card for The Fear so you can use him as a ‘hero’. The second will be a Firefight mission in which the combatants must survive not only the onslaught from their enemies but the powerful earthquakes that regularly tear across Starfall.

HOW TO TAKE PART!

We want to make it as easy as possible to take part. Following feedback from participants that played in the Edge of the Abyss campaign last year, we’ve streamlined the process to make it as smooth as possible. Once the campaign site goes live you’ll need to sign up for an account. After that you can start uploading your battle results. There’s no requirement for uploading battle reports or images, but you will have the option to add them if you want.

There’s also no points restriction on strike teams. This means, if you’re only starting out on your Deadzone journey, you could have 100 points painted up for week one and then each week you could add some extra miniatures to drive up your total. Of course, if you’re a Deadzone veteran, you can smash straight in with a 200 point Strike Team ready to kick ass and take names.

All the wins and losses will be tracked for each location and there will be an overall scoreboard charting the stats for each faction. Depending upon who is winning in each area, there could be temporary bonuses or special equipment to help in the battles ahead. These will be reported via the website, so it’s important to keep checking back to see if your chosen faction will get a helping hand!

PRIZES TO BE WON!

As if playing a bunch of thrilling Deadzone games wasn’t already exciting enough, while the campaign is running there will be plenty of opportunities to win some awesome prizes. Each week we’ll be selecting different participants to receive a prize. It could be an award for the most games played during a week, the best battle report submitted or even the most losses during a week (if we’re feeling generous). Prizes will include faction starters, mercenaries, even copies of Star Saga, so make sure you keep playing to be in with a chance of winning!

THE LOCATIONS

Finally, just in case you want to get organised and start building your Deadzone terrain in time for the campaign, here are the descriptions for some of the locations where battles will take place.

LOCATION: Command Post Delta

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: When Damrod’s Corporation troops arrived on Starfall they quickly set up a series of Command Posts. The largest of these is Delta. On many planets it would be considered a village, perhaps even a small town. With the largest landing pads on Starfall it has quickly become the centre of fierce fighting, as different factions use the pads to land their Strike Teams. The Battlezones Landing Zone set will certainly come in handy for your own Command Post Delta.

LOCATION: Devil’s Run

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Devil’s Run is a small spaceport primarily inhabited by smugglers and Rebs sympathisers. It’s usually hidden from the prying eyes of the GCPS (or they’re happy to ignore its more seedy side for their own gain). However, with the recent incursion by the Nameless, Devil’s Run is now overwhelmed by Strike Teams from the various interested parties on Starfall. Most of it lies in ruins, although there are pockets of intact districts – typically those used by Rebs to hide their resistance forces. We can heartily recommend the Ruined City set if you’re planning to make your own Devil’s Run.

LOCATION: Mining Facility J28

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Since arriving on the planet, Damrod Mining Corporation wasted no time in creating mining facilities to harvest the precious minerals uncovered by the earth tremors. These industrial facilities are full of conveyor belts and machinery used to excavate the resources under the planet’s surface. They make dangerous combat zones though, as the machinery makes perfect hiding places for enemy forces. Want to make your own Mining Facility? Then it’s worth picking up the Industrial Zone set.

LOCATION: Fort Skar

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Fort Skar started out as a small Marauder outpost but has increasingly grown in size. It’s heavily fortified with anti-air defences and barricades on the exterior. However, the work is shoddy at best as many elements are taken from the Marauder raids on passing craft or nearby planets. The perfect starting point for your own Fort Skar is the Military Compound terrain.

Link: Mantic Games