Warzone (game)

Warzone
Designer(s) Bill King
Publisher(s) Target Games
Players 2 or more
Setup time variable
Playing time > 1 hour
Random chance High
Skill(s) required 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.

Warzone was originally produced by the Swedish company Target Games. The rights to the Warzone brand were acquired by Paradox Entertainment in December 1999 in the wake of a complicated restructuring of Target Games and its child companies.[1] Warzone has since gone out of print.

There is still an active discussion forum of gamers promoting Warzone and its sister game Chronopia.

Setting

Warzone takes place in a fictional dieselpunk future in which a space faring humanity has explored beyond Pluto and has uncovered artifacts which unleashed an evil entity known as the 'Dark Soul' and a magic force known as 'Dark Symmetry'. This is a force which corrupts both man and complex machines (chips and beyond), and has sent its own minions, consisting of legions of undead and aliens in an attempt to conquer humanity. In light of the corruption, human technological and social progress has largely halted. 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 global apocalypse, and is home only to tribal survivors. 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 detail and special abilities.

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

Editions

There have been three editions of Warzone produced: the original Warzone, Warzone 2nd Edition, and Ultimate Warzone. All have since gone out of print.

The original Warzone was released in 1995 by Target Games. Though based on Mutant Chronicles, the universe of Warzone differed from the source material as presented in the role-playing game. The release of Warzone 2nd Edition in 1998 was intended to address a number of shortcomings perceived by players and designers alike in the original rules. This edition also saw the rewriting of the background according to Nils Gullikson's original vision of the Mutant Chronicles universe, to a mixed reception by established players. Target Games also released an heroic fantasy tabletop game called Chronopia, but not set in the same universe.

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 Warzone being sold to Paradox Entertainment.[1] Development and production of the Warzone line was not resumed after the disruption and a license to use the Warzone 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).[2] The resulting edition was Warzone: Universe Under Siege, released in 2004. Excelsior Entertainment went out of business during production of Warzone: Universe Under Siege. This last version was called Ultimate Warzone while in production.}

The remaining stock of original Warzone and Chronopia miniatures were sold to an Irish company Prince August, who still have copies of the boxed game and supplements of the second edition in stock.[3] The original moulds were destroyed.

In 2008 Fantasy Flight Games released a 54mm CMG (collectible miniature game) set in the Mutant Chronicles franchise.[4] The game was cancelled shortly after release due to poor sales.[5]

A new edition of Warzone was unveiled in February 2013 by Prodos Games (under licence to Paradox Entertainment): Mutant Chronicles Warzone Resurrection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAzZcnwXlVY

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.[6] 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.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Pressmeddelande Stockholm at the Wayback Machine (archived May 15, 2001) (Swedish)
  2. ↑ TMP - Paradox Entertainment signs licensing deal for Mutant Chronicles: Warzone and Chronopia
  3. ↑ http://shop.princeaugust.ie/warzone-mutant-chronicles-wargame/
  4. ↑ http://www.tcgplayer.com/db/game_review.asp?AID=2464&PID=323&DBID=4
  5. ↑ http://theminiaturespage.com/news/150394/
  6. ↑ Corporate Presentation at the Wayback Machine (archived December 13, 2003)
  7. ↑ Teamxbox.com - Preview
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